First Things First - Tyreek Hill out for season, Lamar Jackson to miss 2-3 weeks, LeBron James Year 23, Mahomes Mountain

Episode Date: September 30, 2025

(0:00) Lamar Jackson hurt, Tyreek Hill out for season (25:56) A.J. Brown worries, Should the Bengals make a move for a QB? (39:12) Robert Saleh and Liam Coen scuffle something or nothing? (44:43) Mahomes Mountain (01:08:14) Bills and Eagles 4-0, Can the Ravens stay afloat until Lamar Jackson returns? (01:20:37) Trust LeBron James entering Year 23? (01:23:06) Brou’s MVP Ballot for Week 5 (01:26:23) Ravens season in jeopardy, Parkins’ Top 10 teams (01:48:58) Bengals QB situation, What is Tyreek Hill’s future following his injury?  (01:59:59) Lions team to beat, How big of a deal is the A.J. Brown drama? (02:08:42) Panic time for 49ers ahead of Rams matchup? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Live from New York. It's the show that was very impressed with skinny Luca at Media Day today listed at 244. Alongside Old LeBron, looks good. For real. He's very skinny. I mean, we've been seeing that all summer, are you surprised? Well, I'm going to debut a take that will infuriate you. Oh, after yesterday, I don't know if we can deal with much more of that.

Too skinny, bro. Okay. Way too weird and wonderful. This guy. Wait, you see the picture, actually. I mean, he's pretty like a stick figure for that. He looks very thin. He looks fragile.

You know how Wilde's debut's new segments and it goes great? Like, hey. Hey, hey, that's what I should. What's up with that? No. What's going on? What's up with that? What is it?

Hey. I told him. What is it again? I just told you. Hey. Hey. What's going on? What's going on?

What's going on? What's going on the moment? Darn it, I didn't even get to finish my point because we forgot. Hey, what's going on? Did I have the Chiefs? Chiefs ready for the Prince where they keep rolling after a dominant showing against a solid This guy, a solid Baltimore team to add a legacy of good defense. What Bruce said that for two years you were five with it.

It's in their DNA defensive. Meanwhile, A.J. Brown frustrated. Jalen Hertz winning ugly. What is plaguing the champs, if anything? And finally, well, it's the most perilous segment in all of sports. Big day. It's a segment that is becoming so powerful. I'm worried about the other segments.

Do you know what he said to me yesterday, Brew, this is two days ago. He was like, we got to figure out a way to make tears better because my home's mountain is overshadowing it. I said, do you know how much that hurts the committee? Like, we got 11 guys working grottis. And you're saying, my stupid mountains overshadowed. Just 11 anonymous people versus a mountain and there's snow. I'm just saying, I don't know. The mountain is very controversial these days.

Well, the mountain is fair. We've had a lot of different people at the top. I wonder who will be at the top this week. Nick Wright, Kevin Wilde. Chris Brousard, who is healthy today. Welcome back to through. Yeah, that's good. Quick recovery.

I unfortunately have bad news for you. Starting with the hamstrung Raven. Brian Wacker of the Baltimore Sun reporting that the one in three Ravens might be without their franchise QB. Lamar Jackson is likely to miss Sunday's game against the visiting Texans with a hamstring injury, two sources with direct knowledge of the situation confirmed to the Baltimore Sun today. Given the nature of the injury, he also could be out for up to two to three weeks, one of those sources said. Nothing for certain brew, but the Texans are favored now in Baltimore. news landing for you.

By the way, Bruges, I know you're not a gambler. Monday morning, the Ravens were six and a half point favorites, and they are now two and a half point underdog. So that is a nine points of line movement. And Monday morning, we knew about all the defensive injuries. You know what I mean? That's a nine point line movement based, I think, off the Lamar news. It's kind of fair.

I mean. He's worth that. Yeah, without him there in trouble, obviously. Look, they got the Texans and the Rams. The Rams, if Lamar's not in that game, you would think the Rams was just going to have a field day against that defense. And Cooper Rush, do they try to bring in Tyler Huntley? I don't know. He's available.

Remember, he was a pro bowler there. Is he available? I thought he's on their practice squad. Oh, I thought he did like a – where was he? He was in Cleveland for a little bit. Oh, he was in Cleveland for that cup of coffee. He would seem to be a more seamless transition, right, than Cooper Rush. I mean, Cooper Rush, that feels like a whole thing.

different type of office. Tony Romo thought he'd give him a spark. Cooper Rush. I mean, look, the good news is that if the Cooper Rush is in there, you would assume it's going to be more Derek Henry running the ball. But bottom line, one in five is now very much on the table. Fortunately for them, they have a buy after the Rams. So if Lamar misses even three weeks, he could be back for that Bears game.

That Bears game, Nick, I'm saying that could be the season. Let's assume Lamar is back. and let's assume they're one in five and Lamar gets back. If they lose that game to the Bears, it's pretty much over. Because one in six to run the table, I think the division's going to be tough to run the table in. Cincinnati's obviously going to be not tough, but Cleveland's a tough out.

And Pittsburgh, their defense is playing well. Yeah, and that's always a good game. They're always tough. So they, it's, you don't want to. go into, can we throw that back up there? I'll say, my point about the Bears is this. If they lose to the Bears, obviously they'd be

one and six. But then it's also beyond the record, it's like, well, a lot of these teams could beat you if the Bears are going to beat you. And so I think that could be a critical game if they just leave this up for a second. Because I'm not, I'm not going to be maybe as fatalistic about this as

people would expect. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not right. And I don't know where Wilde is going to be. What I am going to say though is this.

You cannot go into that right hand column week 13 having to run the table. You're not, you're not going 6 and 0 in that column. Like the,

even if Cincinnati is packed up shot for the year, the Steelers are his, no matter who's playing quarterback for them, a tough matchup for Baltimore.

The Patriots, I think, are a decent team that will be getting better as the year goes on, one would think. And the Packers are legit. You can't, you know what I mean? So you need, you, you, the, I understand that you could be in theory, five and six going into your, you know what I mean there and be like, well, 11 and six is going to get in.

You're not going six and oh in the final, you know what I mean, six weeks of the year. With that said, I think they can be Houston without Lamar. I, I think that one of the, downsides for like this week's discourse of the Texans Ravens game is going to be that no one watched Texans Titans. But one of the- It wasn't 26-0. Correct. That game was 6-0 in the fourth quarter where it looked like every Texan's game has looked. The defense looks really good and the offense is awful.

Now, CJ, to his credit, played really well in the fourth quarter and maybe they got something going. But if there, I know you said yesterday, like the Ravens are a get-right team for teams' offenses. In the Ravens' defense defense, we have seen them torn up by what I believe to be three of the best offenses in football. I know the chiefs weren't, but I think they will be. The Lions obviously are. The bills obviously are. And sometimes even an awful defense can give a level of, you know, deterrent, if you will, to a bad offense. And so I do think Derek Henry, by necessity, becomes the game plan. And I don't think

at two and four going into the buy, they'd be done. I think one in five going in, I mean, you're pushing it again out. You think they're done at one and five? I think at one and five, remember, that division, I think 10 wins, at this point, it becomes getting the playoffs. I think I still believe 10 wins will get you in the playoffs in the AFC. I have, I have a request. for hubs that I should have done behind the scenes, but I'm going to do it on air. Hubs, can we look up the Ravens Super Bowl odds if they changed? If this Texans game flipped on odds, I'd be interested to see if they're Super Bowl odds changed a lot.

As of yesterday, they were. They still had better odds than the Chiefs. So there's six. So here's my just slipped a little. This is more than glass half full. This is glass so full. I forgot what they call that part of the, when the water is actually, yeah, but it's not overflowing.

It's actually over the rim. There's a name for it. like some, who cares? And they're just real quick. They yesterday were minus 200 favorites to win the division. Today, they are minus 145 favorites to win the division. So not smaller favorites, but slight favorites. Houston would be a great win for this.

And we'll see if the defense can hold. Go ahead. Let's hear the water overflowing, but not overflowing. Obviously, I don't want Lamar to be hurt. This is assuming Lamar comes back 100% healthy. And after the buy. After the buy. I don't hate the Ravens going through a very strenuous, tough, woe is us.

We've got to get right. Let's circle the wagons period for the first 30% of the season. And then rocket ship into the playoffs. Rather than peaking at like week eight, like, wow, the Ravens won a game 48, 10. Marr had five touchdowns and was throwing behind the back alley oops. Right. A team that's like has to just really, we haven't seen that. That's not bad as long as you get in the playoffs.

That's the thing. Like it's starting to get to a point where they just can't afford too many more losses. So that I like that. But I like that. If they go in as, let's say they went in as the six seat. I mean, ideally you'd want to probably get the winner of the AFC South, you know, in the playoff if you're a wild card and then maybe you got a shot but

yeah I don't hate that I thought can I give a different glass half full sure because I'm shocked usually when I say I know what you're going to say or you say back to me you were right I was totally wrong I thought you were going to say the bright side is having Lamar out

if it's temporary and then being forced to go through Derek Henry and then potentially saying oh by going through Derek Henry by default, our defense is a little better because it's longer possessions. They're a little fresher.

Then when they have Lamar back, they might have the more balanced game plan that you guys have talked about. You know what I mean? That almost trial by fire, it's like, oh, wait, we beat, you know, a Texans team 20 to 17 with our defense, you know what I mean, playing its best game of the year,

even if that's a little misleading because the Texans struggling on offense, but Derek Henry has 28 carries and that they take some of that game plan. I don't think the Ravens are dead. If the Chiefs

had lost that game, now if the Chiefs had lost that game and Mahomes was out, they don't have a Derek Henry, so that's a little different. But if the Chiefs had lost that game at 1 and 3, I wouldn't be saying they're dead at 2 and 4. You know what I mean? And so now again, the S-Bob component, play your best ball in the postseason,

that's different. The Ravens now and maybe, again, we're trying to be optimistic, I guess. Maybe it could be good for them to not have a regular season that feels like we're... Like a coronation. Yeah, yeah, or a regular season where it's like, okay. Treading water. We're like waiting for the big game that really counts to where it's like, wait, we got to get going now, maybe. I think one of the best things you said was that, look, the defense does look bad.

But it has been three great quarterbacks of offenses that they've faced. And this will tell the test, like what they do against Houston, because that's a bad offense. It's a bad offense. And so if they give up 35 to them, then the defense is just shot. What were you about to say? You had a joke. No, you had a joke. No, I didn't have a joke.

We can tell. It would be bad. It would be bad for Mahomes if C.J. Stroud puts up 35. Also, I'm not saying you said it, but a few years ago when Cooper Rush got in there for DAC. Oh, that's what I was going to say. I didn't say it. You were mentioning it people who were saying it, but you say it. Brew got to had a caller on the odd couple say it.

Then he brought it to TV. I'm not saying. What do you say? I'm not saying. Cooper Rush 4 and off. I mean, it'd be nice. That offense is so different than what he does. Yeah, of course.

That's the spark, according to Tony Romo. We have more unfortunate injury news. This is about Tyree Kale dislocated his knee toward multiple ligaments, including his ACL. He's hospitalized overnight. surgery was scheduled for today. Ian Rappaport's reporting that there's no guarantee he's going to be ready for 2026. Drew Rosenhaus tweeting this picture out. So Tyreek is in good spirits.

Nick, your reaction to this news. All right, multifaceted. First one is this. The internet can all can be, you know, dumb always. I found, and I'm not really in the business of like always defending Tyree Kill, but the internet's reaction to someone who had just suffered a truly traumatic injury and being in literal shock as when he's clapping and smiling, like it's some amount of relief or like he doesn't have to be with tour or any of that stuff. With some of the most outrageous stuff, even by current internet standards I've seen, like that was, he was not sober, if you will, in that moment.

Like, you know what I mean? Your body, you go into shock. And he, bright side of the internet is we have access to a lot of actual doctors that can explain this is about as catastrophic of an injury as one can suffer. The knee, it's not knee cap dislocation, it's knee dislocation. It could be all the ligaments. It's certainly the ACL. And it's at least a year. It might be two years.

And it might be his career. And that is stunning, shocking, and awful. and to me the best way to frame it is if this is the end of it, I think it is a career unlike almost any other. And I think he, if you were to ask me guys in the modern era of football, who I definitively would rather have at their peak than that player at his peak, that hands down I'd rather have, it's two names long. It's Rice and Moss and that's it.

He is in there with, he is either ahead of or next to, in my mind, Megatron and Owens. And even though like Fitz and Marvin Harrison and my colleague and pal Chris Carter had longer, more decorated careers, his peak,

the only guys whose best was better than his to me is Moss and Rice. So I don't know where that makes him in the all-time receiver pantheon because he played nine years and didn't play like this was his 10th year and he didn't play a ton of a rookie's receiver. It's eight or not, yeah, eight amazing years at the top of the league. Yeah, I agree. You said it when you said peak. Like do I rank him as a top five all time? I don't know. It's hard to say.

Because he didn't play a longer. Yeah, but obviously he was great with Mahomes. and he was perfect for Mahomes because, you know, Mahomes can do a lot of backyard stuff and he was perfect for finding the scene, getting open as Mahomes scrambling and being there for a long pass. And then in 22 and 23, his first two years in Miami,

or I think those were first years, those two years, I agree with you. Like, I don't, Randy Moss with Brady and Randy Moss period. But outside of that, I don't know who you, put, and Jerry Rice, you put ahead of Tyreek Hill. Like, I was wondering, he's, look, technically he's not the greatest receiver. He does have some drops and some in big moments. He, you know, route running is okay.

