Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - The Bengals Have Arrived, the Chiefs are Floundering, and Tom Brady the Stat-Padder

Episode Date: October 26, 2021

Geoff and Gabe break down week 7 of NFL action, starting with the Bengals’ big win over the Ravens to take the 1 seed in the AFC, and Geoff shares what Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase’s early success could mean for the future of the franchise. Also, Geoff is at a loss with the Chiefs, and Gabe calls out Tom Brady for stat padding and being a cheapskate.This week on Moving the Line, Geoff previews the Packers matchup with the Cardinals on Thursday night, and tells why Cooper Kupp is more than just a “gritty” football guy with a “high motor.” Plus, will we see a Deshaun Watson trade this week? And was Larry David’s crusade to ban kickers inspired by Gabe?Leave a comment or question for a chance to be featured in a mailbag section! Bengals fans, Geoff wants to know: are you sure you wouldn’t rather have Penei Sewell?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 october 26th i'm jeff schwartz alongside gabe gill and this is jeff schwartz a smart new we're powered by the varsity podcast network we are back to talk about the nfl where the favorites keep winning the big favorites especially gabe keep winning chief struggling there's a number one team atop the afc that we did not expect and we're gonna talk a little larry david i'm almost done with curb from from the other night but we also have some fun larry david uh sound here that backs up gabe for some reason not good to the kid get to win on this podcast but nonetheless how are you give you recover from your your mini triathlon it's not a mini triathlon jeff listeners of this show will know i will not put up with that slander it was a full man's distance triathlon i finished

fourth in my age group. Show me the respect I deserve, Jeff. We're both athletes on this podcast. I was thinking, I was thinking that swimming for 15 minutes just sounds like experience. I, this body's not built for it. So I do congratulate you on, on that and let's get right into it. Yeah. Listen, uh, some of the best athletes in the world are not me or you, but Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow and Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase got the better of the Ravens yesterday. So you mentioned a second ago, I guess the Bengals are really good. They're the one seed in the AFC North. They're the currently, at least based on tie breaks, the one seed in all of the AFC.

Today will be the best day of the year in Cincinnati, maybe the decade in Cincinnati, because guess what, Jeff? Despite all the love that all the morning shows are giving them, this isn't going to last. The take is, have fun while it lasts, Cincy. It's about to be over. Peek at the schedule. Yeah, it's probably not going to last, but they do deserve credit for getting to where they are. And look, you obviously win the games in front of you. But I think first off, look, we argued very heavily on this show about drafting Panay Sewell over Jamar Chase. And so far, we have been very wrong about that. Jamar Chase has transformed this offense.

And his ability to obviously get the ball downfield. to obviously get the ball downfield. I think I saw the stat that before, I guess last season, Joe Burrow did not complete one pass over 30 yards, air yards, and now he has like six to Jamar Chase this year. We saw him obviously break the long run yesterday, and Marlon Humphrey is still healthy for the Ravens, and he was destroying Marlon Humphrey yesterday. And the offensive line is okay.

I mean, I just looked at it right at 21st, a pass protection by Pro Football Focus. But they're good enough. They're good enough for Bird to get the ball out and really make a difference in what he can do. I was wrong on that one. Again, maybe two or three years from now, Panay Sewell turns into an all-pro, and we look at it differently. But for right now, it seems very clear that the right move was taking Jamar Chase. And again, transforming this offense and making Zach Taylor a better play caller,

making Joe Burrow a little more confident in his abilities and getting the ball out quickly. But Gabe, really the story, in my opinion, is beyond that. Their defense right now is fifth in efficiency. They're doing some good things defensively. They shut down Baltimore yesterday, though it did appear that the injuries for the Ravens are sort of finally starting to catch up a little bit, right? I mean, you have 16 guys

in injured reserve. Another offensive lineman I think got hurt during the game. You know, it's tough to continue to win at that level. Now, you mentioned the schedule for the Bengals. They have the Jets. They should beat the Jets. Yeah.

Then they have the Browns, add the Raiders, and the back half of the schedule is tougher, right? Steelers, Chargers, Niners, Broncos, Ravens, Chiefs, Browns. So get all your wins in now, and you should be a playoff team. I mean, you start 5-2. I don't know how you're not, which is a pretty big shock to a lot of us i think that let's give them six and two right now uh are you sure about that mike white for your jets might get it done oh god let's just give them six and two and say we agree that it's going to take probably 11 wins in that division we think that the ravens are going to keep winning

games even if they dump this one. Yeah, I'm talking about just from a playoff perspective, just getting into the playoff, the Bengals probably get in as a six or seven seed if they don't win the division. Yeah, I think they probably don't end up winning the division, but they can get in as a six or seven seed, but that's going to take, I think, 11 wins.

With the Raiders and chargers out there i mean i i guess you're about to tell me you're giving up on the chiefs that's the next topic that we're gonna get to like you really think they can get in on 10 wins uh probably yeah i i mean 10 wins feels like especially in this year when there's not dominant teams, that 10 wins could be enough to get you in there. But again, I mean, again, they're just, they're far better than I expected. They're far better than anyone who's not in Cincinnati expected. And the staff deserves credit for winning the games on their schedule, obviously.

