Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - The Dominant Steelers, Trade Deadline Chatter, and Rookie Quarterbacks

Episode Date: November 3, 2020

The Steelers lock down Lamar to remain undefeated, this may be the strongest rookie QB class since 2012, and the trade deadline is here: who is buying and who is selling? 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 november the third week eight is in the books the steelers rolled right through the ravens but the afc still goes through kansas city today is the trade deadline who is going to buy and who is going to sell i'm jess schwartz alongside gabe goodwin welcome to jess schwartz smarter than you on this it isn't a store tuesday we're not talking about that it's a store tuesday because it's a great nfl trade deadline day gabe how are you buddy i'm good we are not talking about that other thing that everyone in the world is talking about there are plenty of places for that uh jeff surprise buyers and sellers today i'm we're not gonna even see every single headline by the time that this show drops i am very surprised by some of the teams we're talking about as sellers this year? I am surprised a little bit.

And it's also surprising, and we'll get much deeper into this too, is that reports this weekend, especially from Jay Glazer, were like, look, teams are not going to buy and sell as much as we think because of COVID protocols, right? You have to wait at least six days before that player you trade for can get on the field. And so if you're trading for someone you want to play this weekend, it's not going to happen this weekend.

That's why the Ravens traded for Ngokwe to play against the Steelers after their buy. And so we're seeing some trades happen and we'll discuss who should buy, who should sell, who's going where. But that's something to look out for is that, you know, the COVID, the six days, I don't know if teams are going to be willing to trade

as much as they had in the past. Yeah, and also, this is more your world than mine, but also some confusion about, you know, revenue for the league. So future cap implications, smart people like Bill Barnwell and the people you keep track of on Twitter can explain to us just what that means. But it's harder to project your future

when you don't know exactly what you're earning. Yeah, and, you know, we'll get into the cap situation for next season. That's a big part of this. The cap's going to go down next season. And I think the minimum is $ is 175 you can go down to which is a huge huge drop and we'll get into especially the saints who are about 100 million over the cap for next season

there's a lot to think about when it comes to trades but i know you want to start off with uh what you think is the best team in the afc well it's not just me buddy it's anyone with the television and two eyes saw it um we were hinting at it last week but I was willing to leave open the possibility that it wasn't the Steelers after seeing the Steelers kick the crap out of Lamar Jackson let's be honest that's what happened they proved they're the team to beat in the AFC all due respect to your boys in Kansas City but beating up on a 1AA team who's trying to trade all its players my stupid jets that doesn't prove anything to me

about the Chiefs. It's the Steelers till someone says otherwise. And we don't have to spend tons of time on this because I think you agree deep down it is the Steelers who are the best team in that division or in that conference. Excuse me. Well, no, the Chiefs are the best team in that No, no, no, no. The Steelers are undefeated. Yes. And they did beat their rivals. Yes. In a game that was, by the way, it's as throwback as you get in the NFL, right? It was like a physical, the black and blue division, right? Physical

turnovers, hitting. I mean, the last play of the game was a monster collision in the end zone to win the game for the Steelers, right? I mean, the Ravens, I don't know if Snead had the ball in his hand or not. He got hit, went head over heels, and the Steelers win the game. So here's why the Steelers, in my opinion, a little bit of a concern for me with them is their offense, all right?

Their offense is just, there's something about the lack of explosive plays. Yesterday game, they only had 221 yards in the entire game on 50 plays against the Ravens. The Ravens had 79 plays for 457 yards. The Steelers allowed, I think, 200 and how many yards rushing? 265 yards rushing. The Ravens did what they wanted to. They just turned the ball over, which good. Credit the Steelers for that.

But their offense for the Steelers, in my opinion, and we're all about this for Fox Sports, for that. But their offense for the Steelers, in my opinion, and we're talking about this for Fox Sports, is that there needs to be a little bit more explosion, explosive plays, a little downfield action for me to really buy into the Steelers as being

AFC favorites. That being said, I've said all along, the one team to knock off the Chiefs, if there is one, is the Steelers team because they do what every team would have to beat the Chiefs doing. Hit the quarterback, force turnovers, and play good coverage. The concern, in my opinion, is the Steelers team because they do what every team would have to beat the Chiefs doing hit the quarterback force turnovers and play good coverage the concern in my opinion is the Steelers offense which just not explosive enough right now for me to put in the favorites in the AFC fair enough so I watched yesterday and I thought to myself um Ben's got like a whole lot of Porsches and

Maseratis and Teslas in his garage. And then he's got Juju, who's like his Subaru. And we've barely even seen him use the guy yet. And I think he's got a few other Subarus, John, James Conard out there. Like I get it. They're not explosive at every position, but it seems like he's got guys he can trust at almost every position. Tight end looks pretty good. We know the defense is going to get him the ball back a couple of times and it's big ben so i i guess i don't think i need to see anything else like i get it the chiefs are the chiefs but i don't need much else to to think that the steelers have this thing well the steelers look the steelers in my opinion again the only team that can beat the chiefs and here's it's a positive from yesterday i know just kind of banging the offense is that

you just played a bad game on offense, and you won the game. Like, you overcame the issues that you had in that game, and part of it was that you scored on defense, right? Rob Splane, who came in for Devin Bush, done a great job in interception of Lamar Jackson, runs it back to the house on the first drive. Lamar threw another bad interception. He fumbled twice, one now and fourth down.

