Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - Mahomes Dominates Historic MVP Showdown in Baltimore

Episode Date: September 29, 2020

For the first time ever, two MVP winners age 25 or younger shared a field last night. Geoff breaks down everything Kansas City did right. Plus, Josh Allen is playing top-tier football and Philly might need to turn things around with Caron Wentz at the helm. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It's Tuesday, September 28th. The Chiefs roll the Ravens. Which 3-0 team is legit? Which 0-3 team has to worry? And we move the line. I'm Jeff Schwartz alongside Gabe Goodwin. This is Jeff Schwartz of Smarter Than You. Welcome in.

I'm going to start talking about Chiefs and Ravens. It's where we end the night. It's where I start this podcast. And a complete and utter butt-whooping, the Chiefs. And that's kind. It complete and utter butt whooping the Chiefs. And that's kind. It was an ass kicking the Chiefs put on the Ravens tonight. Wow. I did not see this coming for many reasons.

And let's get this out of the way. Pat Mahomes was fabulous tonight. Andy Reid showed why he is the king of the screen game, the number one play designer in the NFL. And I just love Andy Reid. He's a fantastic human. I'm so glad all this is happening to him, and he's able to use Pat Mahomes in a way that no one can stop, and that's the worst part about playing the Chiefs is that no matter

what you do, and we'll get into the Ravens mostly because a lot of this is on the Ravens, but you can have a perfect defense called, and Pat Mahomes makes you pay. It's got to be soul-crushing to be a defense that's playing against Pat Mahomes makes you pay. It's got to be soul crushing to be a defense that's playing against Pat Mahomes. Soul crushing for the entire team. The offense has to keep up with the Chiefs when they're playing this way. I told you guys a key to the game tonight was the Ravens pressure package, right? The Ravens blitz on 50% of their defensive reps heading into this game. I do not know what it was.

And I have to imagine it was close if you watch the game. And Pat Mahomes eats up pressure. And I was curious to see if the Ravens were going to continue to do this. And Mahomes has tortured teams that blitz, especially the Ravens in his career. Tortured them again tonight. I was wondering if the Ravens would change, right? The thing that Bill Belichick does better than any other coach, it's why he's the best in the generation, possibly the best of all time,

is his ability to adjust his defense or offense to what he's facing, right? One week it's man coverage. One week it's cover three. Then it's quarters. In the Super Bowl, famously against the Rams, came out on quarters coverage. Ran almost none of it all season long. Flexible, adaptable. Most aren't, right?

And the Ravens were not tonight. There's a very clear formula on how to slow down in Mahomes, right? It's get home with your front and forwards. The Ravens, I don't think they had the capability to do. They'll put cover three behind and just try to limit the damage. And that's not what they did tonight. They kept bringing pressure. And Mahomes kept making them pay.

No matter what they did, zero pressure, which is everyone but everyone guarding, or they brought pressure with a single high. Whatever they did, there was no answer for it. And Mahomes deserves all the credit for that. He got after the Ravens ass. But I can wait from this game knowing the Chiefs are already good. But man, the Ravens, guys, there's a problem here. It's a very simple problem. When they get behind in games, they lose their entire offensive identity. We've seen it now multiple times.

higher offensive identity. We've seen it now multiple times. Let's go back to the Rams and Bills game, okay? Rams are down 28-3 in that game. And in that game, they're down 28-3. What do they do? No panic, right? Third quarter, plenty of time, especially in 2020 when offenses seem to score at will. They ran their offense. They ran the football. Play action pass. Bootlegs. Yes, Goff made some great throws on third down, but they continued to run their offense. The Ravens get down 10 and just stop running the football. They had, and it was a really bad tripping call. I think it was on Doyle.

It was calling the edge. It's bad. But I think the Ravens got 11 or 12 yards in that play. And they probably kept running the ball after that, but they did, right? It was like first and 18 now or something, first and 20. And that play changed everything.

The Ravens went into a shell after that and stopped running their offense. Until the second half, for a little stretch, about eight minutes, they ran their offense, scored a bunch of points, obviously, then. Big fourth down stop.

Big fumble that they forced. They just don't run their offense anymore. And then Lamar gets a little bit inaccurate. Panics a little bit. But also wide receivers start dropping passes everywhere. Passes that are good. Mark Andrews had a touchdown. He dropped.

Led to a field goal. They have got to stick with their game plan. If you're down 14 points in the second quarter, keep running the football. That's what you do best if you're the Baltimore Ravens. Run the football, play action, pass. They just panic all the time. And this is not just a one or two game sample size.

It's multiple games now. Multiple Chiefs games. Two playoff games. Nobody cares that you dominate the Dolphins and the Bengals, right? It's what do you do in these moments? So if these teams meet again, how do I have any faith whatsoever the Ravens are going to come out and play well on offense? Because as soon as they get behind, the sniff being behind,

early in the game, second quarter, down 10. Oh, well, right? Oh, well, it's the NFL. You're going to be down sometimes. Just lose all their shit on offense. And you saw it tonight, too. Pat Mahomes versus pressure was great. We talked about that.