And this is a big win in Baltimore. To win in Baltimore, the way they did it, they grinded them down at the end. Jamar Chase making plays. Defensivelyly they stifled Lamar Jackson it was nowhere to run nowhere to move they hit Lamar they pressured him it was a very impressive performance all right so you mentioned the staff so Zach Taylor obviously deserves some amount of credit but let's come back to this wide receiver quarterback combo because I think a lot of the take makers out there today are going crazy with this basic idea. Yeah, I mean, they played together at LSU. Of course, they're great. You know, this is all Joe Burrow needed. That was the whole logic that all of us

dopes used. Can you just tell me how real that actually is? Or is it just that Jamar Chase is great and this offense is pretty well designed? I would say that it's a little bit of both. I mean, the chemistry is there, obviously, for when they played together at LSU. Is it the only reason why? No. I think they're both very good. And again, they complement each other well.

Burrow can throw the ball very accurately deep. He can get the ball into him in tight spaces. And Jamarchez can do the rest. And so they match it very well do i think it it it it didn't hurt that they put together in college but it's not the reason why if you look at overall reasons why they're successful um then that's not the reason why jamar chase is a baller i mean and it seems i'm gonna steal a term i hadn't heard before i heard a Alex Smith using over on ESPN. Tell me if this sounds right.

He basically kept saying that Jamar Chase can uncover himself. I don't even know how to say it properly, that he gets uncovered. He basically is always open. So I don't think that you need chemistry or feel. If a guy just has a step on his defender, throw it to him, right? Yeah, correct. guy just has a step on his defender throw it to him right yeah correct but i i do think that sometimes um that chemistry is important in pressure situations in situations where the ball's going to be out quick jamar chase knowing uh the ball's going to get to him quickly maybe

there's times when he throws the ball to a different spot on his body depending on whether the defender is and jamar kind of knows that right right? He feels, okay, got a defender here. I know he's going to hit me on this shoulder right here. That stuff is where it matters. To your point, though, he's uncoverable. He's able to get out of press coverage very quickly. And it makes him very tough to defend because you want to get in his face. He's not a big-bodied wide receiver.

You want to try to get in his face, get your hands on him. But he's avoiding those your hands on him but he's avoiding those early hands on his body and he's making it very tough for defenders once again in trail he's too fast jeff it's not just him i mean like mixon looked awesome um t higgins is still out there the tight end i mean i think yesterday was national tight end day if i if i heard that correctly well they they they definitely made sure on the highlights we knew that. Oh, okay. Did they mention that a lot, that that got beat to death?

Well, Zoma looked great. He looked awesome. I know every fantasy league in America has him on waiver now. You know, I mean, I looked, I paid attention to T. Higgins. He had like 11 targets, barely any catches or yards. But it seems like they're thrown it 9,000 times in this offense. You know, it doesn't mean it's just those two guys. A team with this many weapons and a defense that, as you said, is better than we expected. But I just, I can't see them actually winning

against that schedule. This is why I made the point that they should go for Panay Sewell, because they already have weapons on their roster. They already have those guys, and those guys are still playing well. But again, Jamar Chase is just able to make more plays down the field than any of the guys they have. And do I think they win with Panay Sewell? Yes. But Jamar Chase, again, has transformed this offense into a high-power explosive play offense because of his ability to break tackles

and beat press coverage and hit those deep passes. So, yeah, they have a lot of weapons, man, and their offensive line, again, is okay. It seems to be that in 2021, look, as much as I love offensive lines, it seems like you just need to have – basically basically it's like the sum of your parts is more important than maybe individual players right like if you're just an average offensive line you're good if you're a offensive line with like two pro bowlers and three duds that's worse right i mean it's not going to be as good so the bengals are getting a passable grade from their offense i don't think it's great um it might even be good, but they're good enough

to get the ball out. Well, Jeff, you just gave me my segue to the next topic, which is a team with a cobbled together line that really isn't what you just described as good enough in the Chiefs, your Chiefs. I would like someone to sound the panic meter. Can we have the guys at John Oliver doing a now this and have everyone in all of sports media the panic meter can we have uh the guys at john oliver are they doing a now this and have everyone in all of sports media say panic meter panic meter panic meter over and over again it's all i've heard all monday morning is time for the panic meter i'm not asking you that i've already asked you that nick wright said it best do they even practice in kansas city they don't look like they practice jeff the spoiled nature of cheese fans today is on full

display um i hate to question fandom because i know there are fans that are very passionate cheese fans but guys get a grip please okay entering this game they were number one in the nfl points per drive they're number one in the nfl and points per scoring opportunity they're number one in the nfl and per scoring opportunity. They're number one in the NFL in basically getting a first down before third down, right? So getting a lot of yards on first and second down. Even after this game,

they're still a top in a lot of those categories. You know, here's a stat here. The best offenses are converting first downs into new series, okay? Number one in the history of the NFL,

the Kansas City Chiefs of 2021. The offense is still good. They had a bad football game. They played poorly. It happens. People play poorly in the NFL. It's a tough job. It's a tough business.

The offensive line had been fine until yesterday. They had a bad game. Okay. But the problem is the bad game happened when you now have four losses in seven games and the panic is full on. Here's what's happening offensively. We've talked about this in various stages over the last year, basically, right? Like the last half of last season into now. Teams are playing the Chiefs in two high and two man.