He wasn't going to make it anyways, but he fumbled twice in that game, deep in their red zone. So, by the way, and we'll get to the Ravens in a second. The Ravens keep making these mistakes in these big games, like down the red zone. It's becoming a trend, in my opinion, that they need to look in to figure out how they're going to overcome this. Back to Sears, though.

Your point is really accurate on Big Ben. He will not be phased in a playoff game in Kansas City, in Arrowhead. And the game could be in Pittsburgh, by the way. The Sears go 14-2 and the Chiefs go 14-2. I don't think the Chiefs are going less than 14-2 unless they drop a weird game. I think Tampa on their schedule. Chiefs have the easiest schedule, by the way. Strength of schedule. The way

out. They have a very easy road to go to get to 14-2 or even just be 15-1. So the Sears, again, if their offense just shows a little bit more explosiveness, a little bit more of that downfield action, they're really going to be tough to deal with because their defense is really that elite. And so I hope they're in. They had a couple injuries yesterday.

I saw Tyson Aluolo be out a little bit. I do not know if Cam Hayward's health data at the time of this taping, he walked off at the end of that game, but they played not their best game on offense and still beat the Ravens. So credit to them. And credit Mike Tomlin, guys. Haven't talked about Mike Tomlin enough.

Unbelievable, right? Last year, A. Nate with that shit offense that had 30 seconds in DVOA comes into this season. They're 7-0. Like, they're incredible right now. They're doing a fantastic job. They're winning close games.

They're beating good teams. And I think this is important. They're winning games that sometimes they shouldn't win, right? The Ravens game, they should not have won. But they won, and that's what good teams do. You win games you shouldn't win. Yeah. Yeah, no, I don't want to just declare the Ravens dead.

You did that midway through last season. You turned out to be right, even though you looked a little bit off for part of the year. You were right in the end. And what you basically told us is what I think we saw yesterday, which is if they get behind or if they have to get away from their desired game plan, if either of those things start to happen,

Lamar doesn't look like an MVP and they can't really come back and win. They can't throw their way to victories. That seems to be what a lot of the smart people I follow are saying today. Are they done? Do we just stop talking about them now and focus on those other two teams?

So, here's the thing about the Ravens. Their defense is still really good, right? The defense forced some turnovers yesterday. I mean, they played well yesterday. But what concerns me is this offense. So, Lamar Jackson, if you look at his efficiency numbers this year, are not good, man. I mean, if you look at the composite completion percentage over expectancy and EPA, right? Two good stats. I know it's a mouthful there, but you know, last season he was probably number one in the NFL, maybe number two. He's 26th right now in the NFL.

26th. Just not playing so efficient, right? They're not, again, they cannot throw the ball. We had Ryan Clark on another podcast I do, and he was talking about what defense are doing to them now. They're like, look, Lamar cannot throw the ball to the sideline. We're just going to pack everyone in the middle of the field and force him to throw the ball to the sideline,

which is what the Titans did last year, what the Chiefs have done. And they're going to beat bad defenses because not every defense can do this. When you run up against a playoff defense, typically they're going to be good. And they're finding ways now to get after Lamar. Look, the last three games they've had big games, lost the Titans, right? 0 for 4 in fourth down that game. Lost the Chiefs. Game wasn't terribly close.

And lost the Steelers. Like they've lost the last three games now where they've been, you know, an opportunity to win. And they were favored in all three of those, too. Then they were favored over the Steelers. Like, they've lost the last three games now where they've been, you know, an opportunity to win. And they were favored in all three of those, too. Then they were favored over the Chiefs. The Chiefs, by the way, will not be underdog again for the next, what, five years? I mean, never.

They'll never be underdog. Even though they might be underdog in Tampa this year. We'll find out when that game comes. I was going to get to that, but I don't think they'll be underdog. I think it'd be even. Money? I mean, I don't know. So Tampa's really good, but I know you want to hate on Brady,

and they have not played Monday Night Football yet, and it's recorded this, but I'm not concerned about them. I guess the Giants. So I feel great that I was right on the Steelers, though, and I think in the end I might be right about Lamar Jackson. I don't know. I feel bad saying that because he won the MVP last year, but I kind of – maybe my grading scale is very high.

I'm like, can you win a Super Bowl or not? It's like how I look at quarterbacks. And so right now he's proven he can't. I will say the caveat, though, is that if he finds a way to turn it on or just have a game in one of these big games where things kind of go his way, but yeah, of course, because the Ravens are still talented on defense, still have weapons on offense. Their offense is the run game, tough to stop.

Play action pass, tough to stop. So yeah, they can definitely win a couple of playoff games, but I think they're going to go win four playoff games in a row and win a Super Bowl. Probably not. No, and I should mention this, not to take this too lightly, and by the way, the Steelers should not take this too lightly. If I have my news right, Marlon Humphrey tested positive for COVID after the game.