I go to my Twitter, at Jeff Schwartz, and you can see Lamar Jackson just doesn't handle pressure at all. He just doesn't see it. I don't understand. At all. He doesn't, he just doesn't see it. I don't understand. Oh man, it's, it's, this, this outcome to me was so surprising, right?

I, I, I think that if you ranked him, I sent this to a buddy. I ranked what the outcomes were. I thought Ravens win close game. I told you Chiefs would cover, okay? Ravens win close game. And then it was Ravens win by like three to six. Chiefs win. Ravens win close game. And then it was Ravens win by like three to six. Chiefs win. Ravens blow it.

I even put the Chiefs kicking their ass on this because I thought, I thought the Ravens would be prepared to play in this game. This is their Super Bowl. This was their Super Bowl. Pat Mahomes now, by the way, 6-0-1 against the spread as underdog. They had to win this game. Like, how are you going to feel moving forward when they play again? Any big game now, any big game, playoff game, whatever it is, big game against the Steelers later in the season, the Ravens are going to have no faith they can do it because the

second they get behind again, they're going to have these thoughts about, oh shit, we can't do it. They're going to have these thoughts about, oh, shit, we can't do it. They're going to have these thoughts about, oh, shit, we can't do it again. And when you play the Chiefs, too, your offense has got to be perfect, right? Because if you don't score, the Chiefs are going to score. I've dealt with this. Peyton Manning in 2013 was on the Chiefs, actually. We played him twice that year. At the end of the season, we were 9-0.

It wasn't that we lost. We came home and lost by touchdown touchdown and so there's immense pressure on offense to score every drive because you know they're going to score every drive and so you have a three and out you make the wrong call early in the game to kick a field goal instead of going for a fourth and three it just compounds your issues on offense right there's a sense of urgency that you have that makes you feel as a coordinator, as a player, we got to hit these big home run plays in the second quarter when you really don't, you don't have to. You just methodically can go down and make plays. It just didn't happen tonight.

And so it's, it's a problem for the Ravens. I am... I am... I just don't know who the... The Chiefs will lose a game this year just because it's hard to go undefeated. Maybe it's the Chargers again. Maybe it's the Patriots. Who knows when they're going to lose a game. But the Chiefs are clear-cut number one best team in the NFL.

And the Ravens are probably two, which is wild, right? Which is wild. Tampa Bay I think is creeping up. I think Tampa Bay is going to be really good. But I just do not know who is going to beat the Ravens are probably two, which is wild, right? Which is wild. Tampa Bay, I think, is creeping up. I think Tampa Bay is going to be really good. But I just do not know who is going to beat the Chiefs in the playoffs. Maybe Tampa. I like the Steelers, by the way. The Steelers defensively match up well. A lot of zone coverage can get home with four.

That's the key. Zone coverage can get home with four. Zone coverage can get home with four. It doesn't mean you're going to win. You have a chance to win. Zone coverage can get home with four. That's how you to do it the pay they play the patriots this week the patriots are not personnel wise that don't match up as well anymore but that's the key guys get home with four get home with four it's the key and we'll see if anyone else can do it so

chiefs fabulous andy re, screen king, God. Whatever you want to say. I love Andy Reid. He's fantastic. So, man, good for the Chiefs. But Ravens, we've got some issues, Ravens. Can't trust the Ravens anymore. Just can't trust them.

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Xfinity internet required. Reduced speeds up to 20 gigabits of usage per line. Most reliable based on RootMetrics UL's report. Results vary, non-endorsement. All right, now let's bring in Gabe to get to the meat of our podcast and to get over all the games that we saw on Sunday in the news and notes and tidbits. Gabe, how are you doing? You look like you're back home now.

No, sir. I'm in London still. The grandparents got a great setup, as the video viewers will notice. I got the ABC mat. I got the Peppa Pig. I got the racetrack. We're good. Yeah. So all is well. Racetrack is a good segue. The best quarterbacks in the league are flying right now. It's a hell of an MVP race. A bunch of 3-0 teams led by MVP contenders. Jeff, you just talked about a couple guys who could be in the hunt. Russ is playing out of his mind with a record 14 touchdown passes through three games.

We knew he'd be in the conversation. Aaron Rodgers with his massive chip on his shoulder. He's got nine touchdowns, no picks. He's 3-0. He's in the conversation. But your boy, Josh Allen allen he is the people's champ in the mvp race right now much as you might like uh to say otherwise he led an 11 play 75 yard drive for a comeback win yesterday the bills are three and oh josh allen looks great you laughed

at me when i called him an mvp contender tell me that to my face now well i'm still gonna laugh at you for that because he's not winning the mv If you look at Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers, they're clearly in the lead for the MVP. They're better in every statistical category. And those two are probably going to win. And look, we still don't know if Pat Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, it's still up in the air. Yes, Josh Allen has played much better than I thought.

But the experience of Josh Allen, oh my God, I watched an entire Rams-Bills game. You guys know that I bet on the Rams. I wrote him off, of course, in the first half. They came all the way back. The Josh Allen experience is like nothing else. I think you tweet out, right, like almost Tim Tebow, but can throw type of thing, right?