They're not letting them beat them with explosive play. So two high and two man is basically two safeties deep, right? And you play underneath coverage, either either man coverage or zone coverage. And the rushing four, I think the Titans put all of one time yesterday. The rushing four, they're daring Pat Mahomes to dink and dunk them. They're saying, hey, Pat, we don't think you're patient enough to throw the ball seven yards, five yards, six yards, and just slowly go down the field. And sometimes he's not. And I praised him earlier this season.

I thought they were doing better at that earlier this season, being better at just taking what the defense gives them. But yesterday, he kind of reverted back to otherwise, right? I mean, the offensive line wasn't great, but Pat was running out of that pocket very quickly a lot of times. And there were plays to be made. Not just me. We saw Matt Bowen at ESPN talk about this.

We saw Mike Renner at Pro Football Focus talk about this. It's not just me, offensive lineman, talking about this, right? There needs to be a better balance between that. And to me, it's about the offensive unit pressing, right? If you are the offense and you have a three and out and you punt the ball and your defense immediately allows another touchdown you're like ah shit we gotta score next time right we gotta do everything we can to score and slowly going down the field is not really the formula for that right it's not

the formula for like let's keep pace with the other team it can be the formula and it actually is but the mindset of the player is not that way right the mindset is oh my god i gotta make some plays because our defense can't hold up the team's defense is playing better actually it's it's it's not good but it's better than it was the first couple weeks of the season and so that's what i see in offense i just see an offense pressing just not taking what's there and that that in my opinion gets fixed pretty. The best way to fix this team is stop turning the freaking ball over. 17 turnovers so far this year. That's more than two of the last three seasons and one less than last season. Like they're turning the ball over at an alarming rate game, which is incredible.

I tweeted out, I can't recall an offense that is so good with this high turnover margin. People tweeted back saying the fastest show on turf, the Rams 99-2001, had the most points per scoring opportunity and led the league in drives that ended in a turnover. If they just turn that around, they go from 17 turnovers. So what's that? That's like, what, three a game, something like that.

And they end up going from that to one a game, half a game. Well, you can't get a half turnover, but you know what I mean. One, zero. They're going to be fine. And the people that are panicking, they're jumping off the ship, just take a deep breath. The standard I know is very high Kansas City, as it should be. It's very high.

But you have ups and downs in the NFL season. You have ebbs and flows. But you have ups and downs in the NFL season. You have ebbs and flows. It's hard to win so many years in a row. The Chiefs deserve the high praise and the high expectations. They've been to three straight AFC Championship games. They've been to two straight Super Bowls.

It's hard to keep winning and winning and winning the National Football League. Sometimes you take a step back. It feels like Kansas City has taken a little bit of a step back. I'll end with this. Sometimes you take a step back and it feels like Kansas City has taken a little bit of a step back. I'll end with this. I think that it's overlooked how poorly the Chiefs have drafted. I wrote an article for Fox Sports about this. There's just a talent depletion on the roster right now.

If you look at the drafts after Mahomes in 17, 18, 19, if I had some guys back in 2021, The Frank Clark trade extension was horrific for them. Claudio Tiller was a bad draft pick. They just don't have as much talent anymore. And Pat Mahomes typically covered up for that, for the lack of talent and some more to the team. And right now, he's not doing that. So everything is exacerbated and looks a lot worse. So Jeff, I think what you're trying to say is that you agree with Michael Irvin, who went on first take and said the Chiefs dynasty is over.

Am I hearing you correctly? That's basically your take. What dynasty? They won one Super Bowl. What's he talking about? I don't know. I thought that that would not be what you took issue with. Oh, it's over?

Look, I'll just – I'll go back to this. The Chiefs did win the Super Bowl with six and four. Remember Tampa Bay last year in in the in the in the in the game on thursday night football when tom brady put the four up think it was fourth down but it was actually already fourth down we all mocked them and their offensive line didn't play well that game we all ha ha ha look at look at tom brady um well okay they won the super bowl the year before that the chiefs won the super bowl um Are you telling me if you are the Titans, let's say, or Buffalo, or the Bengals, or whoever else is the one, two, or three seed,

and in strolls Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs are the seventh seed, are you excited for the football game? Do you think to yourself, you know what? Oh, Dynasty's over, guys. It's the Chiefs. They're over. We're going to smash them. No, no, no, no no no just just take a deep

breath the chiefs they might be they might not be fine i don't know i i will go on the air the side of there are a veteran squad who will figure it out they're going through rough patch it just happens that the again the standard is so high right that any time that's not met gabe we look at it as a giant failure um and it reminds me and again this is much smaller scale of every time the patriots struggle with tom brady remember it was like oh my god that's it that's it they're done and you're like three weeks later they're again back in the number one seed and cheese are knocking the number one seed but are you telling me the afc right now is scary i mean who who is a scary team there's no there's no tampa bay in the afc there's no arizona cardinals right now in the afc um all the top teams have two losses well the bengal yeah i think everyone

has two right yeah the ravens bangles yeah bills titans all have two losses yeah they've also all beaten the chiefs that's so you know yeah that's also that's a problem right they have not been um they beat one out of five potential playoff teams yeah uh and so they basically if by my math would have to go eight and two down the stretch which i'm not betting against the chiefs going eight and two but that's kind of what it looks like it will take for them to get in as a as a wild card maybe they could still win the division if they go eight and two i mean that might do the job Maybe they could still win the division if they go 8-2. I mean, that might do the job. Well, they have five division games left. So if they go 8-2 and

they win those division games, then yes, they win the division. Then they would probably win the division. All right. So let's talk Mahomes for a second. It was kind of a scary scene. He took like a weird knee to the face and head. He looked pretty woozy. You know, the reports will keep getting updated throughout the week. Latest I heard was expected to play, but man, he didn't look great at the end of that game. So what do you what are your thoughts on him? I think it's fine. They said he cleared concussion protocol and was a coach decision not to put him back in the game. OK, well, that's a relief because he definitely looked knocked out.