Yeah. That's a real problem. That's a good player on that Ravens D that I don't know if I'd feel too comfortable if I'd been around him all day Sunday. So we'll have to see if there's news coming out about anyone else who might have been exposed. But that puts a real dent in their defense that is good. But if they need to win a bunch of games here yeah hard without him yeah um you know interesting we saw two players yesterday test positive that played on sunday because the

results you know they test saturday the results come back sunday everyone was clear test sunday results come back obviously monday two players tested positive we've yet to see transmission happen on the field so hopefully everybody um you know will will be okay but I believe it's one of the Niners running backs right and if they're in that that running back room together they have a game on Thursday night they need and they're out now Jimmy G they're out Kittle um who both will probably be out for the rest of the year uh Kittle's out they said eight weeks and Jimmy G's out six I would imagine that means just the rest of the season by now. So, yeah, let's hope that we don't have a big community spread on those teams. Is there any team you want to pick from your choice of potential AFC playoff teams

who you think has any shot at competing with Pittsburgh or Kansas City? Or are we just saying those are the two teams in the conference championship? You want to give any love to the Bills? I know you like to give them hate. Any love to the bills? Colts even? The Colts are interesting, man. I don't really, I don't know.

I just, I can't buy into Phillip Rivers, honestly, in a big playoff game. I will say, look, the Tennessee Titans offensively are still really good. They traded for Desmond King today, Chargers slot corner. They need a lot of help on defense, especially on third down. You're terrible. I think they're still last in third down. If they can go from last to, like, 20th on third down on defense, yeah, they're a live dog.

I mean, they have a chance to make things difficult in the playoffs. I trust that offense to get it done. But defensively, they're just so poor right now. They need Clowney to step up. They need Beasley to step up. I wouldn't keep my eye off Tennessee still. I think Tennessee still could give teams trouble in the postseason. Okay.

All right. Well, we got a few teams to look at there. We spent more time on that first topic than I expected. So I'm going to throw you a curveball on the second topic. We already hit a little bit of this with trade deadline talk. I was going to ask you about some NFC teams that might be buyers today um instead i'm gonna say this uh the new england patriots that dynasty is dead dead cam fumbled away any shot they had at saving the season all right and they are going to be sellers for the first time probably in my life. I mean, at least since I can remember, they're two and five for the first time since Brady was there. All right. They've

got no players left. They need a yard sale basically to recover any shot at a rebuild that they want or, or they could lose their coach. He might be gone. Not remember. None of us have any idea what the hell his contract situation is. and there are rumors every few years that maybe just maybe he'll leave it clearly doesn't work without Brady they have to be very careful to prove to Belichick they're willing to rebuild he's willing to rebuild or I think he walks so this is this is pretty fascinating because yes the mystique of the Patriots ended yesterday in Buffalo when a defensive lineman number 61 with no gloves and an elbow brace stripped Cam Newton in the last play of the game for the Patriots and look that mystique was over if they go down and win that game Gabe you're like okay all right well the mystique is Bill Belichick in his career as Patriots coach was 35

and 5 against the Bills 35 and 5 against the Bills in 40 contests, okay? That's incredible. Now they've lost, what, four in a row? They're 2-5 now. Look, clearly Cam has not been the same guy since he came back from COVID. I don't know if they're related or not, but that week off has kind of crushed that offense. And he was thrown into a bunch of undrafted frames yesterday.

But that, to me, I know people say the personnel is not very good, but, I mean, there's teams that play in the NFL with bad personnel and still manage to move the ball a little bit, right? I mean, still kind of have some semblance of an offense. If this was, if you took Bill Belichick and you took the Patriots logo off the helmet and you looked at the roster, bottom three roster in the NFL, right? I mean, I don't think it's close,

but we give Belichick the benefit of the doubt because for so many years they won football games with sometimes rosters that weren't the best in the NFL, right? I mean, I don't think it's close, but we give Belichick the benefit of the doubt because for so many years, they won football games with sometimes rosters that weren't the best in the NFL. Now, is this all because Tom Brady left? No, okay? They've had a lot of opt-outs. A lot of us, like me, thought, okay,

Bill Belichick, the Patriots logo, they're going to be the same team. They'll find a way to win. But clearly we know now that finding a way to win is tougher when you don't have Tom Brady. That's fair to say, okay? And so, yes, the dynasty as we know it is done. I mean, it really ended with Tom Brady signed in Tampa Bay

and left New England. The question becomes, can they get a quarterback next year and find wide receivers and tight ends to play with that quarterback and just run it back sort of with the same shell on defense and then obviously a new quarterback and new wide receivers bill betchuk has proven he can't find any any wide receivers so i don't know i don't do you trust him to find my receivers game no he's not going to draft one no he's not going to draft one um and you know what if what if jim agroporoero comes on back to New England because I think I think with

his injury now in his bad season he's not gonna be a Niner next year so you know there's there's options at quarterback but I I kind of think I think it's it's probably like done as we know in New England and they'll try to rebuild but it's's not going to work. And, you know, Miami's coming on strong. Miami's coaching staff is fantastic. Actually, Miami has a brighter future than probably Buffalo at this moment. Not this season, but if you kind of project out the next couple of years, their defense played an awesome history against the Rams, and they're well-coached.

They have their first-round draft picks next year and Houston, first and second-round draft pick next year. And they have six picks, by the way, in the first, second, and third round the next year, and maybe the year after that too. I mean, they're loaded in the ability to bring more talent into their team. So I think the Dolphins are on the way up. Patriots are on the way down. Bills are kind of like, I think, kind of stuck in the mud.