Like he, the ability to make amazing throws, and he has made some amazing throws, with just the most ridiculous pocket movement, fumbling. He got a face mask penalty. He got a face mask. You think he forwarded a third and 22, and then that questionable defensive pass interference. I don't like the idea of makeup calls.

I think that they blew the interception earlier in the game. So this is not a makeup call. Just kind of evened themselves out eventually. Oh, man, the Josh Allen experience is really wild. But he's behind, significantly behind Wilson and Rodgers as far as expected points averaged per play. So, I mean, like, there's – he's just not as good as those guys. But he's been far better game than I ever thought for the first three weeks.

I want to give credit, by the way, to two individuals, not Josh Allen. I'll just give him credit, but two individuals. Brian Dable, his offensive coordinator, has been outstanding. When he was assigned to be their OC, I looked at his past, and it's not good. He has not been a good offensive coordinator in the NFL up until this point. He wasn't. And what he has done as far as designing an offense that fits Josh Allen's strengths should be commended.

He has done a wonderful job of putting together an offense that does not rely on five wides and Josh Allen being a precision passer, right? Play action pass, quick reads, using his legs in the run game. He has done a fabulous job. Arthur Smith, by the way, in Tennessee, is the other guy I think deserves credit for designing a game plan that fits Ryan Tannehill to a tee. Also, look, Matt LaFleur did a great job

with the Packers yesterday, I thought. And just generally speaking, he's done a great job. But Brian Dable has been fantastic. And say what you want about Josh Allen, but I'm not sure Dable's getting enough credit for designing the game plan that fits. And remember this, this should go hand in hand,

right? The best coordinators, they run what they do, but then also make sure that what they do will fit what the quarterback does. Right. They're stubborn game planners that just say, we're doing what I want to do. There's other guys that I think go too far in the other direction and say,

we're just gonna do what the quarterback does well. I think they found a pair, a match in Buffalo. And so Josh Allen's playing much better than I thought. But it's three weeks in. So I will not overreact after three weeks. Okay. Well, I mean, whatever you say about Josh Allen,

I've seen your Twitter mentions. Buffalo's coming for you no matter what. Actually, they're really not though. And here's the funny part about Twitter. So it's incredible about Twitter, right? It's Jeff Schwartz. I hate your opinion. I absolutely hate it.

But please tell me why I'm right. Or please give me a different opinion about why my team is doing well. It's an amazing thing, right? Like people that don't like my opinion, then just go seek out my opinion when they don't like it. It's the most wildest thing about Twitter. Like, I do not hate follow a single person. There are people that I do not like on social media. I don't follow them.

I have people that I have friends that I muted. I just don't, like, I don't, I don't, I don't have time in my life, Gabe, to hate follow someone on social media. It's pretty remarkable that people do that. But nonetheless, no, Bill's friends actually haven't been that bad. I'm actually surprised.

Maybe because they know yesterday was just such a wild rollercoaster experience. It was crazy. It really was. And so what I said to tie a few thoughts together, I said that Josh Allen looks like Tim Tebow on a well-coached team. And I stand by that. A lot of people got in my timeline to tell me that Josh Allen is a way better arm than

Tim Tebow. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got it. My point is simply, he's a playmaker who has plays drawn for him, which is what you just described to me with Dayball. So let me ask you this. Can you give me a little bit more X and O on why it is there's so much pre-motion snap? Why he's running what seems to be like a real run option at times?

Why, you know the schemes don't look anything like any other quarterback i see in the league right now every play involves some sort of a fake um why is that working for him well all the best offenses are doing that right now is is there because it messes with the defense right it makes the defense look here but oh whoop the ball's going here or or it makes him you know if you if you motion a guy across right it gives them a free release so they don't get they don't get touched on the way out right so if you're stefan diggs probably don't want to get pressed so you just you move them boom snap the ball and go it just defines things for the

quarterback it makes the defense have to show their coverage sometimes, right? Moving a guy across. Oh, safety switch. Okay, is this coverage here? And so that all helps, especially when you get the play-action passing game, right, when you're moving guys here. Okay, you fake here. Boom, this guy slides across. He's wide open there. So all that.

And we've seen the best offenses, by the way. Kansas City, Seattle, New Orleans, Green Bay right now. And Green Bay wasn't doing that until Matt LaFleur got there. Aaron Rodgers even said this year that we weren't doing that with McCarthy. We're seeing the best offices utilize pre-stat motion because it really does get you in the look you want. It makes the defense have to think a little bit. You get free releases.

You get easy throws. It makes a lot of sense. Yeah, well, you mentioned, by the way, Rodgers. We'll come back to him. But, yeah he's i mean insane stats with play action they're running play action over 50 percent of the time and he completes damn near every pass he throws against play action here's a question i have about um alan though it seems like he doesn't necessarily mind pressure um and you know he was going up against aaron donald and a pretty good Rams defense, or at least we thought a pretty good Rams defense yesterday. How do you slow this guy down

if he's played three okay teams so far? How's a good team get a hold of him? Because his upcoming schedule is about to get tougher. Well, I think the Rams are pretty good. If you look at, actually, their advanced metrics even after the game, they're not that bad. They had a bad half, right? They played pretty poorly the first half.