Yeah, he got a knee right to the face. You know, it's so interesting how, you know, depending on who the quarterback is, the reaction on social media, like that was a legal play. Nothing was sucky for Mahomes, but it was a legal play. There's no penalty on that play. Like, come on, guys. Yeah, that was just one of those fluky things.

It's a dangerous game. We've talked about this a few times before. I just, I got to ask again, are we sure? He's now leading the league in interceptions he's tied with zach wilson who is himself a walking dumpster fire pat mahomes should not be leading any league at any point in interceptions and yet he is are you worried that maybe he is not doing something right that there is like an actual systematic flaw moving forward with this guy or is it just that's the

way the ball bounced a few times i just kind of mentioned a little bit right like i i think that look there's this talk on social media about turnover worthy plays and there's a video that was floating around us off season and there was a horrendous uh horrendous video as far as like half the plays weren't interception worthy turnover worthy plays there's less than we than we think to be less than the video, probably more than you guys think. And all the turnover-worthy plays this year are turnovers. They're all turnovers. Turnovers a lot of times, guys, yes, they're skilled by the defender, right?

And being able to pull a fumble out and being able to knock the ball out, you know, the peanut tillman, right? You punch the ball out. That takes skill. That's a skill. But then when the ball's on the ground bouncing around, that's kind of just luck. It just, right? Like some days you have the luck, some days you don't. And part of it sometimes

is an offensive lineman is hustling down the field. He just falls on the ball, right? Or the ball squirts out somewhere. Interception, right? You know, the ball hits guys in a face mask and pops up in the air. So there can be bad luck. And again, they're not going to turn the ball over this.

They're not going to end the season with 40 turnovers game. They're not going to end the season with 40 turnovers. So I think it will calm down a little bit, and that changes the entire offense. All right, fair enough. Other people woke up Monday morning, and the big lesson they learned from that game was, oh, man, the Titans. Frabel's coaching up this squad. These guys can play. Derrick Henry's the MVP. They're five and two. They just beat the Bills and the Chiefs. The Titans, the Titans, the Titans.

Guys, I can't unsee that Jets loss. You cannot convince me the Titans are for real no matter who they beat. And sorry, Jeff, I'm putting them in our team that shall not be named that plays in indianapolis bucket i don't want to talk about the titans yeah they don't care they don't strike me as a super bowl championship team or caliber team i think they're a very good team uh there's still flaws on defense um that kind of concerned me and by the way derrick henry had what in this game 87 yards something like that 89 yards wasn't his best game. After a world-beating weekend last week. With no points the second half of this game. So, obviously, they might have been coasting at the end.

They're a good football team. I don't think they're a threat to win the AFC Conference. Okay. So, you're saying that Mike Vrabel does not need a good urologist to prepare him for the removal of a body part. No, he needs a moil in his services. It's not even, not even well, that's the most, that's the, that's the worst thing to watch. I can't believe we have to, in traditions, you have to watch that happen. I think good portion of our audience is totally confused. And to be honest, Jeff,

I don't really want to be the one to fill them in on what a moil does and what they'd be watching. If you know, you know, if you know, you know, fair enough. Tom Brady. Yep. It's in the rundown. This is not a democracy. So my opinion doesn't matter. I have to talk to you about Tom Brady now. He's padding his stats shamelessly in an attempt to create even more ceremonies for himself this week. The all time touchdown leader threw for his 600th touchdown, a totally meaningless piece of information, except that all of sports media falls for it and pretends like 600 matters so now you know here he is with this big thing he's already the leader what does it matter if he gets a 600 700 800 who cares it's just a number they don't have a secondary this isn't gonna last enjoy it while you can pad in your says

reminds me 2007 do all that you want in the regular season break all the records your team isn't good enough to win another super bowl tom brady and we'll get to that stupid 600 ball soon but they're not champs i can see it gabe you're doing what everyone else does what am i doing and i've done this too we're gonna count out tom brady i'm counting out his secondary i don't know what it is about the teams he plays on. I've never played on this team before. I never even asked anyone who's played for Tom Brady. Maybe I should ask someone.

We had Ryan Jensen on. Maybe I'll talk to Ryan Jensen in their center. I don't know what it is. I do know that when you play with a top quarterback, I play with Alex Smith, Eli Manning, I play with good quarterbacks, that there is a sense of confidence on your team because you know that any given moment, if you screw up, your quarterback can make you right.