I think they're 6-2, but do you trust them to win a playoff game? I don't. And then your team, who knows what the hell happens with your team. Well, don't drag them into this. let's just sit them out for this conversation here's what we know the Patriots right now according to one of the you know statistical spreadsheets that you like to look at have about a 10 chance of making the playoffs which means they need to decide like right now if they're cutting bait this year because Stefan Gilmore's a guy there have been some rumors maybe they could trade and get something valuable for him they could try to

keep losing because we know they're not going to have cam as their quarterback they're not going to sign him as a free agent next year he's going to go somewhere else so then they're going to need they're gonna have to get picks to go get the quarterback of the future but they got to lose enough games to make sure they can get all the way up into that top you know five eight range they can draft your boy lance harbour or whatever the hell the damn guy's name is um you know they gotta decide he's from that movie varsity blues correct trey lance they gotta decide what they want to do for the rest of their life and i don't think bill belichick is going to want to be around for a rebuild i don't i just don't think he has any patience for it i think it is fair to question whether he has

the patience for the rebuild i i his age a rebuild is tough man plus like look but for years belichick has done a great job with the roster but the the roster is shit right now. And at some point, isn't that his fault? Yeah, well, I mean, he has made excuses. So he has made excuses going into this season that he kind of got screwed, right? So they, first of all, they had those opt-outs. So we know about that. So they had all this money that they could spend.

But in August, who were they going to go sign to fill in their roster? Yeah, I've heard him say that, yeah. Obviously, he lost his best quarterback of all time. He lost his tight end, maybe the best of all time. You know, some injuries, a few bad draft picks. Like, things go poorly. People should check out.

Bill Barnwell wrote a lot about this, which made me excited to talk about it with you. But he can make all the excuses he wants. But, man, he screwed a lot of this up himself. Yeah, and it's hard admitting that because i like bill belichick obviously the greatest coach of my lifetime um it was my lifetime watching football obviously you know like bill walsh was still coaching i believe when i was born so hard to make that hard to say the best ever but i think there's up there right and for years he was masterful at building the roster with pieces that worked for his defense, right?

They're not all superstars at times, right? He was great. And he was also great, by the way, trading guys away before they became too cheap to trade away, right? And, you know, the last couple, though, Chandler Jones probably should have kept them. I mean, there's some examples of where he should have kept guys. But right now, man, look at their roster. Are you telling me this roster, even if you have the guys all back in, even the guys all back in, it's still like, I don't know,

a 25th best roster, 26th best roster? I mean, Nikhil Harry has not panned out yet. Any of the running backs, Sonny Michel, right, man? I don't know. Is he panned out? Isaiah Wynn, the left tackle, is going to be good. Who are the future superstars on this team? No, I mean, they don't know. Is he panned out? Isaiah Wynn, the left tackle, is going to be good. I don't – who are the future superstars on this team? No, I mean, they don't have them. And of those guys who were on that Super Bowl team against the Rams a couple years ago,

like the main roster that won that Super Bowl, none of them are around. None. Like all the key players on the line, all the key players, offensive weapons, obviously quarterback. I mean, the only guy left is like Joe Thune, their left guard. Sure, I guess. I mean, only someone like you knows who that is. So everyone else who I've heard of is gone. So, you know, I'm celebrating it.

I'm enjoying every Patriots game this year. I was terrified that they were going to pull out the win with about 45 seconds yesterday and thrilled for the Bills and all of all of us frankly that they didn't because you're you're a giant patriots hater that's why i'm not i didn't care about the giants whatever i'm jealous of the giants but i don't hate them yeah let me ask you this since the original topic was going to be nfc buyers and talk about packers and saints and you know seahawks is there anyone any quick topic for you on a team that should go out there and make a move and try to improve at a position or two to make a real super bowl push anyone come to mind i'm just curious um you win the last time a mid-season trade like just like

push the team over the top i mean i don't i don't know if i think i think little targeted trades will be important, like the King trade to the Titans, but we're not going to see like J.J. Watt get traded. People are talking about J.J. Watt get traded. We're not going to see those, I don't know, these big name guys move,

especially with the cap. We mentioned the cap. The cap will be $175 million next season. It could be higher, but probably not. The Saints right now are $100 million over the cap for next year. I mean, maybe they trade Michael Thomas, but who wants Michael Thomas right now are $100 million over the cap for next year. I mean, you know, maybe they trade Michael Thomas, but who wants Michael Thomas right now?

So I don't think we're going to see a lot of impact trades as far as like impactful high brand players that we see. No, look, the King trade is great for the Titans. So we're going to see some of these maybe depth trades. We saw, right, the Niners trade away. Kawhi Alexander today, I believe, right? So, I mean, we're seeing some trades so far, but nothing where you're like, wow, that, that is like that, that, you know, that changes the

dynamic of the team. All right. Well, we'll, we'll watch throughout the next 48 hours, two screens, election coverage on your network of choice and a trade deadline coverage on your network of choice. We'll come back to that one next week. One team that I can't believe it, maybe we'll make some moves to try to improve their team a little bit because suddenly it looks like they have a chance are the Eagles. And I just want to say, you know, all the cool kids out there on Twitter are crapping all over the NFC East and I get it.

I'm right there with you. But here's the truth. The Eagles are going to get to the playoffs. They're going to be just a touch below 500 if we had to guess. And then all of a sudden they're going to be the truth. The Eagles are going to get to the playoffs. They're going to be just a touch below 500 if we had to guess. And then all of a sudden they're going to be the Eagles. And Carson Wentz looks good. And the defense is starting to make some plays. And all of a sudden we're going to be saying, wait,

they were a Super Bowl contender in August. Jeff had Wentz as an MVP candidate going into the season. Now they made it to the dance. What if the Eagles can do some damage? I bet that becomes the take by the end of December. Well, it's going to be a silly take because unless Carson Wentz plays any better, the Eagles are done in the playoffs.