The second half, they played after they were down 28 to 3 i mean they got multiple stops and forced multiple turnovers on on josh allen um i mean look i think the the idea is the pressure i mean some of the the the yolo stuff in the in the pocket it's going to get him in a lot of trouble he holds that ball like a like a loaf of bread out there i mean that that stuff gets quarterbacks over the long haul gets gets you in trouble. And so I think the idea is just pressure him. I mean, we've seen him now, and I almost thought this was like the Houston playoff game.

End of the game, just absolutely combust. But it didn't. He may not play down the stretch to make this happen. So I think the same as almost all quarterbacks. You just pressure, pressure, pressure. I mean, that's what you have to do. Yeah. Well, he won the, our buddy Kyle Brandt

does the angry run award each week and he sends like a scepter he makes a whole thing out of it's a lot of fun check him out on twitter uh kyle won or excuse me alan won it last week kyle gave it to him and i don't think that's something you want your quarterback winning too often the angry run award like that's not what you're hoping for against pressure right right and that's the kind of the issue is that I think that – and I know what running – it was when he trucked a linebacker, right? Didn't he run over Kyle Van Nooyen or something?

Yeah, he's just smashing people. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, look, ideally you don't want your quarterback to run as much. This is why I don't like running quarterbacks. Lamar Jackson is obviously different, right? I mean, he's proven that he's different and he's not – that's just – he's just a different guy.

So I just – I don't think it's great overall that he always does that but it works right now in the offense all right so let's look at a few upcoming games we'll move to the next topic uh at las vegas that's weird to say at tennessee chiefs at jets pats seahawks at cardinals the jets is an easy win they don't even need to field a full team to beat the Jets. Every one of those other games is going to be a very, very close game, we would think. And even looking ahead to this week, the Raiders are only two and a half point dogs in this game. I'm actually surprised at that line, which lets me know that Vegas doesn't quite, I don't even believe, or maybe they look at the Raiders game and they say, look, they played better than the final score, which is definitely true. If you look at the Raiders game and and they say look that they they played better than they than the final score which is definitely true if you look at the final score

that game it was much better than the score so maybe they're looking at that in that way yeah but I mean we could easily see a 3-0 team dump four of the next six I mean good but I think they're playing really good football right now I would I would not bet on I mean I bet on the Chiefs to beat them but I don't know if I bet on the Raiders to do so okay well – I mean, I'd bet on the Chiefs to beat him, but I don't know if I'd bet on the Raiders to do so. Okay. Well, I'm not going to bet on – And I think the Titans are a little 3-0 fraudulent. Oh, well, we're going to get to that in moving the line,

so save those thoughts. Anything more on Aaron Rodgers and the phenomenal start he's had and the wonderful prediction I made in the offseason and after week one about the chip on his shoulder because it seems like I'm dead right again. It obviously is, is, is right.

Because I, I just like, I I'm look, I don't think wasting a draft pick on a player that they can't help. Your team is, is really like should be catalyst for your team playing well, but obviously that's, it did something because he's been great and there's no denying he's been

great. And again, I go back to the comment I made about, about Brian Dable is that Matt Lafleur has done a great job of coordinating a game plan that fits what he wants to do but what rogers can do really well and it's all working together yeah and guess what they don't have the best receiver maybe in the game and some guy named alan lizard becomes the best receiver in the game because aaron fucking rogers is so good like i don't understand why we're so worried about his weapons

we talk about this every damn week and now he's just basically perfect passing the ball they're running an offense he's comfortable in and any guy they pick up can become a pro bowler it's absolutely incredible right it's um he's done a fantastic job um and so he'll continue to play well i think i think the packers i was wrong on them they they look really good and we're seeing obviously a trend right now where um there's a lot of offense a lot of offense which is what we talked about early in the season with the lack of tackling the preseason we're seeing so much offense right now it's pretty incredible and I think we were seeing it obviously show with the best quarterbacks the NFL that just continually continually um put up tons and tons of points well let's talk about a quarterback who was supposed to be in the conversation with the

guys we just talked about who's absolutely definitely not that's Carson Wentz he and the Eagles suck we can just call it what it is um that's probably enough of a take but I'll give you a few more facts. They tied the 0-2 Bengals after they almost murdered Joe Burrow. There's no reason this should have ended in a tie, but it did. Wentz has thrown six picks already. I think that's more than he had all of last year. You know, we were talking about him as an MVP coming into this season. He's clearly not so far. Our boy Colin was talking about how he's a backwards hat guy, and that's a sign that he's clearly not so far. Our boy Colin was talking about how he's a backwards hat guy. And that's a sign that he's not a franchise quarterback.