It's not, but his speed changes everything. And obviously there are a lot of fast receivers, but his speed is different and his ability to run after the catch. Like, so I just think that I agree. Like those couple years in Miami The interesting thing is this because we're going to talk about A.J. Brown. He won his Super Bowl, Tyreek,

with Mahomes in Kansas City and was obviously viewed as a great top receiver. But it was in Miami that he actually put up these historic type numbers and really made you start thinking about him in comparison to Randy Moss and others. So that's where, you know, and A.J. Brown looks at something like that.

You know, you left winning but Tyreek got paid and individually, at least for those two years, it helped him. So you have to think about that. Just for the conversation, you kind of did a retrospective, do you think that this is that we're not going to see him or we're going to see him in a reduced? Yeah, I mean, I just, I think. I know we're not doctors. Listen, I think because he's not that tall. No.

He is, he's incredibly strong. But to Bruce's point, he's not a technical. He's not this amazing route runner. He's not, you know, he's not super tall. He has good, but not like great hands even. Right. He was, I had somebody, his first year in Miami, somebody really close to LeBron, reached out to me and said, Tarek's now the best athlete in American sports.

He's a better athlete than LeBron. And that was, I'm mentioning that only for the context of, like, his raw natural athleticism that he maximized. Can we show, like there's the 13 seconds game

is famous for a million things and this kind of gets lost in the shuffle. This play with a minute left down. He's the only player in league history, I think, that scores on this.

I really believe that. Look at that speed. Guys got all sorts of angles. Run it again. This is again, it's a minute left, down three and a a playoff game. A regular play he's covered.

He gets it. And then and he's a DB. Those are DBs that all have the angle on him in the biggest moments of, you know, their season. And so he, so the reason I say all that is I, yeah, I really worry that if he comes back as a 4-4-5 guy. Right. He's just not. And so, and by the way, even though

he all again, this was his 10th year, take this year off, his rookie year, he was a kick returner. So he had eight years playing. Here's what he accomplished if we show, just roll through all of them, Dusty. Since the merger, five or more first team all pros. Jerry Rice had 10, pretty good. Tyreek and Terrell Owens had five. That's the list. The 1700 plus yard seasons, all of them or since the merger. Everyone else on that list did it one time. He did it twice, both with Tua, never with Mahomes, and then big game performances, guys with a ring and 80 yards per game in the playoffs.

It's Tyreek, Playmaker, Trav, and Mike Evans. Like, he's packed a ton into this decade. And I'm, listen, a storybook football is, you know, that in two years, He's on the Chiefs. You know what I mean? And he finishes there. I'm not trying to do that to the Dolphins, but I would think that... No, but I think that it would be a...

Yeah, but I just don't know... He will... I would imagine, first of all, he's 31. Yeah. So if he's 33 when he comes back, that's... You're already older. Look at the difference in DeAndre Hopkins now versus when he... And he's made some good catches, but he's not the same.

So you got that, you got this injury. Nick's right. Like, if he's not this burner, Randy Moss is obviously the ultimate combination of just receiving skills and speed because he was like world class speed. But you've had guys that were great, just burners, like almost world class speed in terms of track athletes, try to play football. Some of them did play and they were okay.

He is the greatest outside of Moss, the greatest combination of somebody with nearly world class speed in a track and field sense and being a really good. And Tyreeks 510 and Moss was 6.5 and had a basketball player's vertical. Like it's just Tyreek's ability to jump for a ball land and get to full speed within three steps was unlike any player I've ever seen. Dolphins will play the Panthers on Sunday without Tyreek. Chiefs road favorites looking to get above 500 when they head to Jacksonville to take on the Prince. And the fifth best scoring defense in the league, Nick, is it reasonable to have doubts about KC? being fully back on track.

Well, so I want, because we got, and I would like to apologize to Kevin Wilde's publicly for my tone of some of yesterday. I get, as I've explained to the audience before, I get a visceral reaction to awful takes and I should have controlled myself professionally better, so I apologize. But I want to be very clear on this.

I am not of the belief or stating the Chief's offense of 2018 to 2022, when they were 32 points a game for a half decade, is what we're getting the rest of the year. You know what I mean? I don't think that that is what's back. What I do think is they are out of their funk, and they now have the ability to combine

what they had last year, which is situational excellence in the last couple of years, a really good defense, with what is starting to be an NFL level receiving corps. You know what I mean? Like, they just, the last year, they didn't have it because of the injuries. And in the first few weeks of this year,

they didn't have it because of the suspension and the injury. And so what I think is unreasonable at this point is to go into any game against any matchup and look at the chiefs as some decided or real underdog. You know what I mean? I don't think they're running the table the rest of the way, and I think the Jags defense had, the Jags defense, as much as I'd love it to be

the Prince, the Prince is not why they're 3 in 1. The Jags defense is why they're 3 and 1. So I don't think they're going to put up 35 again, but I think that they are that they're going to look more chiefsie than they have pre-tackled that turn the tide as everyone's talking about. This is the Jags defense that

Nick is mentioning. As I mentioned, fifth best scoring defense first in touchdown interception ratio. Only seven touchdowns, nine interceptions. Passer rating at 69 and Red Zone touchdown percentage of 44. That's fifth best. And takeaways, aren't they?

Number one in takeaways by a mile. Yeah. Last year of the Jags, last year, brew, last season, the Jags had nine takeaways, which seems like an impossible stat, but it's true. They have 13 this year through four games. Their defense has been incredible. I think the court, I agree with Nick, and I understand what he's saying. Like, again, I never thought they weren't a Super Bowl contender, but a lot of people seem to be

thinking that. that they were done as an elite team. Dynasty was over. That's what is not reasonable to say that they're no longer an elite team. And I got to look, I think you can debate whether or not they're the best team in the AFC. It's really obviously them in Buffalo. And obviously the Chargers beat them. So the Chargers and the Bills and the Chiefs if you want to debate that.

But I will say this, in a big game, the only team I would take over the – I mean the Chiefs are playing an opponent in a big game. the only team I'll take over to them is Philly. If you think Buffalo is better this year, then Buffalo's got to go prove it. I don't care what. The Chiefs, they're not going to, they might go 11 and 6 or 12 and 5 or whatever. And they're going to probably lose a few games, but their mojo seems to be back. And I think they're just going to get better offensively with Xavier.

That was just his first game. So he's going to get better. And then when Rice gets back, so yeah, I think they're, they're where we would have expected them to be coming into this. This will be an interesting game here. Can I ask a Corollary from yesterday? Sure. So because of

that full screen you just showed, by the logic we screamed it or I yelled at you about yesterday, if the Chiefs score 17 points, that's not a bad game? Not sure. 37 was not good against the worst defense.

So 17 has to be not bad against the best defense. I'm not sure. Anybody who scores, if you score 30 points on the Ravens, you have an MVP candidate at quarterback. That's what we did. That's what we did.

Oh, yeah, Bruce Ballet later today. Should the Bengals make a move at quarterback? What are they doing? That's next on First Things First. What? The Fox Sports Channel is here six on what? Why did you say, hey, what's going on? I don't do it all the time.

Hey, check out the podcast. What's going on the YouTube channel, Gianna? We're crushing. Are we really? Yeah, don't read the comments from yesterday. Why? What are they? People were not happy with you.

It was my fault. Nonsense. You may have had a bot army then. See? Just don't read them. Check out our YouTube channel. A.J. Brown, the Eagles are 4 and No, and number one in the NFC. But, A.J. Brown's other numbers aren't great.

151 yards, which is 66th in the league. Fourteen catches, 61st. in the league. That's crazy. Here's Sireani. AJ is very important to this football team. You know, I know he wants to contribute. I know he wants to contribute and, you know, do the things that he's capable of doing.

I question nothing about, you know, his desire to play great football, his desire of being a good teammate, his desire to be here. Okay. Should Eagles fans be worried about A.J. Brown? Yeah, at least a little. I think they should be worried, and I think this is where I would put a little more on the plate of Jalen Hertz. And as not only team leader, but team quarterback,

which is it is a fair commentary on Jalen Hertz, the quarterback, that his biggest weakness as a passer is that intermediate over the middle. He does, there's stylistically, he has some similarities to late stage Russell Wilson. You know what I mean? Where it's a lot of like stuff shortened in the flats and then deep passes particularly down the sidelines. A.J. Brown excels in that area where Jalen is not great. And because of that, because the team has been, you know, they won what, 20 out of 21 or 19 out of 20, whatever it is. they've been like, well, if he's not great at it and we don't need to do it, why do it?

I think Jalen needs to advocate to do some more of that and to try to bring him back in because I do think the Philadelphia Eagles, it is more incumbent on them to make sure A.J. Brown is firmly within the fold than it is to have the absolute ideal week five game plan because I think they are playing for a other championship and it's so hard to do so. And also, as far as their ability to win that other championship, having teams be worried about, oh, they'll throw to all quadrants. You know what I mean? We have to cover all routes.

I think would help you against your best opponents down the road because I don't think they're going to win every game the way they have the last 20. So that's what I think needs to happen, even if it seems a little unfair to Jalen, because he didn't ask for any of this. It's so interesting watching the press conference. And it's such consistent language. So if you have a blowup with a player on the sideline, it's because he's passionate. And then if the guy starts saying stuff about the team, it's because he's so competitive.

You know, I don't question his competitive. It's all the stuff you have to say when you're going through this. And this isn't groundbreaking where you have a receiver who wants the ball and is unhappy about it and goes public. So I would imagine that you'll go to the offense coordinator like, okay, let's get him play two and play five. A.J. Brown plays and you just figure out some something that you can get in the ball to kind of pacify them in the first script. And then ideally in the start of the second half, okay, what are a couple A.J. Brown plays that we need to put in. But does, coach, they haven't done that. It's not like this is brand new. Like this popped up pretty early. But, but at this point,

you know, he's, he's last year the, the library book came out during the playoffs. This, now we've got the tweet in week four. So this is coming to a head a lot early. earlier, which we all could have predicted based off of his comments in the off season as well. So you're going to have to identify a couple AJ Brown plays, and the rest of the offense will all kind of roll their eyes because I know what it is. And it's not that anybody disagrees how talented he is, but when you're putting the other game plan, you're ideally trying to beat whatever the coverage is, and you're trying to get

to the best play. and then when you start having to accommodate for personalities, it can be a little bit disruptive. And when you're four and oh, the last thing you want is something that's disruptive. Yeah, no, I agree with it. And I think, Nick, I agree with you on your assessment of Hertz. But when they need it, they can go into intermediate.

It's really weird. I totally agree that the offensive coordinator should open up the playbook a little more. But as far as AJ, he had nine targets last week. How many were catchable, though, bro? Well, he wasn't open. Like in the second half, pretty much none of them. Because he was covered. But that, like, we, Josh Allen is a prime example.

When Stefan Diggs left, who was his best receiver, he got better because he wasn't preoccupied with I got to get Steph DeBall. And I'm not saying DAC was that way with C.D. Lamb. But we just saw this weekend against Green Bay when DAC doesn't have his best receiver. And he, you know, he has a phenomenal. because he's probably just going to whoever the open guy is. A lot of times it was Pickens. But I just think you don't want your quarterback totally like feeling like I've got to get

this guy to ball. And that is very disruptive. So can I push back on that though? Because if this feels different than it's not like Devonte's and Dallas Godder having huge years. And AJ's just, AJ's frustrated because the passing offense is working. he's just getting ice, you know, iced out.

They're not throwing much. They're thinking and done. So there have been, there's 256 offensive halves of football played this year through four weeks. The 256th most productive and the 255th most productive are from a passing offensive this season where the Eagles first half two weeks ago and the Eagles second half last week. This is a weird thing where,

yes, they are winning, but the part of the offense that A.J. Brown is involved in is not working to a way the Titans are working. You know what I mean? Like every other team to have negative yards in the first half two weeks ago and zero completions in the second half last week. It's not, it's not. The run game isn't working at all. The run game is not working anyway. You give the Eagles, this is where I, like, oddly, seriously. Siriani deserves massive credit. The special team has been great. Like, they're not turning the ball over. They're doing a lot of things that allow you to win games without

passing the ball. But, like, it is, this isn't, to me, irrational for a start, for any player, much less a start start. It would be like, guys, we had negative passing yards through a whole half two weeks ago. And last week, we didn't complete a pass. He should just be, he should, and maybe he's doing this. But he needs to be talking to the coaches, talking to Jalen privately. Now, does he feel like I've been doing that for two years and nobody's hearing me,

so I'm going to tweet something out? But I promise you, like, we're not revealing this to the Philadelphia Eagles coaching staff. Like, they know there's problems, and they're trying to address those problems, and it hasn't been working. So it's not that by making this public, somehow it's going to draw their attention to the fact that they're Do you think anybody in that building wants to have zero passing yards or to have the two of the most unproductive quarters of football? I think it's the O.C. I think that he's like, I don't know what's going on. I assume he's getting his feet wet just like any other team that's had a slow start. That's what I assume coach. He's like, you know what I'm going to unveil some interesting goal line stuff. I work the whole week on like the fake tush push and the little shovel pass. And maybe this week like, all right, now. I'm going to look at AJ Brown

plays. I assume that's the personnel that changed. Jayland was there. Siriani was there. Petula was there, but now he's in charge. Well, in 22 and 23, AJ Brown had great numbers. Monster years. Great numbers with Jaylor. And collectively, like you said, the running games, not much is working, but there is an awareness

in the building that it's not working. It's not like we're not springing it on them. One piece of solace for AJ Brown. You could be on the Bengals in Japan. James. Bengals lose to Denver behind a blah game from Jake Browning that saw the team outgained by over 350 yards. Nine straight punts, nine total first downs, two tweets from Jamar Chase.