If the defense doesn't play well, guess what, Tom Brady will score enough points for us. If the offense isn't playing well, Tom will make that throw in the fourth quarter for us. There's a certain level of confidence that you have with a guy like Tom Brady because everywhere he's been, the teams have played better. Bill Belichick, guys, didn't forget how to coach,

but now that Tom's not there, he's more conservative now right he's not going for a fourth down anymore they're just not as dynamic anymore the defense is not as good anymore even though they put up an ungodly amount of points on the jets i had to look at my screen i was at 56 points in nfl 56 54 points in nfl game that was i was floored by that but he just has this way of rallying his team i don't know how you can ever count them out yes they have injuries they do but they have uh uh the afc east is their is their division to play in the afc so that's like at least three wins right three or four wins they have the nfc south the panthers do not look good anymore. The Falcons aren't very good. They don't have a first-place schedule. So they play like who's the crossover game in their schedule.

The Rams, who they lost to, was a crossover game. And I think it ends up being the Cowboys, who they beat, was their crossover. No, the Cowboys and NFC East. There's one other game here. I'm too stupid looking. Oh, the Bears. The Bears was a crossover game. So I just they have an easy schedule man they're gonna win a lot of football game gonna be the one seat again not again but they will be the one seat and they they'll be the favorite

tool so he'll get 56 touchdown passes they'll have a whole bunch more ceremonies they'll win 13 14 15 games even but guess what then you got matt stafford and aaron rogers and kyler murray throwing it all over that stupid secondary you're just you're look i obviously want to believe tom brady can't win we thought so well we thought so last year that they're gonna run the packers want to throw all over them they just they just didn't yeah well the refs had something to do with that one of course always the refs well you know tom brady has a lucky way of always having refs on his side. Also, by the way, the other thing that you didn't mention,

oh, when you have a great quarterback, you just know he can do something. Yeah, when you have a great quarterback who knows the plays the other defense is running, yeah, that helps too. When you have a quarterback who can doctor up the ball the way he wants it, that kind of has, you know, something to do with it. When the quarterback and the coach can listen into the other team's locker room, that kind of maybe also plays a factor. you know that's for another podcast so now so cheating in Tampa Bay too I would imagine that he's brought a few tricks it seems seems reasonable

that's a reasonable take here's a reasonable take so he throws this pointless 600th touchdown nobody knows that's even a thing including Mike Evans who always nicely gives the ball to a fan he gives the ball to a fan and then later finds out, whoopsie daisy, the boss wanted to keep that one so he could put it in his personal trophy shelf or maybe bring it to Canton one day. So they had to go back and get the ball from the fan who Evans had given it to. And that's when the story gets interesting, because Tom Brady, it turns out, not just a cheater, also a cheapskate. Listen to this. That's pretty cool. That's pretty cool. He's going to get something nice in return. So we'll get him a helmet or a couple of jerseys or some other stuff. So it was really cool him to do that.

Jeff, this thing is worth probably tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars, because there's a lot of suckers out there who care about Tom Brady's stats. Signed helmet, a ticket to a game? A jersey? What are we talking about? That's all you get? Tom Brady's not willing to give you more than that? They have reported that this is worth at least $500,000. The ball is. Oh, cool.

Well, this guy got some seats and a signed helmet, I think. He got $1,000 to spend in a 10-day gift shop. Oh, neat. He could buy a Tom Brady jersey. Yeah, not a great trade for, uh, for this fellow, right?

He needs a little bit more for that. Uh, I, yeah, Tom, Tom got, uh, got off a freshman here.

Cause this guy should ask for hold hard cash to product football out of his dead hands. I mean, why not just be a nice guy about this and just say, Hey buddy, you really hooked me up here. Like here's, here's a hell of a lot more than just.

Tony Romo said on the broadcast he should get a date with Giselle. Tony Romo's testing the limits over there at CBS to find out what they'll put up with. I think they were, at some point, Romo just seemed very bored because it was like 38 to 3 for most of the fourth quarter. But yeah, I mean, look, rich people, man, they don't spend their money sometimes. They're going to spend the money on things they like, and they're going to be cheapskates otherwise. And he's being cheap here. I agree with you. All right, good.

Well, then we agreed on one thing that's very important about Tom Brady. I talked about Rodgers and Stafford, a couple of the other old guys who I think are just going to play into the 2030s. Rodgers wins again. They look great. I don't know what to make of the dc defense they're just not what we thought they were going to be very upset with this game oh another one that you lost a bet on well i had washington plus eight and a half or eight they had the ball four times inside the 20 in the second half and had three points yeah no they

stink i think it's officially a missed year for them. So we didn't learn anything new about Rodgers other than he seems to care more than any of expected. You can't count them out. Matt Stafford in the reunion game with Detroit, probably too much made of that, but puts up a bunch more numbers. He and Cooper Cup look like everything like Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase look like. Are we learning anything new about them this week? are we learning anything new about them this week uh no i mean we're learning the rams are are what they are they're really good um and i know they played down to lions but remember last year in the same spot they lost the jets do you remember like that was supposed to be an easy one for the the rams lost the jets dude the lions are a feisty team man they are a feisty 0 and 17 i'm so sick of hearing this man all you football guys say this kind of crap. Like, oh, man, they were in it. They were gutsy. The fake punts and the kicks. They lost the game.

They suck. They keep losing games they should win. What is so special about that? If they were 1-6, nobody would compliment them at all. Grit. It's grit and toughness. Yeah, okay. They're gritty.