I actually think that's a pretty good take. We can unpack it in a minute, but give me something more sophisticated. Why is Wentz look so bad right now? Well, look, I will trust people that know quarterback mechanics and kind of processing better than I do. And Dan Orlovsky has talked about this for a while. His mechanics are just bad. He has bad mechanics.

Then you look at Brian Baldinger who posts videos and his accuracy is terrible. So you can buy, and maybe that's the why his accuracy is terrible, but he's playing, he looks like a guy who's playing with no confidence whatsoever, just no feel for the game whatsoever. He makes some atrocious throws,

atrocious decisions. And look, you can't blame injuries, right? Every team has injuries and guys are making, I mean, Dak Prescott, I know he's got a good wide receiver core, but he has no offensive line right now. Okay. I know Carson Wentz has no wide receivers, but how long is that going to be? We're talking about Aaron Rodgers. He doesn't have wide receivers. He makes everyone else around him much better. Carson Wentz has not shown that ability yet to elevate those guys. Not this season. He played well down the stretch last year. But for whatever reason, the offense looks completely lost right now.

You know, Doug Pearson played for a tie. I mean, that's wild to me. He played for a tie. Against the worst team in the league with a rookie quarterback. So I just, I don't know what the answer is for how to fix this offense other than Carson Wentz just play better. You need to play like we think you can play, like we've seen you capable of playing.

Like you got to go get that done and make it happen. I'll give you one suggestion that people in Philly are coming up with. The takes are swirling. Jalen Hurts time. That's not the guy. That's not the guy. What? That quick you're dismissing that?

You're not going to win your season. You have to flush this Carson Wentz thing out out like you can't just you can't abandon him right now well last time they abandoned him they won a super bowl they were forced to abandon him hey man they got a ring because they're not playing they're not forced to abandon him right now how about how about how about old nick foals uh Oh, wow. Oh, Chicago? Yeah. Yeah, well, we'll also get to them. So listen, Colin got a lot of crap this week for this take about him being a backwards hat guy.

For the record, Colin's been doing this bit since Tony Romo was losing playoff games. Like, this is an old thing that Colin brings up. He's half joking when he does it, but he's actually right about the fundamental thing, right? Like, a franchise quarterback shouldn't look like a frat boy in post game or pre game. Like it just doesn't, it's not a good look. This is very interesting because of course,

we don't under, we, me and you get the point. Colin understands obviously he's talking about it. But the point of this is that it's one moment where he doesn't want the backwards hat.

It's when you step up to the podium and you've just lost a game and you have to talk to the media. He wants, and I agree with him, to look professional. I put Eli Manning, we weren't very good for the two years I was there. Every single day, Eli Manning showed up in a suit, a tie, stood in front of the podium, answered all the questions. Did not look like a bum, did not look like he didn't belong he looked like the franchise quarterback for the New York Giants when Carson Wentz goes to the podium after a game he's got his backwards hat on he's not dressed professionally that sends a vibe of like I'm not really into this like I'm

not like I'm not I'm not taking this seriously I don't understand that I'm the face of the franchise and so it's a small thing I get get it. I know Colin plays it up because it plays right on social media. Gets a lot of people to listen to him. People don't understand the game, by the way. Well, he's also just entertaining. It was funny. It was.

The whole bit, the actual bit with his backwards hat on the show was great. But yeah, people don't get it. But like he has a point. He does have a point because we don't see this with good quarterbacks. Aaron Rodgers didn't go to the podium last night uh with a backwards hat on Russell Wilson's definitely not doing that is Pat Mahomes doing that is Tom Brady ever done that no so um I do think that he

has a point it doesn't mean it's the whole reason why Wentz is struggling or even 95% of the reason why he's struggling. It's just a small glimpse of his mindset after a loss. Yeah. And, and I, I think that's telling. And so much of the game is, you know,

above the neck or what above the shoulders, whatever they say. So you got to think about it. I mean, the past that people could give him and you sort of referenced it would be his sort of beat up or bad offensive line. You're saying no excuse there, right? You're just saying he's got to play better.

I mean, look, I know that I guess you combine the lack of wide receiver weapons and lack of offensive line like together, you know, but the Cowboys have a poor offensive line. Now they have the weapons and Dak's playing great. I mean, you're not always going to have a situation where everything's perfect. And I just, I mean, how long do we keep making this excuse? We saw him play, you know, Joe Burrow, whose offensive line is fucking atrocious. Sorry for my language.

They're so bad. They're getting the poor kid killed. And guess what game? No excuses, right? It's making plays, getting it done. And so how long do we make these excuses for him? How long? I have no idea.

I wasn't making excuses for him. No, I'm saying you're not but like the idea of like of the excuse like he doesn't have weapons like how long are we doing that for i don't know i don't know why this this keeps up because some teams like the team that i root for everyone agrees thankfully it's time to stop making excuses for adam gaze and sam darnold he needs to be gone like now nobody no nobody's trying to be nice about Dan Quinn in Atlanta. Everyone's jumping all over him. I don't know why Carson Wentz or Doug Peterson or anyone in Philly gets the excuses made for them.