First one, you better leave me alone with some smiling emojis. And I play with passion. And it has a little tiger there and says, Hoode. So do the Bengals need to make a move at QB? Are we just still rolling with Browning? Go ahead. I wouldn't give up on the season if I were. sensitive. Make a move or don't make a move? I would make a move.

That's what I'm saying. I think not making a move is punting on the season. Now, I don't think the Steelers are a juggernaut, and we're talking about the Ravens, you know, Lamar missing time. Like it feels, they gave themselves a bit of a grace, period, by winning those first two games. I personally would call Atlanta and see if Kirk Cousins, you know, what it would cost to bring in Kirk Cousins. And we're not even, I would do that even if Joe Burrow was definitively out for the year. They seem to be holding out hope that maybe he could be back by December. And if that's the case.

Really? Yeah, I mean, that's what the original reporting was, was three months. I don't buy that reporting, but regardless, like, the, I just think Browning had that great eight-game stretch two years ago. That doesn't seem to be anywhere close to the place. player is now and they're still in it. So I would I would prefer cousins over Russ and I would make a phone. I would prefer cousins over Russ. And I agree like it's just too early to punt on the season because and if you don't

bring somebody else in and Browning continues to play this way, I think you might start losing players coach like they're just going to lose interest and then maybe somebody can get hurt that way or whatever and you don't want that. How about you going to like this? And Russ, I would take Russ over Brown. Here we go. Call the Niners. Oh, I don't think the Niners.

I don't know if they grade their starting quarterback? Yeah. I mean, this is a good opportunity for Matt Jones. But I think he's actually too valuable for the Niners right now because Purdy is, you know, hurt again. Yeah, I mean, to me, Jamis. I'm going to say James. James is, I would go cousins, James, and then, I don't know. But I would make those calls, Coach.

Russ would be better, too, than Brownie. The challenging thing here is Cincinnati's not known for deal making. No. And Cincinnati is also not known for doing anything quickly. Think about how long it took for them to sign their own players and dragging stuff out. So the idea of them being able to go get a deal done with Atlanta for a guy like Kirk Cousins and get it done quickly. Because even when you do the deal, you've got to get them in the building. You got to get them up to, now you can get a veteran guy up to speed fairly.

quickly, but each week that we go is a further week out. And if anything, Cincinnati tends to lean towards we made a decision. We felt the decision was good at the time. We're going to see the decision through. And that's what it feels like with Browning is they've seen him win games in the past. And I'm sure organizationally, they feel like he can continue to win games. And they're probably not going to make it. They got Detroit and Green Bay next.

Then they got this, I think the Steelers on a Thursday. So it's short week. I mean, those are at least the next two games. They're losing no matter who they. I mean, listen, the Vikings defense is tough, and the Broncos defense was unbelievable yesterday. And credit to the Broncos. I thought the Bengals could keep it close.

I thought they maybe even could win. They were one of my picks last week. They got annihilated yesterday. But I have been very surprised at how bad the passing offense has been. You know what I mean? A penalties are bad. It's not just like. It seems like the team also.

So it doesn't have any juice. Yeah, Jamar said like we didn't want to play. James would be the fun option. James would be exciting because he'll be throwing the touchdowns and in a second. No, but honestly, I bet for Chase, that would be you could deal with it. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, he would like those numbers would pop. Yeah.

Yeah. I like that. Bengals have been outscored 7613 in the last two games. From Duval to keep my name out of your mouth. We're talking about new beef in Jacksonville. Battle of undefeated teams saw the Prince get the W over Brockwood three turnovers, looked rusty, but the real fireworks came after the game. Liam Cohen and Sala got into it based off of a comment last week, coach,

where Sala said, quote, they've got legally a really advanced signal stealing type of system. Well, Liam Cohen said, keep her name out of my name out of your mouth. And then Sala said, quote, without cursing, all bleeping. End your life. I'm taking solid that one. I think we better be happy and didn't become something. Coach, is this something or nothing? I'm trying to figure out what Salas.

So is Salas saying that they are stealing the signals that the defensive players are using as they're making their adjustments? Because you verbally send the defense in. So we must be talking about. So I can tell you. So this is actually kind of. of complex. Sala obviously is Shanahan Coen

coaching tree. Liam Cohen is the McVeigh coaching tree. It's kind of rival coaching trees McVeigh Shannon. It has been well believed for years that part of Sean McVeigh's brilliance is the ability on film study to pick up signals and then to have that be a part of your game prep and that the rest of his tree learned it as well and they are considered the best at it. So that's what he's talking about.

But they would have to be talking about the defensive signals, that the defensive players make as they're going in and out of coverages. But here, I want to let you guys in a secret, you're allowed to change those every week. Like once you set them at training camp, you can change them. And it's weird.

Like you go into the meeting and you're like, hey, this is covered to this. That was it last week. But now it's going to be this. You know? And everybody looks around. Like, oh, okay, I got it. And then you can go back.

But there's no rule. The middle league third base coach used to do. Yeah, there's really no rule that says that you have to keep the signals every single week. So what's the problem? No, I agree with you that. But legally stealing signs, I'm fine with that. Yeah, there's a difference. He was saying he and Salomey was like, look, it's legal.

They're not doing anything cheap. Long to me, if you're not using technology as an advantage or something, you're just. Well, can I just give one other heads up? They tape all the game. So every game is on TV and you can see there's an all 22 and you can see the signals that guys give

so I don't know if they're aware of that Why is solid mention? I don't know it feels It felt a little personal Really advanced Why do you need to say that? So you're saying they're not good enough necessarily to beat us

but you know with the addition of stealing signals you know that's that's what makes them so special change your signals change your signals So do you want to go on this? No, I just, the undercurrent of this is we've always talked about the Jags. And, you know, you put on a blonde wig.

And you're at Trevor, he's a Gatorade player of the year. I'm like, okay. And it's like, Brian Thomas Jr. We're like, all right, Travis. Okay. Now it's like, are you guys like a tough team? So that's. You're good at defense?

You got a coach and a fight people. So this is why I actually think this was great for Liam Cohen. Yeah. Liam Cohen's Robert Salah walks into, I would imagine walks into a locker room for the first time.

I thought it was like a setup of a Joe. No, no, no, no. And has players' attention. You know what I mean? Because he, you know, big, strong, tough guy. Liam Cohen doesn't have, I think, that same gravitas. And his opening press conference

with the Duval thing, whatever, like it kind of became a punchline. If you watch how his players react to him saying to that guy, keep my name out your mouth, knowing probably, that guy's got my back. I'm going to keep walking. And he's also kind of changed his look a bit to where it's, yes, I think he is like doing a mid-year rebrand of like who he is and who they are.

And I think that's useful. I really do. Hitting him up with the Will Smith. reference well sure but the I just think he's trying to kind of gain some athlete credibility

yeah something you know what I mean because like I think it's competitive fire I thought he's just going to be kind of a because we've seen the guys who are the offensive geniuses that don't really have that tough guy credibility that sometimes that can hurt them in the locker room yeah and so I think that offensive geniuses are usually like

Soft. But you know what, Miami, they are playing hard for McDaniel. Yeah, no, that's true. Why did you think we were talking about Mike McDaniel? I guess I did you always prove. No, I'm just saying, you're always referencing. No, I didn't say anything about him. Break dancers.

You think the dolphins are playing like super hard for Mike McDaniel? The last two weeks, yeah, I do. I agree with them. And the uniforms, they didn't look like break dancers. The uniforms are good. I like those. Drew doesn't want to do any more bits. Basically.

No, no. He told me in the makeup. This is Mahal is back on top of his own mountain next. Live from New York. It's a show that bought one of those huge skeletons. It's 12 feet tall sitting in the front of my yard. And then my wife's like, well, the eyeballs aren't working. She's like, Kevin, you got to get up there and pick.

I didn't want the skeleton. I'm not getting on a step ladder 10 feet. Are you going to make your wife to it? Your wife already drives your round. Can you know what do with that? What do you do with that? What are the eyeballs do? I understand.

They just go, I understand it's 2025, but there's certain things the man's supposed to do. Go up on a step ladder to get it. Yes. She mowed your lawn for you? I didn't want the skeletons.

It doesn't matter. You own it now. Who's going to take it apart and put it in the basement? It better be you. It's been out there for a month getting rusty. You think those pieces fit? Down there with a rib cage,

banging into stuff. Second of a house. our first things first. Today it's the worst. I'm over. I'll have a football Sunday. You invited me over for the first time? November, whatever it is after Halloween. Can the Raven stay afloat until Lamar returns? He's going to miss a few weeks. Not good. Maybe. No, no, you might miss it. Might miss it. Yeah, Mike Lee is still not good. Meanwhile, Brew's latest MVP ballot. Is it going to mimic the segment we're about to embark on right now? Let's start the climb.

fours in the books. We continue our ascent in the Midwest. The first thing's first bowl left Bruin his ravens battered and bruised. In New York, new Giants QE debuted and dethrone, Justin Herbert, and the Chargers. Even further north, Josh Allen stayed undefeated while stampeding up the most treacherous segment in all of sports. Mom's town. Great work is all that's got in last. That's not just for housework. These robots are coming. Maybe a little longer next time. Yeah.

Oh, sure. Hey, I'll be out there for 25 minutes. Yeah. All right, so here's the deal. 32 quarterbacks in the league, starting quarterbacks, 28 spots on the mountain. So typically, there are no vacancies, there's just four guys off the mountain.

This week there's five. It's not because of a vacancy, however. So let's first show who is off the mountain. Off the mountain. Spencer Rattler. At least people who didn't watch the end. I'm like, oh, they kept it close through for 140 yards. Jake Browning's been a disaster.

Joe Flacco's been worse. Carson Wentz, not great. And Bryce, I'm sorry, man. It might be getting late early for Bryce, your guy, Bryce Young. Great defense. KW. Hey, you're going to be eating that out. KW.

KW. So why do we have an extra person off the mountain? Well, it's because there's one team in the league that I simply don't know who their starting quarterback is at this point. So reveal the bottom of the mountain, and it's the two guys, Brock Purdy and Mac Jones. Oh! It felt unfair to knock Mac off. He might be starting Thursday. We don't know.

Purdy came back. They kind of wish he maybe he didn't, three turnovers. He said guns. Say, Lou. I mean, he is a guns slinger. Ever since his quote about, I want to beat Tom Brady, he started a, I don't know what Brady film he's watching, but watch the other film. Kyler has to drop KW. Well, this is a coach thing. Coach told me the offensive line would be good at Callian's dad.

At some point, that's his coach. You have to be. I agree. I did say that. I like that. I stare by it. Are you down on war? I stare by and I'm disappointed.

I'm down on Wilds. Every time he gets a take wrong, he's. blame someone else. You blame Danny for your chief stake. That's true. You blame coach. I did sell it though. I sold it to.

But you didn't pick the Titans to make the playoffs. He did. He said, he said, I don't know, but the offensive line is going to be stellar. And you know what Cam Ward said? Keep it a buck.

We ask right now. That's what he said. That is what he said. I know. Justin Field stays there. He had a nice run. Michael Pinnock's back on the mountain. He had a very nice bounce back week

after a terrible week three. And shout out to Jackson Dart. He didn't really even play great, but he didn't play terrible. They got a win. Everybody seems to love him and scatter him. Brew calls it moxie, wild calls it aura, whatever. All right, six throw.

And he can dance too. Oh, a little bad. It's a little dancing. I had to drop Daniel Jones. Greg's not here. Listen. I think Greg is here. No, he's not.

He's gone now. He was just here yesterday. And I do understand that he should have had one more touchdown than he did, but he still threw a couple of picks, including the one to ice the game. he's out or he's down. You gave the receiver a pass and you're ripping him. No, I'm not ripping him, but it was the, the picks is what hurt him.

Jaden, you can miss one week and keep your spot. You miss two weeks you got drop a bit. I think that's fair. Best ability coach, you know what they say? Availability, everybody knows that. Fair, it's fair. Gino having a rough start to the year. Yeah.

It's a rough start. It's a lot of picks. Trevor, having a rough start to the year. I so badly wish I wasn't just riddled with integrity, which prevents me from saying the Jags are 3-1 because of Trevor. They're not 3-1 because of Trevor. They're a three-and-one despite. That might be a little too far, but it's not great.

Bo Nix, fair's fair. I thought, you know, played really well after the first quarter yesterday. I basically took care of the game's over at halftime. He gets credit. And Tua thought he played. Good for three and a half quarters less Thursday against Buffalo through the terrible pick. And then last night, I thought it was solid. They obviously, even despite losing Tyreek, we move him up.