Did you see, I think Hank textedank texted to us or nick maybe did that golf is 0 and 14 with anyone else other than sean mcveigh yeah yeah he's not i think i texted it and he's not uh he is not good it turns out at playing quarterback and uh i don't know if he ever will be his coach threw him under the bus people said last week i don't know if it made any difference for him this week i think we're seeing like full meltdown and rebuild in detroit again right i mean that this is the only way this can go well they need a quarterback the problem is this draft is not very quarterback friendly so i might have to wait one more year for that all right well we'll see we'll see what they do about that i don't really want to talk about the lions I do want to go back to the two other great teams in the NFC, though.

The Cards, who we barely talked about so far, undefeated still. Easy win this weekend. And the Packers, they play on Thursday. Interesting question for you in moving the line. That's our over-under segment. We'll do that on the other side of a quick break. We'll come back. We'll move the line.

Jeff, we're back on Jeff Schwartz is smarter than you Jeff you are smarter than me but I don't know if you have the answer to these questions so here goes I want to know cards versus Packers this Thursday over under Rodgers pass yards versus Kyler pass yards should be a shootout on Thursday night I will go Rodgers more pass yards because I think they're more reliant on his arm than the Cardinals are with Kyler's arm. But I will say something to watch out for. Packers defensive coordinator Joe

Berry is on the COVID list. He's not going to be on the premises for the game. It's a big loss to not have your defensive coordinator on a short week. Now, he'll be able to zoom and whatnot during the week. But against this defense, not having him there is a big loss to not have your defense coordinator on a short week. Now, he'll be able to zoom and whatnot during the week, but against this defense, not having him there is a big loss for the Packers. So I'll go Rodgers here ever so slightly,

but I think that I probably would have picked the Packers to win this game, but I'm not quite sure I'd do that anymore. Okay, interesting. I like talking about the Cards D, and I like talking about the Cards D without saying the name J.J. Watt because he always gets all the credit. And finally, they're doing some good things. And it isn't always about him until he made it about him.

There's this video of him pacing up and down the sideline and screaming and cursing and making a scene. What do you know? Perfectly lit right in front of the NFL Films camera. Shocking that he figured that out. But to talk football for a second, instead of complaining about him being a showboat. out but but to talk football for a second instead of complaining about him being a showboat i feel like they've figured something out moving him more towards the inside right and chandler jones is now going to be back and like that defense is legit yeah it's pretty good um it's been a lot better than i expected but yeah it's it's they're they're punking football they really

are um yeah watt managed to get it in the camera. I saw that this past weekend. Unbelievable. Very quickly, I think you come to this podcast to hear us talk about some X and O stuff. There was a play in that game yesterday, and this is something that you go back and find, but you can just listen to me talk about it. So there's a lot of things that make a quarterback successful in the NFL. But it's little things that make even bad quarterbacks to be average quarterbacks.

There was a play in that game where there was a wide receiver screen set up. It was Houston at a third down. Wide receiver screen, great call. Arizona brought pressure. You love screens against pressure. And Davis Mills had the wide receiver. All he did was throw the ball. His upfield shoulder.

Wide receiver catches the ball. Boom, first down. He throws the ball behind the wide receiver. All he'd do is throw the ball. His upfield shoulder, wide receiver catches the ball. Boom, first down. He throws the ball behind the wide receiver. He spins the other way, tackle for loss. It's like little plays like that. Most quarterbacks in the NFL can hit wide open guys on play action pass. It's like little plays like that. Now you had a first down, and now you're punting.

And all it was was one foot of accuracy, right? Instead of one shoulder to the other shoulder. And guys like Aaron Rodgers, Pat Mahomes, Tom Brady, they're hitting the right shoulder on those screens. And he did not. And things like that set quarterbacks apart. I just want to throw that in there because I think it's very important when you look at quarterbacks.

It's a little, of course, the little margins, right, that make the difference. Yeah, well, I'm glad you did bring it up because that counts as a completion. And dum-dums like me, who are kind of watching the game with fantasy football or gambling in mind, don't understand the difference between one shoulder or the other in those moments. So I am glad you slowed us down to say that. Let me go back to Cooper Cup. Over under 95% chance he was the first guy in the Rams practice facility today,

and he'll be the last to leave this guy as julian edelman put it is gritty and he has a high motor when are we going to give cooper cup the credit for being more than just like you know a little white guy who can run around i mean he's getting it now but we stereotype everybody so the stereotype is never going to leave him i mean it's we're just always talking about his football iq or whatever he's just obviously a very good player. He's very good, yeah. I remember in college. This is the second, third quarterback.

He's a good player. He tore up Oregon in college. It was wild. So what is he doing? I mean, you just X's and O's for a second. He's a very good route runner. They set him up in the offense to do a lot of free releases, a lot of play action pass to get him on those crossing routes.

I think he's just a very defined route runner. He's very good at it, and that gets him very open. It also seems like he must have some pretty good hands because I don't see Cooper Cuppin drop ever, really. Good football player. Yeah, and then Woods is pretty good. Higby's turning into one of the better tight ends out there. They always have a running back or two,

and Stafford obviously is better than Goff like I just wonder if their offense is so fast and so powerful that like an maybe slightly older defense I don't know like are they gonna are they gonna wear out their own defense is that a thing um not when you're scoring too many points it's never a thing when you're not scoring points then you can wear your defense out but never when you're scoring enough points points, it's never a thing. When you're not scoring points, then you can wear your defense out. But never when you're scoring enough points. That's not a problem. Okay. All right. Next up. Over under one and a half weeks until Deshaun Watson is traded. Oh, man. This one's

interesting. So, it seems like the Panthers and Dolphins are most interested. The problem is the Dolphins have no first round draft picks. It's the Eagles draft pick this year. So, they're going to have to do this. We're talking about a three-team trade, right? Where they give two of someone, they get a first-round pick back, send that back to Houston.

