KSR - NFL Cover Zero: Bears/Bengals Madness, Celebrity Couples, and Upset wins!

Episode Date: November 3, 2025

Matt Jones and Drew Franklin dive into NFL Week 9 after Matt was in attendance for Bears/Bengals!  Matt had never witnessed a Bears victory in person, but explains the roller coaster of emotions through the Bengals comeback and ultimate Chicago win. The BIlls notch their 5th straight regular season win over the Chiefs. Turnovers found the Colts, who take a loss to the Steelers.  An extra point makes the difference in the Patriots win.  Matt pauses to rank the celebrity couples in the NFL.  The Broncos get a game winning FG over the Texans. The Jaguars hold off the Raiders for an OT win, including a recording setting 68yd FG for Cam Little.  JJ McCarthy throws 2 TDs in the Vikings win over the Lions.   An upset win for the Panthers over the Packers.  The Chargers hold off the Titans. Mac Jones leads the 49ers to a win over the Giants. Sam Darnold and the Seahawks cruise past the Commanders.  We wrap up with Survivor League picks and the TD Parlays. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin is a production of the NFL and IHeart podcast. It is NFL Cover Zero Week 9 and you are talking to a happy Matt Jones, who has come home from maybe one of the best sporting events that I've been to, certainly the best regular season up there sporting events of my lifetime. I mean, if you'd look at, if I was at the Bears Bingles game today, most NFL shows will lead with Bill's Chiefs, not this one with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin, because Drew, I was in attendance in Cincinnati for the spectacle that was Bears Bengals today.

I'm wearing my Bears shirt. It was wild. It was fun. And I don't know how it came across on TV, but in person, one of the strangest and coolest sporting events I've been to. I was watching from the couch. still pretty awesome. With all due respect to the Bill's chiefs, I think most shows will lead with this because that was just a crazy finish. I know these aren't Super Bowl contenders. Not teams get talked about a lot, but that was just a wild ending and fun to watch from home.

4742 is not a big 12 score, right? That's not an NFL score. That's a big 12 score. And it was insanely fun. I just want to, if you will, if you'll bear with me, I want to go through what all happened in this game. Okay. Because it's wild. First of all, I want you to picture the environment. It's Cincinnati, Ohio. We've talked about drunkest fans in the NFL.

Games at 1 o'clock. I did by ESPN pregame show at a bar, Holy Grail in Cincinnati. People were already drunk before the game, okay? So when I walk to the game, as you know, I hurt my back a few days ago. So I'm hobbling a little bit. I walk from Holy Grail to the stadium. My show ends at 1257. By the time I get into the stadium, it's already 7 to 7.

You know, they run the opening kickoff back. Yeah, that was unexpected. And the bears drive down the field and score immediately. Right. So the time I get to my seat, it's 7-7. The game that followed, the Bengals might have the worst defense that anyone has ever had. Caleb Williams was just owning them. They would get the Bengals have a decent defensive line.

They can get pressure, but they could never wrap him up. And then that bingo secondary, I believe you and I play in it. I could have. You certainly have a spot. Do they have bad backs, too? They cover like they have bad backs. They avoid contact like it. The game goes back and forth.

Bears miss a field goal right before half time. But let's start with the craziness. Okay, it is 41-27. Bears are up two touchdowns. They had gotten an interception. And then, I don't think I've ever seen anything like this in sports. Joe Flacco on three plays throws two interceptions, both of which are returned either for a touchdown or inside the five by the Bears.

I literally drew celebrated two touchdown interception returns, only to have them both called back. The first one due to a penalty. The second one, because they say he was. down. I don't know. I couldn't see the route. Was he down on that? Yeah, questionable. It did not feel like it in person that

he was down. But I thought he would. I thought he'd scored. Now, I want you to understand what happened. Probably a third of the crowd are Bears fans. A lot of Bears fans. I didn't know. Did you know Bears fans traveled like that? I didn't think so.

And maybe part of the Jets last week with Bengals fans, maybe gave up some tickets, but I'm surprised here you took over a little bit. I guess the Bears are only like six hours. away. So a lot of Bears fans there. And also, you know, I personally had never seen the Bears win in person. I counted. I've been to seven Bears games in my life in person. We were 0.7. That's sad. Your lifelong team. You've liked them since you were a child. Since I was a little child. I've been seven times. They had never won. It didn't occur to me until he gets that

interception. Now, you have to picture what happens. He runs it back. Bears fans are losing their mind. And the Bengals fans stream out of the stadium. I don't mean like walk out of the stadium. They run out of the stadium. Half the crowd is now gone. And the only people left are Bears fans. The Bengals fans have left.