Look, I want Carson Wentz to be good. Believe it or not, as much people think that I hate everyone. I hope everyone gets paid and everyone's great and everyone plays the most amazing career of their entire life. But Carson Wentz is in year five now, Gabe. Year five. He makes rookie mistakes still.

He refuses to throw the ball away on a screen pass, which is the most silly thing of all time. A screen's not there. Throw it on the ground. Live to play the next play. We saw yesterday throw, not throw, got he got hit and fumbled just throw the ball away there was nobody open they showed the back camera view right from up top behind him there was no one even remotely open there wasn't anyone even just like trying to get

open nobody was open and Wentz is dancing back there gets hit fumbles the football turns it over last night he overthrows two wide receivers it look like he was thrown to the Cowboys secondary. I think Diggs intercepted both of those, right? One of them, it was the wind's fault, according to the telecast. Why do we keep making excuses for Carson Wentz's play? I get it. Offensive line is a little bit,

is a little bit beat up. They're very beat up. But that wasn't really the problem last night, right? Wide receivers, I get it. I get it. You have guys in and out the lineup. But man, we see, like, Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, and all these other guys that are rookies,

that are playing with crappy offensive lines. Now, those guys immediately have some better weapons as well. They look great. Like, you can move the ball with bad weapons. Carson Wentz is not hitting anyone with the ball in their hand. He's just not playing good football. Fourth down, right? Fourth down.

I put it on my Twitter, at Jeff Schwartz. They bring a pressure. It's as easy as it can be. They bring one guy on empty pressure. Wentz is not even looking at him. Not even looking at him. And he gets sacked. Fumbles the football.

Like, there's just, Gabe, it's not good. And I know what's going to happen. What's going to happen is they're going to play whoever they play next weekend. Who the hell knows? Who cares? And Wentz is going to play terrible What's going to happen is they're going to play, they play whoever they play next weekend. Who the hell knows? Who cares? And Wentz is going to play terrible for 50 minutes, right? 50 minutes again. He'll make three throws in the fourth quarter.

They'll win the game and they'll be like, oh, Carson Wentz, look, look at the talent he's got. Come on, man. Like, come on. I got to see more. We got to see more. And it's just not good enough right now. Well, you're not going to get me to argue

that he is suddenly looking great. I've been skeptical of him since before the season started for years, frankly. But I'm just saying I know how media narratives work. And I think we're all going to stop paying attention to them. It's not going to be fun to make jokes about how bad their division is. They're going to rip off a bunch of cheap wins. They're going to hover near 500. And then we're going to,

we're going to pretend that they're scary in the post season because everyone will have overlooked them. That's all. I mean, they're going to have a home playoff game. Yeah. It's like a 12 and four Buccaneers team. Yeah,

it's nuts. But I mean, so, so could they be, again, I get there are differences here, but could they be sort of like what the Titans were last year? You know, just like, huh, how the hell are these guys winning a couple games in the playoffs?

Couldn't they be that? Boom. And there it is. Wireless on the most reliable network nationwide. That's cool. But with my wireless, I get unlimited for just 30 bucks. Impressive. But does yours have 5G included? Of course. And my wireless saves me unlimited for just 30 bucks impressive but does yours have 5g included of

course and my wireless saves me 400 bucks a year that's because you all have xfinity mobile with your internet it's wireless so good it keeps one upping itself 30 per line per month taxes and fees extra compares pricing of top carriers xfinity internet required reduced speeds up to 20 gigabits of usage per line most reliable based based on root metrics. US report results vary. Non-endorsement. I mean, Gabe, I cannot see them winning a playoff game this year against anybody. I mean, unless that team loses the quarterback in the first drive. I mean, I just – Gabe, the Cowboys last night entered the game with the worst defense in the NFL. Like, by far. By far.

The Washington football team had 22 points in the first half against the Cowboys. The Eagles had what? Seven? They were down 9-7 at halftime? Or 9-6, I think it was something like that. It looked like a baseball score. It was. They were terrible last night.

The only reason they got 23 points was the fluke fumble at the end, which, thank God, because I had a terrible weekend. I used that. Thank you for that cover. He was down. I don't know why they gave him a touchdown on that play. I mean, they looked terrible, dude. They looked awful. And then one other thing, too. This is something I noticed in the game, too. I just don't get this. I don't know why they gave him a touchdown on that play. I mean, they looked terrible, dude. They looked awful.

And then one other thing, too. This is something I noticed in the game, too. I just don't get this. I don't get this. So they kept praising Jim Schwartz for blitzing the Cowboys. Every time he blitzed, the Cowboys had a positive play on offense. Why are we doing stupid shit? Just sit back and let the guy that we're never going to hear about ever again

play football just screw it up. But the Eagles, like, never going to hear about ever again play football. Just screw it up. But the Eagles, like, kept wanting to do things that weren't working. I don't get it, man. I don't get it. I think Peterson's a good coach. But, I mean, Wentz, it's the whole package right now is not good. Yeah, sure, they can win a playoff game. Cool deal.

But I don't think they would. I got to tell you, Jeff, you're a little bit on tilt when it comes to the Eagles. I think I'm going to give you a few weeks to assess them because right now, I think you don't know what to make of them. You liked parts of them. No, I do know what to make of them. I don't trust Carson Wentz. But you used to like Carson Wentz.