I think it's the Panthers right now or Bust. The Panthers have a first-round draft pick. They have an owner who's very aggressive and willing to go get Deshaun Watson. But the issue continues to be the allegations of sexual assault, right? And inappropriate behavior.

And these are not allegations that are criminal, right? They're civil lawsuits. There's no criminal charges. And he's not even on any list. The Texans are not playing him. He's not on the suspension list, not on the non-football injury list. He's done none of that. So if you trade for him and his status changes

to where he is now suspended or in an NFL, then you've obviously wasted a portion of that draft pick you've given up. But if the Panthers say, hey, look, this year is a wash. We just want Deshaun Watson in the building. We'll worry about playing him next year. Okay, fair, right? They're not winning. They're not making the playoffs this year.

But if that's the mindset and you feel comfortable that he will not be suspended next year, then make the trade. Then make the trade. But if you have any doubts that he can play next season because he'll be suspended, then you just can't do it. But again, the civil lawsuits, they take years. They take years. There's no guarantee that this will be solved within the next 365 days and they'll be the same spot next year. So you have to go for it for the Panthers now and get them in your building and maybe worry about the consequences of him being suspended later.

Yeah. Well, obviously, every ownership group is going to evaluate, you know, the hit their team can take from a PR perspective now or when other stuff comes out. That's a factor. We can't be naive and thinking that just some teams will just say simply we're, we're not, we can't bother. We can't try. Even if we think he would be a good fit, even if we believe he's a good guy and he did nothing wrong, let's say some team thinks that they just can't put that out there in the world. So we'll see. Um, all right. I read this rumor and I kind of had to read this twice. I waited a couple of weeks ago when I saw this,

it came up again. So I'll ask it. I can't believe this is a serious question. The chances Mike Tomlin coaches at USC next year, I'm setting it at over under 1% chance. And I think that's high, but maybe you'll say that Carson Palmer said this again on Dan Patrick show today. I think there's no chance he's a coach, but I think he a coach. I think he'd be a pretty interesting college coach. I'd be for watching him at USC in the Pac-12 conference, but there's no way he'd lose Pittsburgh all the way for the

West Coast. No ties to USC. There's nothing there. He's not doing that. He's also the best, most underrated for sure, and arguably the best coach of the last 15 years in the NFL. He's not the best, but he's been very good.

I said, arguably, I mean, he's never had a losing season. I'm not sure there's an argument. I mean, Belichick, Andy reader better than him.

They have, they have one more titles than he has, but Mike Tomlin never loses. And even this year when we buried them, they're probably going to come out just ahead of 500. If you, if you look down the road, Mike Tomlin is a very good coach on a team that has a history of winning.

I don't see why on earth he would ever leave. I'd love it. If he came to USC as a USC fan, that'd be amazing. I just, I don't understand why Carson Palmer is putting this out. That's why I don't think he's going there. I just think he's heard this from USC people and maybe they have the the same agent he's just pumping his boy up i don't know why

it's a really weird one all right um who knows who's listening to him here's a guess on who might listen to this podcast jeff and this is a great honor uh i would like to know over under two percent chance larry david listened to our show a couple weeks ago and then came up with this bit why why are kickers okay who have they don't have football skills they're not football players i'm sure they're wonderful people but they're not football players why why how why are they kicking a ball through goalposts to decide games it doesn't make any sense at all it's a first of all goalposts are a relic from the old english rugby i think okay you know when they used to actually run and kick a ball through goalposts but they don't do that in the nfl there's no need

for goalposts okay he said it better than i ever could that's my take made funny by my comedy god, Jeff Respondolari. It was really funny. Do we have the frog part? It's the audio too. We also have that. He kept building on this bit. Just play the audio again, please. Just continue to go.

Wouldn't the game be better without him? Think about it. Why not just have leaping frogs to decide games have a see if a frog can leap through a little goal post that you set up okay on the floor and if the frog can leap through the goal post then do that what why kick it through a goal post well it's not called leaping frog ball it's's called football. So you're saying take the feet out of footballs? Is that what you're saying, Larry? Is that what you're saying?

Yes. Why feet are deciding games and they shouldn't. Why should one player, one player with this skill like the guy on the Ravens. Justin Tucker, yeah. Why should this one player who does nothing but kick a ball be deciding games when you have how many people on the football team? 11 or 53, 53 men roster. When you have 52 other players who are actually playing and this one person, this 53rd person is deciding games. It makes no sense whatsoever.

Oh, dude, the frog thing has me in tears. I've seen that before. And it is, oh, oh, my God. Well, you have a partner, you have an ally in this fight to eliminate kickers. He said it better than you did, right? I mean, much better. Look, frogs jumping into goalposts would definitely be viral. I'll tell you that. I don't even know what to say.