Now to the top 15. J-Lo stays where he is. I thought it was a really good game with a potentially horrifying ending, so we're not going to move him up or down. Caleb, similar thing. I thought he had nice moments, rough moments, stays where he is. Drake May is playing really well. And right now, I think it is the best statistical profile you could hope for in this regard. What you didn't want when you draft raw, young Drake May is for him to come in and just be safe and kind of, you know, drawing inside the lines.

What I would want if I were UKW is I'll deal with the mistakes as long as I'm seeing the high upside stuff. And that's what you're getting. Like he's made some mistakes, turns the ball a little too much, a little too risky, but some big time throws and his numbers are excellent. I don't think it's sustainable, but Aaron Rogers was just 18 of 22 for 200 yards. He got the ball out within a quarter of a second seemingly every time he moves up. And CJ, I don't know. I have to review the tape.

See if they had somewhere like early, late third, early fourth, their version of tackle that turned the tide. Because through 15 quarters this season, he was brutal. Fourth quarter last week, really good. They finally get a win. And I feel like he has enough talent where he has a little bit of, you know, benefit of the doubt. So I move him up based off just the one quarter. Top 10.

Justin Herbert has fallen a bit. Now, two weeks ago, he did not have a great game, but he had such a great play to win the game that he got, you know, like MVP buzz because of it and credit. But it wasn't a great overall game. This past week, he didn't have a great game at all. I don't think the game plan helped him out that much. I don't want Wilde to get mad at me about the Jalen Hertz thing,

but I don't know what to do here. I mean, you have zero complete. Okay, you have zero completions in the second half of week four. You have negative yards in the first half of week three. I'm fine with blaming Petulow, but I can't put him in the top six with these numbers. And A.J. Brown holding a hunger strike. Like, is that good?

Jerogoff stays where he is. And shout out, is he your guy again? Can we call him your guy? Now that he's like, well, there we go. Sam Daryl. Seahawks might be dangerous. They are. The Seahawks might be legitimately dangerous,

and I might have to apologize for saying they made the, you know, they got rid of a better quarterback for a worst quarterback and Gino for Darnold. Thus far, that takes not aging great. Top six. Lamar, I dropped Lamar, the injury, the I thought I'm going to put a lot of weight on that performance because I know he did.

I know he has been brilliant statistically leading up to that game. I just, I also think. think that prior to the injury, the sacks he's taking in big spots is not great. So I dinged him a bit. I think it's fair. Baker tried to will him back into that game, then also threw a pick late. But he's been the catalyst of that team. And I think Dak, deck I thought was great through the first three weeks,

didn't have numbers to support it except for yards. I'm glad he had the huge statistical game because now the stat profile fits what I'm saying. And now the moment everyone's been waiting for. Is Josh Allen still atop Mahomes Mountain? Well, let's see row two. Josh Allen dips just a bit. Matt Stafford, Brew, what do they call him? Everybody's All-American moves up.

Listen, Josh was fine, but the reality is Josh has really only been fine in weeks, two, three, and four. He was great in week one, and some people think week one performance, performance against Baltimore don't even really count. I happen to think performances in Baltimore count a lot. Back atop his mountain. in his rightful place after a four touchdown flawless performance. Give the guy one receiver, even if he weighs less than me.

And all of a sudden, the offense is cooking again, Patrick Mahomes. That is the week. Can I ask you a real quick question? Can we put, before we go to you coach? Sure. Because we get asked this a lot. Can we put the mountain back up? It's just a clarification issue.

Yeah. It feels like there's all green on the right side of the mountain. So it's like if you moved up. Maybe you were down, you know, we're in the purdy spot and you moved up, you move up to that. So it looks like, and if you go down, you know, you end up on the left side. So you're asking if it's left to right. I mean, it certainly looks like it the way that's all green. Again, I don't want to.

I don't want to, you know, trying to fully explain how the sausage is made, but I will. I send Hubs and Dusty an email that says row one, row two, row three, row four, row five, row six, and that email is sorted alphabetically. And then I let them decide

the left to right portions of it. They may be, because for our graphic designers, maybe it's easier to have the Roy G. Biv, you know, red, left, green right, I'm not sure. But that is what it is.

Like, and how do you explain Mack Jones, who's blue, being in between the red ones? I don't know. So, but I mean, I can ask them.

It's not left to right. No. Everybody knows it's not left to right. Okay, if you get a chance to ask. It's a great question. A very good clarifying question because I thought the same thing. Okay. I think a lot of.

And your intro was, it was outstanding again. Oh. I really love it. Wow. Whatever. And it changes the whole. This isn't the bud list, coach. Don't give him that.

Oh, no, but I'm just saying. Save that love for me. My favorite part of the same thing. I think my mind. Coach, you're not hurting my feeling. I'm going to switch DAC and Stafford. And I didn't, you know, I'm kind of a staffer. I've been a staffer guy.

I've been a staffer guy. Of course. But I think that the way that DAC has performed has lived up to the contract he's gotten. He has put this team legitimately on his back. And when you look at the situations that these two guys are in, so Dack has a rookie head coach, and he essentially has a new offensive coordinator. I know Brian was the offensive coordinator in title last year, but I don't think Brian was necessarily calling all the plays. So he's got those two things where Stafford has made.

where Stafford has McVeigh, veteran head coach, veteran offense coordinator. So he's got that benefit. You've got the defensive discrepancy, which is huge. Dallas is 32nd and the Rams are night. Dallas can't be 30 second coach. Ravens have worst defense ever. I think of total yards. No, I'm sure you're right.

I mean, I could be wrong. No, I'm sure you're right. No, no. So there's that component. And then when you look at offensive weapons, the Rams have significantly better offensive weapons, especially with C.D. Lamb. I know the records are a little bit different, but really the Rams could have easily lost if the young receiver just had held onto the ball instead of trying to showboat. And now we're looking at very comparable records. And when you

look at their production, that goes toe to toe in a much, much more challenging scenario than Matthew Stafford. And I think that's why those two should be switched. Yeah, but coach, is he everybody's all-American? Is everybody's all-American? Well, he might become everybody's all-American. He might become it. Listen, what is fair is maybe I am giving disproportionate credit

for the Rams offense to Stafford when maybe the conversation should be, why is Puka Nakua not the best receiver in football? Great take. You know, again, I mean, my my gut and what I feel I know about football says,

obviously Justin Jefferson and Jamar Chase are just better than Pooka. Nakua. But all Fukunakua has ever done since he's walked in the league is produced like he's the best receiver or one of the best reasons in football. And this year, he is now, if it were a 16 game season, on pace for 16 catches and 2,012 yards. He's currently got the most receiving yards in the NFL. What did you say? He's got a bunch of touchdowns too, right? Oh, I don't even, yeah, it wasn't even. Vontes got more. Yeah, that's the thing. He's got another, he's got three. Okay. I think Pug's only got one.

Oh, he's only has one. Devonte playing next to him. So you got another great receiver, and he's still putting up those numbers. Well, that opens it up. What's this? As you know. Yeah. Go ahead, go ahead.

So you agree. No, I think it's a good, I think it's a good case, but I think staff is a lot of better. It sounds like he agrees with you coach. And again, it's not left to right. As it happened, DAC actually is in fourth place. No one though he's all the way on the right. You don't like the left to right conversation?

I do. I do. I often, rightfully so, have a bonus take. Oh, good. Bonus take. Having Purdy next to Mack Jones is nasty work. Wow. Purdy is the starter.

Now, if he's hurt, he's hurt, Mac will get his chance. But Purdy should also, Nick. What? He has got to be switched with G. No! Gino has seven picks. Seven. Heardy would if he played the whole season.

No, no. Purdy's got four and four touchdowns, four picks. Four picks and two games. Gino's got six touchdowns. This is just the bonus take. That's just the bonus take. So switch those two, please. Love a bonus take.

Thank you, coach. But here's the real take. Wow. Switch J-Lo and Sam Darnel. What are we talking about? J-Lo is not getting enough love on this show. And I'm not even trying to give a pun. I mean, look at, look at the numbers.

J-Lo's numbers are better. He's second in the league and passer. 8 to 1 TD interceptions. Donald's TD interceptions is not that good. More yards per game. Donald's got him, but they both got good yards per attempt, and completion percentage is essentially the same. And here's the thing.

Love has two of the best wins this season, Washington and Detroit. Why is Washington one of the best wins? At that point, they had Jayton Daniels. Like, they still were, you know, we thought they were a really good team. Donald has faced four teams nobody believes in. San Francisco, obviously, banged up, but that was the first game. But Pittsburgh, nobody really believes in them. New Orleans and Arizona.

Hold on. So he's done this against four. Hold on, bro. Do you believe in Pittsburgh? I don't personally, but they're three and one. They're not that strong of a squad. That was when their defense was struggling. Well, because they had to play Sam Darno.

And so J-Lo's done against better competition. J-Lo also does not have an elite receiver. He's got four good receivers. The youngster, the rookie hasn't developed yet. You love the Packers weapons. No, they got good receivers, but they don't have an elite receiver. I don't know if we can call it. I mean, Jackson Smith and Gigba.

I don't know if he's got too elite. It's pretty darn good. He's better than anybody on the Packers. I will say, I think you would agree with that. I agree. I think the Seahawks have the best receiver, but then of the teams, I think the Packers have the next three. Yes. He got a nice little core, but that that's not the main.

Listen. I would have raised Jordan. Jordan Love would have been, again, it's not left to right, but as it happens, he was the first cut. And as it happens, Darnel was the last guy on that road. It's coincidental this time. Jordan Love would have had it. I can't get over the end of that game. He is so fortunate that they didn't just lose.

Some of that has to be won. And I think that is. But they didn't have any time out. See that. They had no time. He trusted that Jordan Love wasn't going to put the game in jeopardy, and then he put the game in jeopardy. I just didn't love that. And didn't he have his turnover against the Browns late, which is what?

Yeah. He lost the game. And then wasn't his turnover against Dallas late, which gave him a chance? That wasn't that late. What was the third quarter? I thought it was. The, well, I'm not sure. To be honest, the end of the second.

The, but regardless, it's the very, it was the end of overtime that concerned. But you're right about the Browns game. He cost them the Browns game. People are disin J-Lo. We're not dissing him. I mean, he's played to a loss and a tie against two teams that they probably should have beat. And they have, they score 40. I mean, they have like you said, Coach, how about a little defense?

All right. Maybe there's a trade for Michael Parsons. Go ahead. I'm feeling great. And I'm okay with this mound just because I'm in a good mood right now. Oh, wow. I'm filled up with candy. I'm filled up with candy.

I'm filled up with candy corn, feeling alive. I would like to move Drake May up, but you know what? If you don't, I'm okay with it because I'm really planting the seeds. On the doorstep of destiny. Greg, you know what? That's just like Tackler Turn the Tide. I'm glad you said that. No, it's not.

What does it mean? Drake May is on the doorstep of destiny. What's the destiny? To take over from Josh Allen and reclaim the AFCES that is rightfully ours. Wow. Wow. Everyone's like, oh, Drake Mays just like Josh Allen. Drake May is, you know, he reminds us to Josh Allen.

Well, now he gets to go up to Buffalo on Sunday night football, all eyes on Drake May. And everyone's going to say, huh, people are going to be in bars. You're like, you're going to think I had too many course lights. But you know who the best quarterback on the field is right now? Really? Buddy. Really? Doorstep of destiny.

Here's his ranks. He already completes. He's, you know. I like completion percentage. A lot of people don't. Yeah, I don't care about it. He's first in league. Total touchdowns.

Tied for third. You guys all made fun of me because Josh were making graphics said he's as good as Randall Cunningham and Michael Vick. Passer rating fifth, yards per pass, six. I like that one. Total yards per game, six. Solid.

No, those are very. More than solid. And then it's like, well, is it Josh McDaniels and the old Mac Jones defense, excuse me, offense? Just like little stuff, though. But it's not all little stuff. Mack Jones was out there throwing pillowy balls with Josh McDale,

but he's opened it up a little bit more. These are on moderately deep shots. Is there an official name for these? 10 plus yard attempts is what. Dime plus, I call them. But deep shots are 20 plus. Yeah. Dink and dunk are behind the line of scrimmage.

Intermediate needs a new branding. Dime plus. They call them mid. No, they don't call them mid. 26 completion, so we're at 62 where I'll go to top three. So we're out of there. And then, you know what, Coach, I'm always looking for? What's my on?

Force multipliers. Oh, that's a good one. Are you changing the culture? Are you taking maybe wide receivers that people sort of didn't believe in? Hmm. And so. Who's he doing that way? Hello.

Oh. Stefan Diggs gets back to over a hundred yards against Carolina. He's slowly getting more and more involved in the offense. That's going the opposite direction. Really? It went less, less. He got more. He had 100.

Right, but you're saying so you went from 57 to 32 to 23 then up. I test. From 6.4.3 to 6. Well, regardless. He has a high number of his targets. Also on the doorstep of destiny. Ooh, Stefan Diggs revenge game. Back to Buffalo.

I do like that. Who's going to give him the ball? All right. Also, Cardi's album? Hello. Friendly reminder. Cardi is our Taylor Swift. All right, I like that a lot.