Not anymore. I think you've been dealt a few bad hands in a row and you bet into some pans and you lost some chips. I think it's time to just muck those cards, sit around out, go get a drink at the bar, come back and reassess the Eagles another day. Dude, the Eagles are going nowhere. Unless Carson Wentz decides to magically play 25 times better than he has right now. Okay.

By the way, I want to point something out. Are they going to get to seven wins? By the way, they're 3-4-1 right now. They have three division games left. And their schedule on the way out, by the way,'re three four and one right now they have three division games left and their schedule on the way out by the way is ridiculously difficult like they have the saints like they have like a i'm gonna pull up just to make sure that i have it right here they have they might they might win the division at six games this year dude yeah oh i know it's so they have they have so here they go they have uh they're at the bye week this week so

they hopefully they win that game yeah giants at at the Browns, Seattle at Green Bay, New Orleans at Arizona, finish with Dallas and Washington. Are they getting seven wins? I'm giving them three guaranteed in what you said, and maybe they steal another. So maybe they get to seven. Like week 17, Washington and Philly could be for the division. Yeah, could be.

Wow. All right. Well, listen, I, Philly could be for the division. Yeah, it could be. Wow. All right. Well, listen, I can't keep talking about the Eagles. So I want to first off, give you some love and plug something. You're too humble to do it, but I've been reading these new articles you're putting out with foxsports.com. They're great. They're short.

They're smart. They're the kind of thing that I like to read. If I weren't on with you, I would use the nuggets you put in there to argue with a guy like you, but I can't because it's drawn. One bone to pick, though. I think I read something about you would want to pay Alvin Kamara, but he's a running back, isn't he?

I think I did say that today, didn't I? Yeah. He does still play running back. It's the only time I've ever admitted I think I'd pay a running back. Dude, he's like the entire Saints offense. I mean, yesterday— Oh, Taysom Hill. They've got Taysom Hill, the Swiss Army knife've ever admitted I think I'd pay a running back. Dude, he's like the entire Saints offense. I mean, they – like yesterday – Oh, Taysom Hill. They got Taysom Hill, the Swiss Army knife.

Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry, Taysom. I apologize for that. No, dude, Kamara is like – and he's playing good right now. I mean, they run those angle routes to him. They toss the ball to him. He's their offense right now because my friend Nate Tice, he made a great comment about Drew Brizard.

He said it's like a Jamie Moyer fastball. It's just kind of like it gets there does the job but it's not pretty um and they did enough last night to win i don't know i don't know how the bears stay in that game like i was watching that game last night i was like overtime like what do we by the way real quick daylight savings sucks okay like i shouldn't be that tired nine o'clock at night okay like come on it's it's dark already we're recording this you're in the west coast it's dark already outside like this thing sucks what i didn't what i didn't know is that several weeks ago i agreed uh with my wife that yeah yeah yeah sure november 1st sure sounds fine that'll be the day we start potty training the twins sounds good to me had no idea it was is you have to a football sunday or daylight savings

i just we we do with my son we can trick him but we gave him we give him toys and we have one giant toy for for his first poop and then we just gave him small toys after that and went to m&ms and it worked it's like it worked well yeah good luck we're bribing them but they remember there's two of them so it's oh geez it's not gonna it's expensive it gets expensive are they so are they just you have the two little potties in the in the kitchen and the family room they just i have some pictures that are not safe for uh social media because of the amount of kid butt cracks but i'll send you some pictures offline and you'll get a feel for what my house is like right now it's i do not miss any of that at all zero percent nothing to envy here should we move the line let's do it all right few over unders for you i want to know percent chance this is the best

rookie quarterback class since 2012. 99% chance. Yeah, I mean, if you look at 2012, right, it's Andrew Luck, RG3, who fizzled out, and Russ. But Russ wasn't a first-round pick, right? He was a third-round pick. But these guys were all quarterbacks. I'm saying guys who started right away. Of course, some classes eventually the guys become better. Those guys all played immediately, all went to the playoffs.

Well, Herbert's not going to the playoffs. Nope. Burrow's not going to the playoffs. And Tua may or may all went to the playoffs. Well, Herbert's not going to the playoffs. Burrow's not going to the playoffs. And Tua may or may not go to the playoffs. But, dude, this class is special, man. They're really good. You know, Joe Burrow obviously continues to play well with a bum offensive line. Look, they're starting to kind of win games now, right? They're playing a little better.

The Chargers' problem is their coaching staff is just so wimpy when it comes to the fourth quarter. I mean, they've been up, what, they've lost four games this year, up by 16 points or more because in the fourth quarter, they just go into a shell. I mean, with 10 minutes left, they're going run, run, pass, run, run, pass. Like, be creative. Be aggressive.

Herbert, you've seen him throw. He can throw the ball. Continue to be aggressive. So with a new coaching staff next year, I really like Herbert. He's probably the second-best quarterback in that division. And then, you know, Tua, we'll see how he does, I really like Herbert. He's probably the second best quarterback in that division. And then, you know, Tua, we'll see how he does. I don't know. I know your boy Colin doesn't think he'll be good.

I don't know. We'll see. But I will say that having three great quarterbacks in a quarterback class is probably pretty tough. I don't think we've seen that. The top, what, six quarterbacks, top six draft picks have three great ones. But Tua's got a great coaching staff. I mean, they're doing a great job in Miami.