I don't understand how that works. I should have turned on – I was going to turn on Philly radio this morning, but I forgot because that would have been like an epic listen. But I didn't get a chance to do it. They're good on Monday mornings. Oh, I'm sure. Let's move the line and talk about a few other towns that are having uh early success or early failure uh and kind of you know let people calm down a little bit so uh we're playing over under i want to know weeks before we take these teams seriously i'll fire off a few the bears who are

three and oh with close wins against the lions giants and falcons who basically have one win between the three of them. How long before we actually take the Bears seriously, if ever? Never. Okay. I'm sorry, Bears fans. You were down 23-6 in the fourth quarter against a bad Lions team. The Giants were driving to win that game.

They had the ball down four on the 15-yard line, like with three shots to the end zone. And you have to come back against a Falcons team that needs to get rid of their coach. I mean, like you're not, this is not a thing. It's not a thing. And Nick Foles, again, you know, if you watch Nick Foles yesterday, he had like some good throws and then some really bad throws.

It wasn't his, I didn't watch any of the game. I just saw Twitter like, oh my God, Nick Foles. And it's like, well, I mean, yeah, he made some great throws, but it wasn't all good. I mean, the Falcons kind of let them back in the game i just saw twitter like oh my god nick foals and it's like well i mean yeah i made some great those but it also wasn't all good i mean the falcons kind of let them back in the game as well so i would say that um first three no team in league history game with a quarterback controversy yeah it's kind of hard to believe so i'll ask this though to put it back into the phrasing of the question if they go to foals and foals wins another three in a row somehow then we have to start taking them

seriously right like we do especially because their schedule is is there especially because their schedule is something like ridiculous the next the next uh i'll look it up right now to make sure i know i looked at it yesterday their schedule is like well it's it can only get harder i mean it can't get easier no it's something like it's like they play like i think i think this weekend's like indie i know they play indie this weekend it's like Indy. I know they play Indy this weekend. Oh, it's Indy, Tampa, then Carolina easy, then Rams, Saints, Titans. So we'll know a lot more about the Bears. Okay, so we'll give it a few weeks.

If they're still winning in a few weeks, we'll start to take them seriously, but we doubt that's going to happen. All right, what about the Titans? You've been skeptical in the past. You sort of came around to them recently. They also have some close wins against some terrible teams. They've beaten the Broncos, Jags, and Falcons. Also one win between the three of them.

Those look like three of the worst teams in the league. Titans? Sorry, I said Falcons. I meant Vikings. I meant Vikings. Sorry. Yeah, I mean, Ryan Tannehill is, you know, 9th, 10th, 11th in efficiency.

I don't have the new efficiency rankings for their defense, but your defense has not played terribly good. I would say that I'm not like that I'm not in on them completely. I mean, Derrick Henry has been just okay, which is a big part of their offense. I would say we need a few more weeks to figure out who they are before I give you the yay or nay. But they might win the division because the Colts are just –

I think the Colts are just okay. Houston's obviously 0-3, and Jacksonville's not very good. So I would say that I'm much higher than the Bears. I just want to see a couple more weeks. Okay. Yeah, I mean, they're giving up a ton of yards passing. I mean, they're winning. They're winning these close games.

So is everyone. I mean, Seattle's a lot like the most yards ever in three weeks. Yeah, but they're putting up a ton of points. Okay, this one I think is a time saver. The Browns, weeks before I have to take them seriously, they're 2-1. Yeah. I mean, they're going to win eight time saver. The Browns, weeks before I have to take them seriously, they're 2-1. Yeah. I mean, they're going to win eight or nine games.

Is that serious? Okay, so I don't ever have to take them seriously. I mean, what does taking them seriously mean, I guess? I mean, I just think they're going to win nine games. Okay, which probably isn't enough to get them in. They're the first winning record, by the way, in six seasons. At this point, you mean having a winning record at all? At all. Yeah. First time in six seasons. At this point, you mean having a winning record at all? At all.

Yeah. First time in six seasons. Well, they get lucky with the schedule. They get the Bengals and the football team in the first three weeks. So, you know, they're 2-1. Oh, the Yale football team. Yeah. All right.

Colts, that's a trickier one. So they beat the Jets and the Vikings, lost to the Jags. Weird one. But 2-1, Phillip Rivers doesn't look awful. Do we get to take them seriously if they keep winning? It doesn't look good either. This is an interesting team because I mentioned they put the Bears this week and they're favored by three.

It's a bet. I kind of like the Colts, but I need to do some more research on it. I think they still need a few more weeks. I don't know who they are quite yet. Phillip Rivers is just okay. I mean, this is kind of like who he is. So I need a few more weeks. I'm going to say this. I don't think they changed the playoff format this year.

We have an extra team in. I think they should change it again and eliminate the NFC East and AFC South from playoff contention. I don't think either conference. They could be one, two, three, four. They could be six and one after eight weeks before they play the Ravens. They have the Bears, the Browns. Oh, this game is at Chicago this week. I don't like that as much.

At Chicago, at the Browns, Bengals at home, at the Lions. And then they get Ravens, Titans, Packers, Titans, Texans. I think that – we'll know more about them after week 12. Okay. Well, see, now you're getting it, Jeff. You're answering all my questions right in time to move to the more interesting teams to talk about.