I love Larry so much uh like i said the new curb man it's just everything in the curb the stuff that he that that i find the funniest or the ordinary i know he does obviously this part of the show like the ordinary stuff that happens that you're like oh yeah i don't have a fence around my pool either i'm not ruining much of anything but like do you watch curb yet okay i'm saving this for a moment yeah but there's a thing about a fence in a pool it's like oh i exactly know this conversation i could have in my house and like just the stuff that happened so good um he makes a great point right you know screw kickers right get him out of here okay so i don't need to keep beating this point to death i borrowed the take from someone else

now larry david listened to our podcast and made it twice as good a point. This is catching on. I think this is the beginning of the movement. I'm going to reach out to Larry some way, somehow and bond over this. And we're going to eventually eradicate kicking with his help, with his leadership. Not me. It's not going to happen with me, but it's going to happen with Larry. My wife, by the way, who you've met and enjoyed.

My wife said to me after watching the first season or two of curb, she looked over at me at one point and just goes, Oh my God, I married Larry David. I said, I think, I thank you. I take that as a huge compliment. I would be so happy if my wife said that to me. Um, it's just like the way that the ordinary stuff that he complains about in the show is all the same stuff that we complain about and like the way he makes it funny and the way he makes it just uh it's the best um so yeah it's a great show i'm glad it's back the one the the lin-manuel miranda season was kind of odd but otherwise i think they made up the difference last year uh from that bad but it dude it's back i'm glad larry david i like that

he's a sports fan like he's one of those celebrities who actually knows sports a lot of celebrities sort of just go to games and don't really know sports he knows football he's a football fan he's a he's a jets fan and he also is a kings fan a legit kings fan he pays attention i mean he's obviously a you know a baseball fan he pays attention. He can talk sports with the best of them. Maybe one day, Jeff, I'll just sub out and Larry David can come on here and co-host with you. I have problems right now, Jeff. Let's spend one more minute on this. I finished Squid Game.

Obviously, we're not in the spoiler business. I know you did too. I think people have another week or two to try to catch up and finish before we talk about it. It's like 15 minutes in the podcast. We're going to talk about Squid Game. If you like to turn the podcast off, you may do so at your discretion. Please, by the way, leave a rating before you leave. Five stars preferably.

But now go ahead with your Squid Talk game. Squid Game Talk. Well, here's my biggest question. So were you just assuming season two is him doing doing like a Liam Neeson taken bit. Like he's going in and trying to end it from the inside. The assumption is that, is that the old man is his dad and he's going to pass the game on to him in the end. I've heard the old man.

I've heard that take as well. Is the main guy's dad? Yeah. And he doesn't know that? No. What's that based on? Just rumor, internet rumors that's a huh and in the end he's gonna actually find like the the main character will uh will find out that

he like ends up loving being in charge of the games or something something like that i see so he will he will do the same thing that the like the main guy how surprised were you when you saw the old man at the end fairly surprised but not not like blown away like how did that happen i think what this show does very very well again spoilers all over the place here sorry everyone what i what i thought was interesting i'm curious your take were all the like so the body parts being sold to china and the brother versus brother all of that was just misdirect right like that was just to confuse you and keep you away from the surprises that mattered yes i think so yeah because i thought

at the end i thought of myself like that none of that mattered no and it doesn't really conclude i mean maybe if there's a season two or three like maybe we'll come back to it but it felt like all it was doing was trying to confuse us and get us off the scent of who is the host and what's going on i think i think it tried to get us to be like there's other things happening here they're nefarious when there there wasn't it was just was the the host and the the old the old uh white men paying for the whole experience that was who like who the villains were not the people selling the you know selling the body parts or or the brother trying to get on board um i'm not even sure that i don't think he even shot the brother to kill him i think he he fell off i don't think he was trying to kill him he

shot him in the shoulder too i think i don't think in the end but yeah isn't it wild i've never watched a show where i've been like where some people have died i've just been like all right well i guess they that's what happens when you play the squid game like it it desensitizes you to all the death that happens 455 people that part of the now there's obviously staff members that die too and squids there's a lot of death in this show and you're just like whatevs i guess it's part of the show let me ask you this jeff do you think you'd be better at betting on the squid game than you are at betting on the nfl um probably you think you can make some smarter picks I made some great picks in Pac-12 though but no one gives a shit about my 15 straight Pac-12 correct picks um god the NFL

is three straight weeks of the public just cleaning up dude I I don't know what to do it's got to change at some point but if we if we get to Seattle to cover tonight we'll have a winning week so we'll take that. We're 2-2 right now and hope for better days. Hope for better days. You get into it. You get your second chance. Another bite at the apple on Thursday with Matt doing some gambling, talking college ball.

I am excited for Thursday night football. I think I might... Jeff, I was training for that mini triathlon all week. I ate well. I didn't drink. I think this week, F it. I'm going crazy. I'm going to get a few beers in me. Watch that Cards Packers game. You spent one whole week training for the

tries? Is that what you just said? No, no. One whole week being super healthy. I stay in shape in general. This was clean living. Okay. Perfect. So this week, game off. I'm going to eat and drink what I want. Love it. Go ahead and do that. All right, guys. Appreciate you joining us as usual.

We're powered by the Varsity Podcast Network. Please rate, review, subscribe, leave some questions. We'll answer them on Thursday's episode with Matt. Have a great couple of days. Enjoy the football. Talk to you guys on Thursday.