So I'll give Tua the benefit of the doubt. I think he'll be good. I wonder if Tua is the spark that make the Dolphins like a sneaky, like, ah, crap, the Dolphins covered again, but they go 6-10 team to, oh, crap, the Dolphins are 9-7 seven or ten and six uh and two is looking like a real winner out there i wonder with that coaching staff if maybe we do need to pay attention to the dolphins maybe look i mean they probably did yesterday i mean right they forced four turnovers and they scored on special teams sure but they're gonna need more from their offense if they're

gonna end up being being a team that's worth it. Now, look, I looked today. I didn't bet it today, but I texted Matt Ford. I was like, hey, Matt, you think I should put some money down and Dolph us win the division? I just don't know if I, you know, Buffalo, I don't know. I wonder if there's some good odds here to win the division still. They'll post tomorrow, I think.

So we'll see if something that I want to maybe I might throw in there on the podcast Thursday. Yeah. Well, we'll keep watching Tua to see if he can be a winner. We know that Herbert is going to be a fantasy winner. And we know that Joey Covers is a gambling winner, despite having basically no weapons and no line and no defense. Like he has nothing going for him except himself. So it's been fun. He has nothing going for him except himself.

So it's been fun. I find myself more excited when the Red Zone channel switches over to the Bengals, the Dolphins, and the Chargers than I ever would have guessed. So they've been fun to watch for a few weeks. It's been enjoyable. And like I said, they'll continue to watch those teams play. I mean, we got Raiders, Chargers this weekend. I don't even know the Bengals, who they play. But they're fun to bet on on too, the Bengals are.

Yeah, they've been covering more often than not. So let's go over to the other side of the league here. We talked AFC a lot to start. Now I want to go quickly. NFC teams that you think can actually, maybe possibly somehow win the Super Bowl. Over under 1.5 teams in the NFC. I will list some teams for you if you can't do it yourself.

But are there even two teams in the conference who you think have a chance at winning the Super Bowl? There's two in the NFC. Tampa Bay, we've discussed them enough. I don't need to repeat myself. And to your point, I wrote about them today as well on Fox Sports. Number two is Seattle with the caveat that their defense improves. I mean, like we saw yesterday, their defense played well for three quarters

and went to shit with Dick Mullins leading the 49ers, right? I mean, their defense, like still, if their defense improves just marginally, right? Like goes from whether or not bottom, you know, their bottom third or something in the NFL right now, not bottom third, like bottom three, and they go to like 20th. I mean, like, look at the Chiefs last year. The Chiefs defense in the last four weeks here just got much better, right?

Just played much better. Now, the Chiefs have more talent than Seattle does in defense. But Jamal Adams comes back. The defense just plays a little bit better. That's all they need. And Russell Wilson, dude, no one's going to stop him this year. I mean, no one's stopping them. So if your defense can get three stops, four stops, five stops a game,

force one turnover, force two turnovers, I totally buy Seattle as being a legitimate Super Bowl contender. Can I throw something out there I didn't think about until just this second? And this is not just based on him running that guy down a couple weeks ago. Why isn't DK Metcalf a two-way player? He's the best athlete on the planet right like just athletically speaking um uh yeah I mean he's he's he's pretty incredible yeah so why not just make him a free say screw Jamal Adams man that guy he's overrated what about give me some DK Metcalf in the secondary.

Yeah. I mean, it, he's, it's, it's pretty incredible, dude. Like to watch him play and you know, Seattle might've, you know, they lucked into an amazing pick because of a three cone drill time. Right. I mean, everyone was like so off him because his three cone was so bad and Seattle just didn't walk into him. They obviously did a good job, but it's pretty amazing how they got him. Yeah. Well, he's fun to watch, man. All right. So Seattle's the only other team. So you're saying no to the Saints, no to the Packers. A friend of mine tweeted me that his three cone drill is one of the best moments of Seahawks draft history. Yeah, I didn't know that was the reason they got him. But, yeah, thank God. Yeah, his three-cone and his shuttle were really, really bad. Like, worse.

Like, it just, it was bad for a guy that runs that fast. And it turns out that he did it at the very end of the day. And it was just, just didn't do very well in it. Obviously, not a problem. Yeah, turns out he can run 100 yards dead straight. Which we knew he could do. We knew he could do. The question was whether he can run 100 yards dead straight. Which we knew he could do. We knew he could do. The question was whether he can run rats with a poor shuttle.

Well, when Russell Wilson's throwing you the ball, all you got to do is run straight and fast and you catch it. So it's been working out. All right, we sort of hit on these teams earlier. Real quick one. Over under Falcons heartbreaking losses versus Chargers heartbreaking losses here on out the rest of the season. I would say the Chargers are starting to look like competitors

for the most sloppy, ridiculous losses of the year. Jeez. The Falcons won Thursday night, though. They actually did a good job. Yeah, they did. So that's why I'm wondering if maybe it's going the other direction. I would say Chargers because they just continue. They're in a tough division, too.

Chargers. I'll just go Chargers. Okay. continue. They're a tough division too. Chargers. I'll just go Chargers. Okay. But heartbreaking is really the key word here. We think that they will be heartbreaking. I mean, they may get blown out. We think they're going to have a lot of heartbreakers like we saw Sunday? Yeah, I think so.