I want to know weeks before we really have to panic about these losing teams. We'll start with the Saints. Saw them lose on Sunday night. They're still the Saints, but they're 1-2. Okay. I want to know what Taysom Hill has over Sean Payton to why Taysom Hill is still playing on this offense.

He has, he does not help this offense, right? The offense was playing well yesterday. Then you insert him into the game. He fumbles the ball and their win percentage dropped like 40% after he fumbled that ball, right? They had just stuffed the Packers, 27-27. They just stuffed the Packers on fourth down, right? Great stop, right?

Packers had a terrible play call, in my opinion. They just got four or five yards. Bring in Taysom Hill to run a zone, really fumbles the ball. By the way, the model, Ben Baldwin, is great on Twitter. The Saints' win probability was 68% that time and went to 43% after that play.

Packers come down and score right away. Game's done, right? Game's over. Over. Right there. I don't understand the obsession with Taysom Hill. It's almost like Sean Payton wants to be the smartest guy in the room, but it's not working.

Okay, Gabe, you are a long-suffering Jets fan. You used to watch Tom Brady for 20 years. Yeah. Do you remember when Bill Belichick ever took Tom Brady out to put in a gadget player? Do you remember any of those plays? Okay, yeah, I don't think so. Do you remember when Aaron Rodgers goes out for gadget players? You've seen those plays? No, I of those plays? Okay, yeah, I don't think so. Do you remember when Aaron Rodgers

goes out for gadget players? You've seen those plays? No, I don't think I have. Yeah, I don't think you have either. Okay, Andy Reid does it like twice a year. And one time it's to say, screw you, Denver puts Don Terry Poe quarterback. Another time it's like

against New England every year. He puts in Travis Kelsey to score a touchdown. Like, they don't, no one does this who has a good quarterback. So either it's showing me you don't trust your quarterback, which is possible because Drew Brees, his yards per attempt is falling even further now.

He looked okay at times. Other times he still doesn't throw the ball very deep. Alvin Kamara is amazing. But the defense is a problem in New Orleans. I worry about that because Tampa, like we said, Tampa's getting better, but maybe just kind of steadily climbing each and every week. You're going to see your favorite boy in the Super Bowl possibly.

Oh, stop. Okay, so I was with you on every word you spoke until just that last point. So I guess what you're telling me is if I'm a Saints fan, I can begin to panic already. Oh yes. Panic, panic away. All right, good. This team, I don't know how you do anything but panic or just fold up and quit. Texans 0-3. I know it was a tricky schedule to start, but like, do we have to talk about them ever again i mean they basically lost the two best teams the nfl and then a three no sealers team so um yeah i i mean i i think that i mean it's insane start yeah i mean i mean i mean i mean they're i mean they're oh and three i mean yeah there has to be some panic i think uh put in place they play the vikings now then jacksonville

then at tennessee i mean yeah there's some panic. 0-3, it changes this year because of the new playoff format. But 0-3 used to make the playoffs like two teams in the last 20 years have done it. But now with the new playoff format, you can sneak in there. But this is a huge problem. I'm worried about them, yes. Okay. Well, here's the good news for them. Per previous conversation, their division sucks.

They could win that division at 7-9 or 8-8 if things break their way. So, you know, I mean, we'll have to see what the Titans do. Okay, Cowboys, you know, I can't believe we made it this far before talking about them. 1-2, also tough schedule to start,

but haven't done much to look good. I mean, they could easily be 0-3. They should be 0-3. Probably should be. And they're sloppy. They play sloppy. I was promised a better coach team. I haven't seen it.

Yes, there's worry about them, but they're playing the worst division of all sports. So, I mean, they're going to win the division 8-8. Okay, fair enough. And can we just declare the Vikings and Eagles dead? We talked a bit of Eagles and Vikings, but they're done, right? We don't need to talk about them.

Vikings, Eagles, Falcons dead. Well, Falcons, obviously. I'm barely even spending time. So let's move the line on the next topic. Weeks till the Falcons are relegated to Canadian football. Just removed from the NFL. How soon does that happen? Not soon enough, man.

God, poor. I mean, like, what is it? Come on, guys. Like, hold it. Dan Quinn is a defensive coach, Gabe, right? From Seattle. We know that. Defensive coach.

His defense sucks. They're terrible every year. That's really bad. I said yesterday, I went on a radio show yesterday, I said, look, they're asking me who gets fired first, like Gase, Patricia, Zimmer, or Quinn.

Obviously, Patricia won yesterday, so he saved that off. Gase is gone. I don't know when he's gone, but he's gone at some point. I said, well, look, Arthur Blank, Falcons owner, won't fire Dan Quinn

out of respect for Dan Quinn. I'll wait till the end of the season to do so. You got to fire him pretty soon. Like there's no, I know last year you went, you went seven to one or six and two last eight games to save his job, but I don't expect that to happen again.