I'm finding myself supporting party online with my burners. I got to tell you, buddy, it's a dangerous group to be mixing. She's our Taylor Swift. I have to defend. Listen, I love Cardi B, and I'm happy for Stefan Diggs. I'm sure that's going to work out. I don't know why you're laughing. And I like Drake May.

I don't like that you have decided to use the mountain in ways. it's not designed. I just say on the door instead of destiny. Because here's the deal, America, and then we can go to break. The conceit of the mountain and tears is for you to see what I did with the mountain, what the committee did with tears, and then say what you would change. The reason I know Kevin Wilds did not do this is because before the mountain had been submitted and our shared Google Doc, Wilds wrote in the segment for this segment,

Drake May is on the doorstep of destiny. I could have had him number one. I knew you were going to have him up. And you did have him up. And you were, and you told on yourself by saying, I'm not even demanding you move him up. Because you think he's properly rated. You just wanted to use this as a way to.

Next week, next week, holy cow. If he were on the doorstep of destiny. If they beat Buffalo, he will be a great game. And Stepon's great. Cardi's album's number one. rolling out here. I'm telling you, we're back in a major way. Mack Holland's Revenge Game.

You listen to it when you're taking the boys to school? Oh, hmm? You said, do you listen to when you're taking the voice to school? Just the radio edit. It even had to be a little dicey, buddy. We got some bad news coming out of Baltimore. Brian Wacker of the Baltimore Sun reporting that Lamar will try to give it a go Sunday against the Texans, but most likely we'll miss that game and could miss

two to three weeks, Brew. Texans are now favored in Baltimore. Do you think the Ravens can stay afloat? I'm just hoping if he's out, he's back for the Chicago game in week seven. Because they have the two games, Houston, the Rams that he may miss. Then they've got the buy.

So he could be back. I think he maybe could be back for the Rams game, Brew. Maybe. I mean, but I'm saying if it's two to three, you know, weeks, he gets the buy, you get extra rest. Maybe you can come back 100.

percent theoretically. But Houston, I feel, is the game to get. If you play both of those without Lamar, I would assume if Lamar is not playing against the Rams, that the Rams are going to have a heyday with that defense. Houston, though, this is where we really find out what the Ravens defense is. I definitely don't think it's the worst in the league. I know it is statistically. But they have played Buffalo, Detroit, and Kansas City, three top teams, three top

quarterbacks. The Browns are not good offensively. but they held the Browns down offensively. So if Houston runs up 27 or more points, then that just means, yeah, their defense is just flat out bad, and then they're in trouble. But I think Houston could be a winnable game. I know Houston's defense is really tough,

but I expect to see Derek Henry left, Derek Henry right, and hopefully Cooper Rush can make a few nice passes. So at best coach, I think two and four, assuming they missed these two games without Lamar. But I think they're still very much alive for the playoffs, regardless, as long as he's back for the Bears game. Yeah, Derek Henry easily could have been in the MVP discussion last season with what he did. And to me, that's what the next two games is.

I would tell everybody, eat your weaties and strap up because it's going to be all Derek Henry. Look at the guys. We've got Mark Andrews, the 250s, Isaiah likely 245. And then he got Charlie Kohler, the third tight end, six. 265. So I'm going three tight ends. Patrick Ricard, the fullback, 6-3-300 pounds in front of Derek Henry 6-3-252. And we're just going to play nine on seven and slow the game down and see how much Derek Henry you can eat through four quarters and keep the defense off the field. Let's just, let's just see what happens. I'm with it. I'm getting big and noisy and it's Derek Henry's

had the fumbling problem, don't worry about it. You're going to make it right over the next two weeks. So this Texans defense has been elite. The defense is good. Great. Let's see if they're elite and tough. Yeah. Because we're going to get big and angry.

And we're going to keep our defense off the field. And we're going to see how many bruises you want to go home on. So, and the Texans defense is particularly elite against the past. Right. Because they have a great secondary and they have a great pass rush. Now, they won't have to worry about rushing the past. Right. I also wonder that the.

headhunter safety they have, is it all shy, the guy who got suspended last year, he basically punched Cam Ward in the face this week. Yep. Didn't get flagged for it. The only reason I bring it up is I wouldn't be shocked, given his history.

Right. If the league, if he's suspended. And that, you know what I mean? Oh, you think? I think he could be.

Isn't there a difference like open hand versus? No, but this was, but the thing is this wasn't a like post-play thing. It was what he's done in the past, which is a violent, during the play. But regardless, the point is,

I do think I'm interested in how much resistance the Ravens defense can put up, because while I agree with Brew theoretically, that I don't think this Ravens team is going to finish the year as the worst or second

worst defense in football, I do think the team that they are trotting out their Sunday might be the worst defense in football because you're without all, the guys you didn't have in the Chiefs game, plus the three guys you lost during the Chiefs game. You know what I mean? So you will be without seven of your starters to start that football game.

Now, all those guys except for Matabike, they expect back at some point. The Texans offense for 15 quarters this year was one of the worst offenses in football. The fourth quarter against Tennessee got it going. But where I want to go back to you, coaches, do you think if we're trying to, go glass half full on a sucky situation, which is one of the premier faces of the league missing time, that what if they do what you said, and all of a sudden, the defense even undermanned looks a little better,

and Derek Henry gets back to the yards per carry he had last year, do you think that could influence Munkin, who it seems like John Harbaugh is not happy with? We were going to talk about this before the Lamar injury. he had a very pointed press conference talking about play calls and things like that. That when Lamar comes back, we're going to have more of this type of game playing, even though we have the dynamic Lamar Jackson at quarterback. I don't know why you wouldn't lean into this because when a team, first of all, dealing with Lamar is hard enough.

Dealing with Lamar as a runner is extremely hard and it simplifies defense. When you've got to deal with a guy like Derek Henry, in addition to Lamar Jackson, it opens so many things in the passing game because you've got to commit eight in the box. You've got to have run-stopping defenses and everything else should become that much more dynamic. And we talk about the Philadelphia Eagles formula for winning. Baltimore has had a very consistent and successful formula for winning as well. And as much as they want to change the narrative to Lamar Jackson is this dynamic generational passer, don't try to justify a narrative.

Just do the things that he does really well and the numbers will come. It's sometimes guys too are looking for a head coaching job and you don't get a lot of head coaching jobs because you run the ball well. You get a head coaching job because if you owned a team. Oh, yeah, you definitely. You get a coaching job.

And here's quickly, he's averaging over like five and a half years to carry this year. It's been, listen, it's been lack of touches. And I don't want to say I don't care about the fumbles, but I find the fumbles to be so not random, but it's not going to, I just don't. Yeah, I don't think that's going to continue. I would set the, if you set the over under at fumbles for Derek Henry,

the rest of the season at one and a half, I would take the under. You know what I mean? I bet he had zero or one fumble the rest of the way. That is not a reason not to give him the ball. Two undefeated teams left in the league. The four and O bills will. hosts the frisky Patriots. Four and O Eagles

host the Broncos. Here's how their team ranks look. Points. The bills are second. The Eagles are seventh total yards. The Eagles are 30th in yards. Well. Yeah.

They're 30th in their yards. They're 22nd in opponent's yards. They played a brutal schedule. They're undefeated. Because Jalen Hertz is a winner. That's the only, that there's nothing else. Sirian is a great coach. And their special team's been great.

Yeah. Special teams. And Syriani can coach. And Syriani. You got to give credit. Which undefeated team do you trust more here, bro? The Eagles. Really?

Yes. You showed those numbers. The Eagles have faced three Super Bowl contenders and beating them. Okay. And they still, you know, have the undefeated record. The bills have faced outside of Baltimore, the Jets, Miami, and New Orleans. And they are not in the top ten in any. like scoring defense or total defense.

So these last two weeks, they haven't looked great. Now, maybe they're playing down to the competition, whatever, but they haven't looked great. Roster-wise also, Philadelphia's roster is, I believe, definitely better. And so I have more faith. I think Philadelphia's looked better. They've been tested more. They've passed more tests.

And their roster is flat out better than Buffalo's. And they got an easier path to the Super Bowl because they don't have to play the Chiefs. And the thing you struggle with Buffalo is you're right. Their combined record of their opponents is 2 and 14. So that's not impressive, where the Eagles, a combined record is 9, 6, and 1. And also, Buffalo's ability to stop the run is a big problem. I think they're 31st in the league right now. It's 164 yards per game.

So again, you can keep Josh Allen off the field and the offense off the field if you run the ball and eat up the clock, which is going to be an issue that's going to be difficult for them to solve. The problem with the Eagles is Sequin, Barclay's average. It's half of last year, basically. Yeah, it's 3.1 versus, what was he, 5.9. Yeah, it's, so, so as much as I say, follow the formula, follow the formula, follow the formula, the formula is not the same as it was last year with Barclay's production being what it is. And it is a strange thing to look at what they've done and the fact that they're undefeated.

and I do think the problems are having with A.J. Brown, this is going to get worse the first time they lose. The first time they lose, it's going to go from a small leak to a real issue. I think the A.J. Brown thing would have been at a nine out of ten intensity if Jordan Davis doesn't block the Rams kick. I think that game where they showed they could move the ball in the second half but didn't even try in the first half throwing the ball. if that had cost them that game. You know what I mean? Then I think, but because they won, they won in such exciting fashion. So I'm going to give, I guess, a tricky answer, but I think you'll like it.

I trust week to week Philadelphia more because I think that I believe winning is a skill. I believe in championship pedigree. And I think that they have not played very well, and they've played really tough teams and won. You know what I mean? That is Philly fans who heckle me everywhere I go, that's a compliment, that you're not playing your best ball and you're winning. And I know this sounds weird because the Chiefs always beat the bills in the playoffs and the Chiefs hit lost to the Eagles in the Super Bowl last year.

The team that scares me more is Buffalo. Because I against the Chief? Yes. Because I believe the only team in the league that if Mahomes plays, his A-level game, their guy can match it, is the bills. And so, like, I, I understand the, the Eagles have forced Mahomes out of, well. Well, yeah, Mahomes hadn't. Yeah, the Super Bowl did the Chiefs won.

And so the, the Eagles have forced Mahomes into bad games. You know what I mean? Bad game in the Super Bowl and this last game, the Chiefs' offense wasn't great. But as much as, you know, I look back on honestly. the 13th second game as they were good enough. You know what I mean? And Mahomes was unreal. And I think Josh is better than he was four years ago.

You know what I mean than he was in that game? So like that's the bills to me sealing, no matter how good your team is all around, the teams that have these super duper star quarterbacks to me in the modern NFL, their ceiling is a touch higher for when that, you know what I mean? I mean, when they're firing on all cylinders, especially because I don't think Philly has the dominant defense and the dominant running game it had last year. But I think the bills could have lost to the Saints. They maybe should have lost to the Dolphins. Like the bills screw around.

They're a little fortunate to the corner. Or step of destiny, you're saying basically. I don't, I wouldn't call it in a tie. They are. I do think the Patriots can win. I just don't think that's destiny. I might make that my upsetting. I'm around a lot of young guys.

I'm around a 10-year-old daughter who's. running through the house all day, every day, screaming. I was my, I got an 18-year-old son who's in Tucson. He, see him on TikTok dancing with his mom and his sister. And my 20-year-old is right over there, turning 21 in a week. Like, how could I not feel young? And then, I mean, my wife is beautiful. I look good. I mean, I look at my age. It's like the wine that I drink. The older I, the older wine I drink, the better it is. What are expecting from LeBron this year? Listen, I mean, I shout out, by the way, to the Guardians,

Claire De Loon, or at least that's what she goes by in writing, for asking that question. LeBron seems to like her as a reporter because he gives, like, long, thoughtful answers whenever she asks questions. And her question was premised on people keep saying at 40, he's at 39, at 40, at 41, he's going to be this diminished player, and that's not the player you've been. I brew, I think he's going to be who he was,

last year, a top 10 player in the league and a guy who, because of Luca, is able to play more off the ball and be more impactful defensively because he doesn't have such a responsibility on offense. Yeah, Luca just helps so much because, as LeBron was saying in this commercial, Luca's everything. You know, like, I mean, because he can. And LeBron has shown, I was wondering, would he be able to kind of take the secondary role because he never had to do it in his life? And he did it when Luca came in.

I mean, I see Nick probably 23 points. Oh, so low. Yeah, for him, that's a drop. Was last year, 24? Last year was his first year under 25 since his rookie year. I think 23, 8 and 7. 7 and 6 or something like that. Nice that he's helped Luca with his nutrition and fitness.

He has. I know. I think he set the example for Luca. Yeah. And he'll be the, we're kind of glossing over it. First guy ever to get to year 23. Yeah. Yeah.

It's very impressive. If he is able to play very, like almost what he did last year, then they got a shot. Yeah. The West is obviously stacked, but. Aiton is obviously a huge X factor. I think Aiton is going to be good. And J.J. Reddick, year two is a big X factor.

What he learned from what he didn't. Yeah, he learned a lot on AI. Oh, yeah, he's talking to. 90 minutes a day. Yeah. Wow. Coming up in about 23 hours, it's what some people are calling. the greatest segment in all of sports.