Yeah. It seems like Herbert's going to make every game exciting and keep them in it, and then they'll do something dumb and lose. Right. All right. Here's another one. I don't even know if the premise of this question really makes sense you might shoot this down entirely but i think i'm on to something here i want to know chances trevor lawrence plays another snap of college football if clemson loses against notre dame yeah so so we know Trevor Lawrence was out

and they had to come back from 27 against Boston College this weekend to win that game. He's not playing this weekend against Notre Dame. I believe Clemson is still a seven-point favorite at Notre Dame. You know, I think it depends on a couple things. One is that obviously how serious his COVID is. I think he had some mild symptoms.

We don't know what mild symptoms. If I, we don't know obviously what mild symptoms ends up being for him. If they lose this game though, they still have a chance to make the playoff if Notre Dame loses one point this year, right?

I mean, that's the thing, right? Is that like, and they could play the ACC championship game I think as well at some point. So I would say that he, what were my numbers here?

Just over under. I said over under 5% chance he comes back. I would just take under over under five percent chance he comes back i would just take the over here i think he'll come back he he seems very much like he loves college football okay so a few things to pick apart here yes he does seem very much in love with college football remember he was the guy who called president trump and said please get his college football back we're not going to get into the irony of that given his current situation i feel bad for the guy but that

was a little weird uh two remember this is the guy who a lot of people said should just skip this year of football anyway that he had nothing to play for we had that conversation this summer so that had to have been on his mind he's also implied that maybe he'll stay for next year to try to compete for another championship as a senior so that confuses things a little bit we've heard that you may not want to play for the jets it's more about the jets buddy than anything else well okay we've heard that but also like yeah if he's sick and and they can't compete for a championship this year and he has nothing left to prove why risk going out there and hurting yourself badly um yeah i i get it but i i just think he loves playing college football and he but if you're

not competing for a championship if you lose to notre dame because of the way that notre dame fits into things this year doesn't that just basically mean but you but you could but the but they're in the acc you can play them again they'll beat them in the ac championship game but then don't they just give some other conference the nod? No. Who's getting in? I guess you're right because no Pac-12. Well, we're back this week. Take that back very much.

You take that back. You're not ready to watch Pac-12 before brunch? USC, Arizona State, 9 a.m. Pacific? You're not excited for that game this weekend? How dare you? How dare you? Fake USC fan. I think I slept on the PAC 12,

but I would say the PAC 12 is going to struggle to get a team into the playoff. Even if they played the whole year, I don't think they're getting a team in without playing. So we'll have to see what happens in the big 12. But if Clemson loses to Notre Dame, I would say Notre Dame is going to be in and Lawrence is playing for nothing.

That's all I'm getting that. I think he will play, though. Okay. All right. Last one. I want to know, Russell Wilson age at retirement, over under 45 years old.

His birthday is in November, so he would be starting a season that would lead him to 46, you know, as you factor that in. that would lead him to 46, you know, as you factor that in? Oh, geez. Does he play to 46? Why do these quarterbacks do this?

I would say no. Because he claims that he spends about a million dollars a year on – That number is about right, I think. But I would say that there's no not to 45 you know part of this becomes to your family just tells you to stop playing they're like dude you've done enough stop playing if he was how old is he now you said he's going to be 32 in a few weeks so 15 more years so my son could like maybe be in the nfl by then yeah oh yeah yeah frank gore's son could have had an illustrious nfl career that was you know 15 years over by then i remember when i came into the nfl i believe john casey the kicker was like was like 42 years old

when i came in the nfl he had a kid that was like 13 I was 21 it's incredible yeah yeah he's he was born he was born in uh in uh let's see 69 wow well Russell said that he wants to play till then we know that that would that would get him playing you know up into that Brady range there's no reason to believe physically that he won't be able to he's gonna invest a million bucks in himself every year from now to then he claims he takes two days off a year thanksgiving and christmas he's working the rest of the time well he doesn't take thanksgiving off because they go practice on thanksgiving normally well you know i'm just telling you what he claims so maybe he's maybe he gets a cheat day some other

day of the year but he's working almost every single day of the year to stay healthy. He's got like those cryogen tanks and he eats the food and he does the – So I'm going to say if Tom Brady can make it to 45, Russell Wilson can too. Jeez, I don't know. I think it's a crazy thing about that. And that's 13 more years, man. That's crazy to think about that. And that's 13 more years, man. That's crazy. It would be a lot of Super Bowl losses to his record if he makes it that far.

I don't even want to think about it. I mean, that's 11 more years for me. I don't even want to think about that far ahead. I don't think this country can think that far ahead. Let's focus on the next few days. Let's not worry about 13 years from now. Jeff, that's all I got for you today. Unless there's anything else you want to hit, my friend,

I'm going to turn you loose to the coverage of trade deadline talk and hope that when we talk next week, some competitive teams got even better. Yeah, I mean, it's interesting. After eight weeks, I feel like we have a pretty good idea of who's good and who's not. It's weird to think the rest of the season is like, for me, I mean, I root for the chiefs,

obviously with my brother, like I'm just waiting to get to January. Like hope everyone just stays healthy and get to January and like win three playoff games and be done with it. So yeah, eight weeks in the books already. And we're rolling right along. Packs all back this week.

I cannot wait. Thank you everyone for joining me, joining game. We appreciate the reviews, the comments, numbers continue to grow. So we appreciate everyone Thank you, everyone, for joining me. Joining Gabe, Josh Hartsmarley. We appreciate the reviews, the comments. Numbers continue to grow, so we appreciate everyone listening, commenting, and enjoying the podcast. Talk to you guys on Thursday. Have a great one.