Like nothing they're doing on defense would let me to believe they're going to get better at point at some point this season. No, I mean, they've given up massive leads. This is another week. They were 99.3% chance to win at one point yesterday after being like 99.9% the week before.

I mean, they've got nothing going right. They're giving up double-digit leads every week. All right, let's talk about sort of a team with an even crazier offense than they have. We're going to college football for a second. I want to know Mike Leach quarterback pass yards next week over under 622.5. Who do they play next week? It doesn't matter. Is KJ Costello going to throw for more yards than he did week one against LSU?

Think about Mike Leach is awesome. The pirate of the Palouse at Washington. Now it's pirate of Stark Vegas. He just runs his offense, man. He does not care that you know what he's running. He's going to run anyways. He does not care.

That was an impressive performance, man. I would say that under just because that's so many yards, but like, that was, whew. And Cajun Costello, grad transfer from Stanford,

who did not throw the ball very much there because they, you know, they don't throw the football there. Good for KJ. And worked out well, obviously. Beat LSU.

It was one of my favorite bets last week on the college side. And it paid off. So, go Mike Leach. Yeah, it was fun. So, they're right. Offense is working. Mississippi State, suddenly someone we have to take seriously. He went 36-60.

I think they're ranked like third this week or something because of the weird rankings. Yeah, well, it's going to be a wonky year for all the college football rankings, but they beat an LSU team that's been dealing with COVID all offseason, doesn't have any of the good players from last year. Maybe they lost like 19 starters or something crazy like that. Insane. I mean, the whole first round was their starting offense.

So, all right, well, we'll see if Mississippi State keeps it up. By the way, the kid had, I think he had four turnovers and still threw for 623 yards. Did he really? I didn't know that. I'm pretty sure. All right, last one. We'll end on a fun note because we're both LA guys at heart. Lakers, you're an LA guy at heart. I'm an LA relocation guy.

LA Lakers games to win the finals this year over under 5.5. They're playing the Heat. And by the way, I'm not a Dodgers fan. I make that very clear. I know that. So I think that I would say they go under here. I think they win at 5. A little gentleman's sweep again.

Miami's feisty and people keep saying, oh yeah, this is 0-4 Pistons, Lakers, written all over it. A little different situation, right? You had Karl Malone was hurt in that series. Gary Payton was old AF. And Shaq and Kobe were like feuding with each other. They were ready to get out of there, right?

Like they were ready to move along, be done with it. AD and LeBron are not like that. They're ready to win a championship now. And it's just a different situation, right? Different setup. Now, the Lakers' role players aren't very good. That's a problem, of course. But I just think you're not going to deny LeBron this.

Look, LeBron will now have a championship in Miami, Cleveland, LA. I mean, there is a case to be made. Well, there's not a case to be made. He's the greatest team builder of any player of all time. There's no question about that. I still think Jordan's better. I think LeBron's the most talented player

to ever play in the NBA. I think Jordan's just a better player. Does that make sense? Like Jordan's 1A, LeBron's 1B, but LeBron builds teams better than any other player ever. He puts together these hodgepodge of guys he's never played with before,

and within a year or two, they're winning titles. It's incredible. And he's in year, what, 17, 18? You know, the other night, he had a triple-double in a closeout. He went's in year, what, 17, 18? You know, the other night he had a triple double in a closeout. He went 38, 16, and 10. And no one saw it because football was on.

Yeah. And locked up the other team's best scorer. I mean, it's insane what he's capable of. By the way, different coaches in each of those towns when he wins, unlike Jordan who had Phil the whole time. So, yeah, I mean, that conversation is for other types of shows. In fact, it's for the types of shows that we sort of tend to rip into on this show so i'm not going to get into it but i'm rooting for lebron i think five games is generous i could see him doing it in four

um the asterisk by the way won't show up he won't care this is another ring for him he's not going to worry that it happened in a bubble he's taking it seriously he's he's the only guy in there who definitely wants to win this i would equate this series more to that butler duke series from about 10 years ago where it's like obvious who the whole country is rooting for but it's also obvious who's really going to win and you know butler butler had a game-winning shot that bounced off the back of the iron that's right they were in it they had a chance they had the whole country behind them everyone wanted to see duke lose but come on they're duke they're gonna win and i think that's the same case here yeah i hope it's not that close that'd be a seven game series if the duke butler game goes down to that uh no lakers

are just they're gonna win i'm sure old text explosive get me on this if i'm wrong but i'll take anyways all right guys wonderful show we're gonna get three weeks of nfl action already three weeks and guess guess what? What? It's like Jets Dolphins this weekend. I mean, Jets Dolphins on Thursday night. So enjoy that game as a Jets long-suffering Jets fan. And your best player, Mekhi Becton got hurt.

Poor guy. All right, guys. Really enjoyed this. Please rate, review, subscribe. Really appreciate it. We'll be back on Thursday with our game. We have to make up a bad week. Thank you, Taysom Hill and Sean Payton for that.

And the Giants, who just are utter garbage. Never bet on the Giants again. Screwed me too. All right, guys. Have a great week. See you in a couple days. Take care.