Other people are calling it the second best segment of the week. Wow. I'll tell you, Mahomes Mountain is just on a generational... Well, I thought it was... It's gotten interesting because of... I would have thought the Budlis. The Budlis is the most motivational segment in all sport. It's swimming in a different lane. Oh, okay,

good point. Sorry. Nick's tears. Of course, every Tuesday. We close the show with an update on Bruce's ballot. So excited. Where Nick has been openly campaigning for Patrick Mahomes. Because he has played six excellent quarters of football. Since, since the tackle that turned to the side.

I'll let you get, Mahomes has definitely played himself into contention. And I got to be honest, Drake May is at least someone I'm starting to gaze at. That's all we want. All right, like, like, if they beat Buffalo, you saw Daniel Jones last week, all right, here we go. Look, at number, all he does is win. Wait, what? All he's done, if they're 16 in one, this dude has 10 touchdowns, which is tied for second in the league. No turnovers.

That's right. None. That's one of the reasons. Five past touchdowns, I think nine or 10 touchdowns, I think he's got four. I'm back. All right. So he's a great thing. He's beating Mahomes.

He's beating. You didn't give this to Mahomes last year when he was undefeated. He's beaten DAC. He's beaten. And everybody's all American, Matthew Stath. I mean, he just takes down the top rank guys. All right, at number four, wasn't in last week. Jared Gough, I got to give him some love.

He has shown people, Ben Johnson. He was good, but I am the reason. It wasn't McVeigh, it wasn't Ben Johnson, it's me. Jared Gough, I got to give him some respect. He's playing well, orchestrating the highest scoring offense in the league. something. 34 points a game. All right.

At number three, everybody's all-American. Matthew Stafford. I look, I'm objective. I'm fair. All right. No hidden agendas. No favorite players or teams. I just throw in for, you know, for.

When the Ravens lose, you have to go to hospital. I mean, Lamar's got fantastic numbers, but they're one in three. I can't put him in there. Stafford through the game went in touchdown last week, so I got to give him love. All right, number two, J-Lo! Yes, I said J-L-L-L. Y'all are hating. What?

Here's why. He went from not ranked to second with a tie. He lost his high. He lost his high. He is the only quarterback in the league. What? Who is in the top five in yards per game, in yards for a tip, in touchdowns. And number one, Josh Allen.

almost by default. Jaylow went was unranked. They tied the cowboys. He put up 40. He wasn't a problem. This is this should have been a longer segment. He wasn't a problem. It should have been either longer.

Live from New York, it's a show it's eating half a bag of candy cord. It lasts two days. And unfortunately, no one here likes it. So it's just, it's just really, you wouldn't coach me and Jeannie.

Dallis up. You rode 50 miles on your bike. this weekend. That's right. So I need to replenish. It gives me an excuse me. Candid apples and candy words. Yeah, I mean, eat real stuff though, Brew. No, you don't have to. Brew, you like candied apples? As a kid, I did. Not caramel apples. The red, caramel, no, yeah, you like caramel apples. Nobody likes candied apples. It's the same exact thing. It's the same exact thing. Yeah. What do you think the caramel is? It's carmel. Yeah, but it's, it's, it's, yeah, it's a big difference. It's no difference at all. Carmel apples are delicious. Candid

Apples are gross, that's the difference. I don't think I've ever heard. Open a shut case. Yeah. I don't think I have either, to be honest with you. First thing first overtime. Today, how much trouble are the chargers in? Is it a bad sign or a bad game?

Fluke or flaw? That is the question. Meanwhile, will the Eagle stay at top Parkins top 10, which some people are clamoring to rename Danny's dozen? Then it's 12. Well, yeah, you have to add two. Hold on, I'm just checking your mouth. You're just always renaming.

That's from a loyal viewer. Oh, yeah? Yeah. No, Wilds just likes to rename. Yeah. He really does. Was the loyal viewer one of your fake accounts? Danny's dozen is right there.

Danny's top 10? I got to be honest. I like Danny's dozen and I do like case clothes too. Oh, I got to be honest. It's all literation. That's top 10 Tuesday. You know what? I agree with him.

What? I agree with them. They have to be used for the election. I really do. I got two more for you. That's not a problem. Bad news in Baltimore. Lamar is unbelievable.

Well, he might, I should say that. He's expected to miss this week. Expected, he's going to give it a go against a Texan. Likely, you know, likely. He's going to try to give it a go. But he could miss up to three weeks, with a hamstring that's according to Brian Wack of the Baltimore Sun. We're going to go the full way here, Daniel.

We'll start with you. Is the Raven season in jeopardy? Oh, yeah. It's in jeopardy. I mean, framing it like that. I was needling you last week about how the Vegas odds had, you know, the Ravens in front of the Chiefs by a huge margin. And then even after the game, when we didn't know about the Lamar injury.

Like, this time yesterday, the Ravens were more likely to win their division than the Chiefs. more likely to make the playoffs than the Chiefs, more likely to win the AFC than the Chiefs. Did you agree with that? I know those were the odds. Yeah, because of the path. Because of the path through the AFC North and my belief in the Chargers, no doubt.

That is no longer the case, because the view was you could overcome these defensive injuries and a lot of these guys were going to come back, but their offense has been excellent. The Chiefs game not with staying up. But their offense has been excellent. It's an offensive league, especially in the regular season,

and Lamar would be good enough to carry them. and we should look at the schedule because we could just look at it through a two-game prism of this injury. They are now one in three for the first time in Lamar's career. Lamar will not be there, we assume, for the Texans game,

and maybe not for the Rams game. So just for the experiment, we'll make them one in five. If you make the Ravens one and five, since the merger, four teams ever have started one and five and made the playoffs,

And the sample of the teams that have missed is over 200. So it is, we've seen this a ton, and it's almost never been that you can overcome it. Now it's a 17-game schedule. And an extra team makes it. An extra team makes it. So not all of that historical context is exactly the same. But even if you double it to 4%. Exactly right.

So at this moment in time, I cannot wait for you guys to do must-win this week. But this is a must win against the Texas. They're both one and three. Double must win. The old double. I don't even know what you call that. Yeah, but for the double one. I'm not concerned.

Like the graphic you show is a good graphic, obviously. But as Nick has said before, almost all of those teams that start one and five are just bad teams. I know. Like they're not good. No, I'm saying. I know. But if you look at it mathematically, one, they need to be 10 and 7 to make the playoffs. 10 and 7 will get in.

So they could go. whatever, what would that be? They would have to go nine and two. I think, Danny, show the schedule. To me, and I'll, let's say they go one in five. The big game is Chicago. Well, don't let the bears get hot. Everyone knows.

No, the bears are decent. Yeah. And that's the big, but my thing is, if they can't beat the bears with Lamar, assuming he'll be back, then they're, they're going to lose some more of those games. I do think it's, here's the thing, KW, because I, I agree, I know you well enough.

to kind of read your face and thoughts. Like, when Bruce's like most teams to go one and five are bad teams, what you're thinking is, yeah, like the Ravens, if they go one and five. But hold on. No, there's a point where what's it. You are with cards? No, but they played. Where you're like, uh-oh, who's the worst poker?

What is that how's it go? If you can't spot the sucker at the table within the first 30 minutes, it's you, is that what you're trying to say? You are the sucker. No, but here's the thing. There's a certain point you have to look in the mirror like, hold on. No, are we the bad team? It's like the end of I am legend.

Will Smith is like, hold on, I'm the bad guys. The zombies are good. Spoiler alert. Sorry. You got to be honest. Their schedule, Chiefs, Lions, bills. And then the next two are without Lamar.

I understand. But also a ton of injuries. And so can I, Christina, sorry to keep throwing all this up. Put the schedule back up if we could. Because here is what I do think, even at one in five. Let's say,

They lose to the Texans, going into the Rams game. It's like, is Lamar going to play? He's not going to play. He's not going to play. He doesn't play and they lose. But that makes us believe he is going to be full strength starting with the Bears game. Yeah. I do think I will pick the Ravens to win their next six games hands down. I will pick the Ravens at home off a by against the Bears.

The dolphins, I don't believe, are good. The Vikings will see, but Wince has been underwhelming. to say the least. The Browns are all, I know the Browns are bad. The Jets haven't won a game and the Bengals who even knows who their quarterback will be. So I do think it would be reasonable, even with this bad defense, for one in five to turn into seven and five. I could see that. I just think it's that last part of the parlay that is so hard because the Steelers give them a hard time every year. The Patriots, the Steelers might be legit good. And they also might be, There's a scenario where the Steelers can.

No, to me, there's no chance the Steelers aren't fighting for playoff position. I'm just saying week 18, I'm always just near a. No, of course. But those are, that right hand column is hard. It's just a lot hard. Not to be a stickler for semantics, but like in jeopardy, like, objectively yes. Yes. Because we, we're, weird things happen in the NFL.

Like great teams or teams like the Cowboys won 12 games, 12 games, 12 games. And then missed. the playoffs. The Niners missed the playoffs. Like teams that we think are really good miss the playoffs every year and we're like it just wasn't their year. Things like that. Like every year like made the conference championship.

We are waiting for like. Yeah. To that point. We are like an amazing team. We are waiting for that team. Like we are waiting for the bad team that's actually good in the good team that just. Indianapolis.

We think it's probably Indianapolis and the good team. So that is and then I know we got to move on. Going into the year. Eagles, Lions, Bills, Ravens, were the five teams that had been good each of the last three years that everyone thought was going to be good.

And last year, the team that was in that group that fell off, and it was because of injury mostly, was San Francisco. The year before, it was Cincinnati. I don't even remember who it was the year before that, but people were like, is it going to be the chiefs after their start? The Lions were after week one. Right now of those five, if there is going to be one,

the overwhelming favorite is Baltimore. Yes. That part, you know what I mean? That's why it's in jeopardy. Yeah, it's a huge game. I mean, he might be out longer than three weeks. That's also a possible. Or he might not be able to come back

and then not have that burst. And I think that hurts. Yeah. We might need to keep that hospital bed. Chiefs got to 500. Andy Reed, optimistic as the team prepares for the Jags. Take a listen. They'll fight you.

I mean, that's a, maybe it's not all pretty, but they're going to keep fighting. And when you fight and study and practice hard and do all those things, you're going to make progress. You just get back on the horse and go. The Chiefs back to being the class of the AFC, I like that. So listen, I believe the answer to this is yes, and it has nothing to do with playoff dominance over Buffalo. The argument isn't that, well, even if Buffalo is, you know, the best team, they can't be, I'm going to put that take in a box, open it later if I need it. I just think if Buffalo is the team everybody thinks is the best team in the conference,

my answer is their defense is not good. The Chief's defense is. And I think that right now the Bill's offense looks like it's better than Kansas City. I think that we saw a glimpse of what Kansas City's offense is going to. to be now that Worthy's back. We'll see a fuller picture once Rishi Rice gets back. And that I think I think that when they play each other in the regular season, you know, week nine, whatever it is, the Chief's offense will be at the level of the

Bill's offense. I think the Chief's defense will be demonstrably better than the Bill's defense. Now, the Chiefs will probably lose that game anyway because they don't, you know, they don't do a full game plan against Buffalo in the regular season so they can smack them in the playoffs. I do, and the Chargers were making a case, Danny, but I worry about their cluster injuries on the offensive line that might have, you know, really hampered them. So to me, the answer is yes, the Chiefs, by that one game, well, really, game and a half post. Yeah, the tackle, the turn on the tide.

They are the class of the AFC. Yeah, to go off your other tattoo, never a doubt could be, like, benefit of the doubt. Wow. Like the chiefs do get, they get the benefit of the doubt. Thank you. They, they deserve it. And I'm surprised that you're not putting it in a box and using the playoff dominance over Buffalo because that is also a valid reason. Like I personally right now, if they played this week, Kansas City Buffalo, I would take Buffalo.

I would make the same mistake I just made against the Ravens. Yesterday you wouldn't do that. Well, I'm saying like, again, I am not going to doubt. No, I am not going to doubt the chief's ability to like, can they score 30 points? Yes, they clearly can. They can do anything they want. I think today Buffalo is better because of their offense. But if you want to say they beat him in the playoffs, they just righted all of their wrongs,

they're averaging 28 points a game, the last five games that they've had Xavier Worthy and they're two weeks away from getting Rishi Rice back, like that's a reasonable argument to make. And the thing is now at the top of the AFC, there's no flawless team. Well, that was my frustration about yesterday was it was like Buffalo's signature moment is hanging 40 on Baltimore. You know what I mean? Like to me, the NFC looks far more

balanced, like the good teams having you know what I mean, good offense and defense in Detroit, potentially, the Packers and Philly. And the Rams. All four of those teams, you feel like good offense, good defense. AFC doesn't feel that way. Rudy, have a quick comment. We've got to get to Danny's dozen. Yeah.

Right now, I don't think the Chiefs will have the number one seed or the best record in AFC, but they would certainly feel like the team the beat right now. Okay, it's Top 10 Tuesday with Danny Parkin. Some people say Danny's dozen. No. Well, if we want to make the dance,

right? Oh, it's big. That number. Do you get it? Six. Five. We need to quarterback with 12 and 11. Three, two, two, one.

Eleven would be tricky. Yeah, we could probably find 12. Fine, fine, 12. But we'll add Niners and Colts if you want to make it a dozen. But coming in at number 10, I'm sorry, you drop a spot when you tie to the Dallas Cowboys. You held the Lions to 13 points in week one, but then you give up 40 to a team that doesn't have C.D. Lamb and two of their top five offensive linemen. And Jay Lowe, Jay, no, I don't trust you. So you are now the quarterback of the 10th best team in the NFL, and you're going the wrong direction.

Tampa dropped the spot this week as well. Their next three, I'm fascinated. At Seattle, the Niners, the Lions. Getting by by the skin of their teeth with these fourth quarter, one possession games, they have injuries as well. Baker's amazing. Baker should would be on the top five of my MVP ballot, but the injuries piling up, guys coming back, guys leaving, just skirting by, I guess these teams,

we'll see now that they have tougher competition. Coming in number eight, Brew, I'm keeping them in the top 10. For now, because with Lamar Jackson, I think it's a top three offense in the NFL. Now, they don't have Lamar this week, but I am banking on. He is going to come back, and that offense is going to be incredible. But we know that they are.

are, they're hanging on by a thread. And maybe they get to one in five and this thing goes the other way and the season gets away from them. But right now, Baltimore hangs out in that spot. Welcome to the top 10 Tuesday, Seattle Seahawks. Wow. I mean, at this point, I know we can point to the schedule and the competition and who they've played. But on offense and defense, they're just really good and really impressive. Opponents points for game.

Second, yards for play, third. Darnal passer rating, 6th. Jackson Smith and Jigba. No one talks about it. You were talking about Pooka Nekua earlier in the show. He's playing like a top five receiver also. Wow. Elite received?

Great job by Brew. I mean, you just really won Bruin argument earlier. That was a bad beat for me. I could have used that stab just 45 minutes ago. He's been great. Number six, they're moving the wrong direction also. My Los Angeles Chargers and Justin Herbert. Alt, Slater, and Bechton.

Their top three offensive linemen. Herbert is running for his life. Most pressured quarterback in the NFL the last two weeks. He was able to get the win two weeks ago. Weird interceptions, deflections, defensive linemen running it back, his wide receiver falling down. Doesn't matter. You lose to the chargers.

You're obviously dropping in the rankings. Coming in at number five, the Los Angeles Rams. A complete team, Stafford's second in yards, third in touchdowns, fifth in yards per attempt, seventh in pass a rating. My question with him was, is the back going to stand up And he's he going to be healthy at 37 behind that offensive line. He is answering all of those questions.

The defense has been great. And Stafford is playing like he's still in the absolute minimum, or the middle of his prime. I was criticized for writing off the Chiefs. And I guess I deserved it. But last week they were number six in my top 10 teams, and they hadn't played like it because I was giving them the benefit of the doubt. You win that game.

You move up two spots. You are the fourth best team. Because, again, Xavier Worthy clearly changed everything. I thought he was going to change a little. He changed everything for this team. And all of a sudden, the light show came back. Two weeks away from getting Rishi Rice back, 37 points most in the game for the Chiefs since week three of 2023. Cream of the crop here, top three teams in the NFL.

The Detroit Lions coming in at number three. My Super Bowl pick three years in a row. Jared Gough was thrilled to see him on Bruce MVP ballot. Leads all quarterbacks in wins, completion percentage, and passing yards since the start of last. last year, their offense is scoring over 41 points per game and is not a lot of sack in the last three games. That's amazing. They have just been, they stumbled out of the gate in just a buzzsaw of a spot at Lambo, Micah Parsons debut, first game with a new defensive coordinator, first game with a new offensive coordinator.

They're back to being a juggernaut. I absolutely think they have an argument for being the best team in the NFL. Unfortunately, the Buffalo Bills are in front of them, and it's because of their offense. They didn't lose. I'm not dropping these top teams out of their spots until they're. They lose a game. Josh Allen to me is the MVP of the league. They are the thing that I trust most, right?

This Pullman in time in the NFL, the Buffalo Bills offense. And I don't make the rules. I just enforce them. But if you're the champs and you haven't lost, you get to stay in the top spot, even though it's weird with the wide receiver and it's weird with the quarterback. The defense is young and getting better. And Nick, this one is for you.

Yeah, what's this? Well, one score wins, four and all four by one score. 2025 Eagles, 24 Chiefs. I don't know, I guess they're going back. I guess they're going back to the Super Bowl. I guess they're going back to Super Bowl. And get waxed by the Chiefs. I love that idea.

Who goes first here? Me or Burr? I believe it's Bruce's turn to react. It's nice for Brew to see a perfect list, right? I beg to differ with that. Oh, come on. I'm moving the Packers from 10th to fifth. All right?

You had a lot of nice excuses. A Buzz saw. A Micah's first game. The fact of the matter is, Packers punched the lions in the mouth. A month ago. Yesterday, or not yesterday, Sunday night was an aberration. They went in there thinking Dallas was dead.

We're going to stomp these guys. It's going to be a celebration from Micah. Next thing you know, they're in a football game. And they had trouble getting themselves going. Dallas had momentum. But before that, while facing two, when they played Washington, Jaden Daniels was playing, Their first three games, they were allowing 13 points a game. That defense is legit.

Don't be fooled by what happened Sunday night in Texas. The Packers need to move on up. I'll just say the last couple games, they have. That's all right. They're getting run on. Michael Parsons can't stop the run. You're only five yards per carry against your defense. Cleveland had a big run with Judkins.

Hold on. Before I go, what are you upset about KW? I like wins. Oh, you're upset that bruise moving to team up. Well, is it the standing? Well, kind of. Danny's top 10 is the standing? Well, it's not the standing.

Oh, okay. But it's not the standings. I had the Packers. Ravens are one in three. I had the Packers lower than most people last week, and then they tied against the Cowboys, so they had to drive. It's my top 10. I think that's, I think it's fair.

What I know it's your top 10, but we also have to acknowledge that those Chargers, offensive line injury, They're not necessarily temporary. Slater is not coming back. No, he is not. Joe Alt, we don't know how long he's out, but it's not going to be just a week.

Beckton's thing, though, was scary because he's been in concussion protocol for a few weeks. That's true. But those two tackles, plus another backup tackles out, which is why I am removing the chargers entirely and saying the Jacksonville Jaguar should be in the top 10. Wow. It's not about the prince.

The defense has been unbelievable. unbelievable. Etienne has been great. I think they have, Brian, here's, the argument for the Jaguars is, even if you don't believe in the Prince the way I do, he is, we have seen him play better than he's playing right now. Even if he's not going to be the superstar that I thought he was going to be, he's at most of his career played better than he's playing this point of the season.

He also is on the best team he's been on at any point of his career. So if he can just get back to standard, Prince level playing. The Jags, all they need is an average offense with what the defense is doing right now. Now, I understand the D, forcing 13 turnovers through four games after only forcing nine all of last year, that pace is not sustainable. I don't think they're going to force 55 turnovers this year. But I think the Jags are a legit, good team.

I think that they are a tough match, like, it's a tough matchup Monday night at home against Kansas City. and I think that they are, the only reason you don't have in the, like, they're not a top 10 team is because they're the Jacksonville Jaguars. Well, it's because I don't trust Trevor Lawrence at all because he keeps making dumb mistakes and turning the ball over in terrible spots. And yes, their defense has 13 takeaways. But if we could put up Mahomes Mountain from earlier in the show, the Jacksonville Jaguars played Bryce Young. I don't see him on the mountain. They played Jake Browning.

I don't see him on the mountain. This is dirty poor. They played C.J. Stroud, who somehow is holding onto a spot. And the right side. I know it's not left or right. I know, but I mean, come on. He's barely hanging on to the third arm. And he played Brock Purdy, who's in the very lower left quadrant.

Fresh off an injury. Yeah, those are the four quarterbacks that this Jags defense has piled up. So you're saying you think Mahomes going to carve him up? I'm saying the defense is not the best. Listen, I think the defense is actually underachieving. And they're still three and one. Right now, I think they're the favorites in the AFC South. They're tied with the Colts and record.

I think what they're doing is more sustainable. You think they've been more impressive than the Colts? No, no, no, no. But I think that they are, sure. I think that they are, they are my pick to win the AFC South through four weeks. Especially with the Texans being a mess. Excellent job. Thank you.

Danny's top top 10 to take. Danny's dozen. Danny's dozen next week. Yeah, you know, Danny's doesn't. What are we going to throw the Niners and Colts? What's next for Tyree Kill in the Dolphins? You didn't even have the Jags in the top 12? That's right.

The Niners are out. I have the Colts. Coach Mangini and Willie Colon here on set. We begin with tough news out of Miami. The Dolphins win their first game of the year, but star wide receiver Tyree Kill dislocates his knee, tearing multiple ligaments in his knee. Per his agent, Drew Rosenhouse.

Tyree. Hill's surgery is now complete and went very well, according to doctors, adding that another surgery will not be needed. Quote, it's about rehab and he will play next season. The realistic goal is the start of the season, end quote, which is kind of amazing. Yeah. When you consider the level of, I mean, full knee dislocation. It was very gruesome.

Multiple. It was very gruesome. And, you know, I want your guys' reaction to the injury and then this follow-up news. But I'll just say, like, I was in. Kansas City when they drafted Tyree Kill. And his career, he is, this is a weird thing to comp it to, but you'll follow the logic. In a way, he's like the Tom Brady of receivers in that he is the most out of nowhere unexpected superstar, no doubt about it, first ballot Hall of Famer relative to his draft position.

He was the 165th pick in the draft. Some of that was because of problems that he got into in college, no way. doubt about it, but he had to transfer away from Oklahoma State. But like, you look at all the other all-time wide receivers. Jerry Rice was picked 16th. Justin Jefferson 22nd. Yeah. T.O. Oh, he came out of nowhere. He was 89th. You look at like Tyree Kill's production relative to where he was drafted as a wide receiver, 150th pick or later. He's second in yards, tied for first in touchdowns, second in catches, and that's all to Antonio Brown. So he was going to shadow. those numbers if he kept playing. And so his speed obviously made him special, five-time first-team

all-pro. It's great to hear that the expectation is that he'll come back. But in terms of what he's accomplished from where he was drafted, he's truly one of the great out-of-nowhere success stories in NFL history. Yeah, it's rough, right? Because he's 31 years old. And all I can do is reflect back to some of my injuries. And one of the things that I always wanted to happen, especially after while getting injured or before getting injured, was can I get back to being a ball player I once was, right? Can I, what's my superpower was being able to move a man from A to B against his will. Tari's superpower is speed, right? Yep. He didn't get the name cheated for being a great route runner, right? What he does best, especially with him and Wado on the

field, you know, you're going to see cover two right off the snap because of his vertical threat. When he returns, can he go back to being that guy? And I was 33 when my knees went bad. He's 31 coming off a gruesome knee injury. I don't know if he can. I know I couldn't. Now, he's a way better athlete than I was. Sure, world-class athlete. So, but there's serious concern about who he is when he comes back from this type of knee injury. And he talked about Tyreeks, the start of his career, and when you think of Kansas City's offense and how explosive it was, it's because he could take a five-yard pass and turn it into a 70-yard pass. Yep. And a heartbeat, because not only his speed to threaten you vertically, but it's catch-and-run speed where he could run away from the

defenders. And this is so disappointed for him because he was so close on all these numbers. And you hope that he's going to be able to come back. And that the, I guess, the positive of this is even if he's not at the same speed that he was, he's still so much faster than most human beings that his decrease speed will probably still be good enough for him to be very productive. Maybe not what it was, but hopefully a level of production that close. Yeah, well, that's the thing. You're not worried about the rehab process because you know he's going to do what he needs to do to get back. It's the confidence, right?

Putting your knee down the ground. Dig, pivot, move, accelerate, getting out of breaks. If he's not able to be that guy, then it's like, all right, then who do we really have right now? I would imagine a game planning for a guy like him would be as tough of an assignment for a defensive coach as you could get. Because, like, what are you going to do? You have no one who is as fast as him. Yeah, with those guys, what makes a challenge is if you get up and press him, then you've got the problem of, okay, he can get vertical on us

and they can throw the nine route, beats the DB right off the bat. But if you don't get up and press him, then he gets a ball in space, and now it's whether or not you can catch him. So you really have to mix coverages between pressed man, zone, cover two, and then vertically, the way that he can get across the field so quickly,

it just creates imbalances in zone defenses that are hard to compensate for. And there's no way he can come back, right? He'll come back and pray. He'll, like, if he was a 4-25 guy, now he's on the wrong side of 30, and he has this. 4-25 guy becomes 4-4-5 guy. Still blazing fast, but it's not going to be cheap.

Well, he has that dog, you know? Sure. He's not worried about that as to what coach is talking about because his ability to cross fields. Like, if you watch him, when he rolls up on safeties, you see safeties get spooked because he gets on him so fast. If he loses that threat, then here the Dolph is like, man, like, I don't know if he's just an average. He's another guy. Yeah, you don't recover from him closing your cushion in coverage.

Once he closed it, he's gone. All right, the other game from last night saw the Cincinnati Bengals fall into the Broncos, 28 to 3, making them two and two on the year. Jake Browning, yikes. You got T. Higgins and Jamar Chase out there. You throw for just 125 yards. Jamar has three catches, only 23 yards for the game. And because he's a wide receiver and because social media is available to everybody,

He was tweeting after the game, and, man, y'all better leave me alone, man. I play with passion, Houda. And so the question is, all right, if you can't get these receivers the ball, do you go out there and do you trade for a guy like a Russell Wilson or some other quarterback to improve over Jake Browning? The difficult thing with Cincinnati is they're historically slow to do everything, and they like to see things through. So if they sign a guy, they usually carry them to the end.

end of the contract. They don't want to renegotiate until you get to the end of the contract. They usually give coaches a little bit longer lifespan than other people because they don't want to pay for dead money. So the idea that Jake Browning, after two games, they would potentially move on from, it's really not how they've been built or how they operate. That doesn't mean they shouldn't consider it, whether it's, you know, James Winston could be a really fun guy there. Oh, that would be fun. James, I've said this before. I don't want James to be my team. quarterback, but I want him to be some team's quarterback. And here's the compelling thing about James is he's going to be able to get those guys

the ball. It's going to be exciting offensive. And he'll throw it to the other team too. It'll be exciting defensively. But he also has a way about it. Losing your quarterback the way that they did with so many expectations, that whole building is deflated and James has such a contagious personality and such a positive personality. So it's not just the ability, but I think he needs. infuses a different energy back into the building that could be really good thing.

Yeah, I have to bring it to the Bengals. Nobody's coming to save you. That's just the reality of it. Nobody's coming to save you and your season is over in my eyes because your next two games are against the Lions and Packers. So if you fall underneath 500 before Halloween, to me, save the pick, save the money. Continue with Jake Browning because we've all seen enough of Russell Wilson. Kurt Cousin has a throne.

I mean, he threw his last touchdown. The last time we see him throw a touchdown was in December. There's nobody coming to save you. So if you're the Bengals, unfortunately, it's a rap. And this is what happens when you don't draft well and you don't build a team up that can at least have an emergency out to kind of help you against a situation like losing Joe Burrough. So it's unfortunate.

I don't know what you do to, I don't know what you can tell, Jamar Chase or T. Higgins or whoever or T.Hendrix, but it's a rat. So can I let me. Let me just add one. I don't know if it's a total reference. in that division because of how Baltimore's falling on hard times. And then with Pittsburgh, it's going okay. It's going okay. But I thought Baltimore is going to run away with the division.

And then it would definitely be a wrap. But all those other teams are pretty flawed too. But who's coming off the bench right now that can make an immediate impact right now? Well, so let me make the argument for Jake Browning. Like, obviously Jake Browning is not Joe Burrow. I understand that. And he's certainly not as entertaining as James Winston. But I have actually been shocked at how bad their offenses looked with Jake Browning. Because Joe Burrow has been hurt before. Like, we have seen Jake Browning. And if you go back to 2023,

Jake Browning was fine. Seven games. It's not the biggest sample side of this little world. I'm with you, D.P. But he played seven games. They scored 23 points per game, which is right around league average. His passer rating was basically 100.

He moved the ball and he threw more touchdowns than interceptions. And this year, through a couple of games. he's been objectively terrible. And so like I said self, why is that? Well, maybe it's because he's played Denver and Minnesota. And these defenses, if you go back to the start of last year, are, I mean, you could make the argument that they're the two best defenses in the NFL, but you can't make an argument that they're worse than five. These are two of the five best defenses in the NFL over the last two years.

So yes, partly because they're slow to make changes and partly because no one's walking through that door. And maybe we could throw the Bengal schedule up here. You're right. These upcoming opponents are undeniably tough. But okay, so say you fall to two and four, Pittsburgh, divisional game. They've been inconsistent. Jets, bears, buy. They're still saying Burrow can come back at the end of the year.

They're looking at December there. Sure. Oh, I understand that. But can Jake Browning get them to be five and seven? I do. I agree with that. So if he can get him to five. and seven and you hold out the hope for Joe Burrow.

Like that's something. I think that Jake Browning will be better than he's been these last two games because of who he's played. Yeah, I was a little, the defenses he's played are good defense, but not the 85 bears. So you think it would have been better than what we saw. And he does have all those other explosive pieces. That's why it's so jarred. Yeah, that that's the disappointing part about it. But he has shown the ability to do it.

And again, the division. is so, it's such in flux right now. Who knows how this is going to play out over time? All right. Well, the Eagles keep winning and keep creating drama off the field with social media. But again, they keep winning to Willie's point. So what actually matters and when do the fans get concerned? We'll get into it coming up on first things first.

So the Eagles are the only undefeated team in the NFC and they're the defending champs. And you ask their fans, they've got the best quarterback, best receivers, best line, best coach, best G. But apparently there's still problems because AJ Brown had two catches for seven yards and a bunch of targets that went out of bounce. And then he was tweeting after the game. So here's Nick Siriani, their coach, on the State of the Eagles. He wants to contribute into these wins. And he's had a couple games where he hasn't been able to, you know, and for different reasons of why we have in these games. So, but I question nothing about. you know, his desire to play great football, his desire of being a good teammate, his desire to be here. I question it a little bit. I mean, the guy said after the Super Bowl,

basically, that, well, you know, I thought winning a championship would satiate me more, but it didn't. I love just dominating my opponent and winning my individual matchup, to paraphrase what he put on Instagram. Big me guy. Big me guy.

Big me guy. Big me guy. And I know we don't live in the world of hypotheticals. I know you love like, well, who won the game? I get that. But let's say they lost. I'm just saying let's just like live in a world of how A.J. Brown, if that's how he handled a win, how do you think big me guy A.J. Brown would have handled a loss where he had two catches.

So to me, this is not a media creation. This is not nothing, Willie. Bless your heart, D.B. I'm just saying. But this feels like star maintenance. If I'm Jalen Hertz, I got to be able to trust my eyes. I got to be able to trust the decisions I make with the football on my hand for the betterment of my team. I can't sit here and appease one guy when we're 4-0.

Every team has given us our best shot and we've come out on the other side with a dub. Nine targets against the bucks, 10 targets against the Rams. They're looking for him. He's also being bracketed. He's their number one receiver. There's this cause and effect. Some of those targets are flying over his head. out of bounce and when he played against the Rams

and then threw him the ball, he was dominant. But he's an awesome football player. You should get him the ball. But they are. Week one, one target. The next week eight, the next week 10, the next week nine. What else do you want? What really annoys me is this when you're coming off a championship,

you have a target on your back. The hardest thing is do is show up and win week after week because every team's going to give you their best shot. That's hard enough. Then when you're a star player is not with the program, that just elevates more anxiety, more nonsense, and more distraction. I need A.J. Brown to understand it's not about him right now. You're 4'0 coming off a Super Bowl.

It's a team sport. Like at what point? When do you wake up and it's not about you? Yeah, but we've all been those locker rooms really where we know that. But there's always those guys that they want the ball or they're unhappy because they're not getting enough carries. They're not getting enough targets. tonight, you know, that stuff.

And it's difficult now because he is tweeting so much earlier in the season. He read the book last year during the playoffs. Now we're at week four this is happening. And I do think if they had lost any of those games, this would get ramped up that much more. The book thing will always make me laugh. I'm sorry. Having no dog in the, you know, no skin to the fight, that is just objectively fine. But the real question is, what's the problem?

Is it usage? Is it communication? We can't say targets. I just laid out that he's getting targeted. Yeah, but we showed it. But the ball's flying over his head. It's technically a target. I mean, like, we know Jayland Hurts is not the most accurate quarterback in the league, right?

Yeah. But he's good at his job. He's elite at his job. So my point is, if you're AJ Brown who's been a part of this system and dealing with a new OC, you know they're not going to change the recipe to the sauce. This is how the Philadelphia Eagles win. On the run game, run game, RPO's. They're going to take a quick glance.

And he's not going to be happy with it. Right. But they can take earlier shots on to play. But overall, man, you're 4-0 going into October coming off a Super Bowl and you're upset. And I've been an advocate of the formulas, the formula and winning is what's most important. But the issue is the running game is not what the running game was. We're almost two yards less for Saquan Barclay than what he was at last year. So they're going to have to address multiple issues.

And with him, you're going to build it into the script where you get him the ball and whatever way you have to do. if it has to be a wide receiver screen, if you have to hand it to them, whatever you have to. But you might as well, like to give him the ball at some way to kind of take the pressure off the early part of the game.

Yeah, but coach, look at what you're saying. It's about peasing him. We don't hear this out of Devonte Smith. Dallas Goddard, who just got back, he's not complaining. Saquan, who's the belkile of this offense, is he complaining? It's one guy.

So I'm with Nicariani. Like, we're not in the business of appeasing one guy just simply because he feels bored out there. That's a three-old. That's how my toddlers operate when they don't get the iPad. Yeah, but unfortunately, we've been in plenty of locker rooms where there's toddlers with iPads. My toddler, he loves his iPad.

They all do. They all do. Let's go to Detroit. Lions defeat the Browns, 34 to 10 on Sunday. Tough division loss, of course, but they've been rolling ever since back in week one. And, you know, the Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn hangover seemed to last about one week. Here's head coach Dan Campbell on the state of the line. Every game's different, every game's special, and the more we can start stacking wins on top each other, the better you're going to get.

Teams that win multiple games at multiple times in the season are good teams. And so we're trending the right way. Do you guys look at the Lions as the team to beat in the NFC? I know Philly's undefeated, but they got the drama. Detroit certainly does not. Yeah, I agree that they're trending the right way. and one of the things I was concerned about going in the season is losing both coordinators is a big deal. And Philly was able to do it last year.

Now, they moved on from their coordinators, and they were able to do it successfully in upgrade. But typically, that's not the case. But each week where they get a win and the coordinators are there, and the coordinators understand the players better, the players understand the coordinators better, the relationship between the head coach and the coordinator, those all improve. And now really were at seven games they've called the three preseason games, these four games, we're starting to get to the midway point of the season where that new coordinator part is no longer a factor and it's actually looking pretty good.

Yeah, have you turned on this film? They're not just winning football games. They're kicking ass, especially in the trenches. I mean, if you go back to Monday night against the Baltimore, Baltimore Ravens is like, this defense had Lamar Jackson than our offense in the blended. And then they neutralize Miles Garrett this Sunday. And what I love about Dan Campbell, the reason he has a confidence he has, because when you're able to win in the trenches, that travels.

I can go any stadium, any state, and my guys are going to go to work. You talk about Penae Sewell, you talk about Aidan Hutchison, you talk about these young office lines, especially the interior. They've grown up over the last couple weeks. So Dan Campbell's, yeah, we're taking names. I remember all the haters. I remember everybody saying, oh, we lost these OCs, and we're going to fall down a couple of notches. The Packers or the Bears are going to

be the new Dallings on the block. They're like, uh-uh, we're coming to punch you in their mouth solely because of how they're winning in the trenches. And you've got to credit to Mar Gibbs and Montgomery and this old offense, man, they look nasty good, man. And I'll say this, when the Chiefs hung their banner in the opener over two and a half years ago at this point, and the Lions were their opponent in the opener, and the Lions went into Arrowhead and won, they've basically been great ever since.

Right. And they just had a ton of injuries last year that had a 15-win team get upset in the divisional round. Like, I put it up there during, you know, top 10 Tuesday, but like, just to show you guys, the last three games, 41 points per game, with get exact zero times? I mean, that is just, that is a juggernaut offense. And they've been doing it. Jared Goughleets, all quarterbacks in wins, completion percentage, and yards

since the start of last year. Like, to me, we were robbed of Detroit, Philly, in the NFC championship game last year. They were clearly the two best teams, but Detroit just had all of those injuries on defense so we didn't get to see it. Like, I hope we get to see it this year, because I think Detroit has been that tier one

team for years now. They just got injured at the wrong time. Yeah. I mean, when you see the way Detroit Lions run the football, there's nobody stopping. Yeah. It's coming up, though, another team that wants to get into the mix, the Niners. All right, so the Niners are playing on Thursday night, and they're coming off their first loss to the Jaguars on Sunday. Brock Purdy did make his return. He had the turf toe and the shoulder injuries, but after the game, he then told Kyle Shanahan that the toe was sore a game, and he just isn't feeling right. They are now nearly a full touchdown underdog to the Rams on Thursday in a very tough division. Panic time already for the Niners despite the winning record? I don't know if it's panic time, but I didn't like the fact

they started Brock Purdy. I think we talked a little bit about this last week because of the way Mac Jones was playing, the way you did the schedule land. Like the Niners had Mac Jones beat the Niners and then they beat the Saints. And then now I'm looking at this team and saying, okay, well, you got the Jags. You can win with Mac Jones against the Jazz. bags and now you got the Rams coming up and you don't have your top guy. And then by the way, the next one you got Tampa, who's another dog. So and then, you know, with George Kittle coming off IR, he had a chance to be eligible ready to go against Tampa.

So it just, I don't like it. I felt like they kind of, they should have held their water a little bit, but we'll see. Yeah, it's past rating 113, two years ago, 96 last year, 85 this year. And then with CMC, he's getting the most touch in the league, but he hasn't been really productive as a runner. It's more from a passing perspective. and he's been so injured. There's a little panic.

Yeah, top-heavy roster that gets injured in a tough division with the Rams, the Niners, and Seattle, who's been really good. Really, really good. It's just all of a sudden a really tough spot for them to be in. Coach, Willie, I'm Danny. We're back tomorrow. Thanks for hanging out on first things first. Go Cubs.