Because why would they stay? On their home field, we're dancing. The Bears fans are chanting, Green Bay sucks. They're literally chanting, Green Bay sucks, Green Bay sucks. And then all of a sudden the rest go, wait a minute, he's down. I had already taking my victorious selfie. Oh, I saw that selfie. No, this one.

That was the second one. Oh, that was take two. I had taken a first one. Celebrating. Well, all of a sudden, when they bring it back, I look and Drew, I think to myself, because you know, I'm like a clockhead when it comes to football. two minutes, 35 seconds. The Bengals have three timeouts.

And I look at my friends and I go, it's not over. And they were like, what? Come on, it's Joe Flacko. It's not over. You all score, you have three timeouts, onside kick, it's not over. And they're like, whatever.

Bengals, drive down the field, go for two. Ye that did it to me, now I do it T. Did you like that move? I did. I'm all about going for two these days. When you're down two touchdowns. Yeah.

And some other things we've talked about, just the mathematics. It makes more sense than it. Than more teams are doing it now. So now there's an onside kick. Now, I don't know if you have the numbers, Billy, but I think there'd only been one unside kick recovered so far this year. I mean, in the NFL, nobody recovers it. Rarely, rarely.

Because you have to declare it. Uh-huh. You have to declare it. You have to have two parliamentary bodies pass emotion. allowing it. And then, so like, it never happens. But I'm telling you, Drew, I sit there and I thought it's going to happen. You felt it?

I did feel it. I really did. If I could have gone on draft kings, I would have bet Cincinnati recovers the science I kick. They kick it. The ball doesn't even go across the line of scrimmage. The Bears guy just decides to come and over and he kicked it himself. Didn't he go 10 yards. Why did he do that?

I don't think it was intentional, but it was like a yard away from the 10-yard mark. It wasn't even going to cross the 10-yard mark. And if the dude doesn't kick it, we win. Game over. We're back to chanting, Green Bay sucks. Caught his right foot, though. Catches his right foot. The moment he does that, everyone knows that the Bengals are going to win.

But here's the problem. All the Bengals fans have left. All the Bengals fans have left. They're back at Holy Grail. They're already gone. So you have a stadium full of sad bears fans because we know what's going to happen. And then no resistance from the Bengals. They get down inside the 10.

And then I say to my friends, there's 53 seconds left. I'm like, bears need to start calling timeouts. And they did. Credit to Ben Johnson. Isn't it nice to have a smart coach out there? He saw you need to call a timeout and he does. Yeah, I wish my football team had a couple of those. But it's nice that you have an IQ guy.

Calls a timeout, gets it. they score. Now the handful of Bengals fans there are cheering, but there aren't many. At this point, there are more Bears fans in the stadium than my friend hubby. He starts changing. He's a Bengals fan for Green Bay sucks at me. I looked around, Drew, at the Bears fans in the crowd, and it's the saddest group of people I've ever seen. I mean, they had had their souls ripped out.

This will be the worst loss in history. But there's still 40 seconds left. And the Bengals defense is the worst defense that God has ever created on the planet. Seriously, it is in the book of Ezekiel. Named a one by one in there, didn't it? You shall be disappointed by Trey Hendrickson. Bears drive down and then the touchdown pass. I counted six different players hit Loveland.

and nobody brought him. Just bowling ball off of them. Is that, I, as you know, have a hurt back. I tried to jump fell down. Oh, hell. Because my body was not ready to jump yet. I can't think of a time in person that I've been that excited in a long time when he bounces off all those people and scores.

I was still worried they left too much time on the clock then. There was 12 seconds to go. But what an amazing game. Yeah, your roller coaster, you thought it was. wild just when interceptions were getting called back and guys were getting called down and you had so much more to go at that point. The

Lovelland touched down, even after all the craziness, I thought we had seen enough and it was over. Unlike you, I thought ball game, there can't be any more magic left in this. And for him to go almost 60 yards, just straight down the middle of the field too with the secondary all around. Bouncing off people like

a bowling ball, like on a pants. It was crazy. And as happy as you are, have you seen the Bengals interviews from the offense. No. They are so mad and just basically cussing their own defense. Chase Brown and Jamar Chase are both like, we're scoring.

How can we not stop someone? Like, complimentary football, we get in, we get the lead, you get a stop a ball game. They were that blatant. Yes, with expletives calling out the defense. So as happy as you are, the Bengals offense, which obviously had a great day. Flacco had a career day outside of those interceptions.

They are livid with the other side of the ball. Last year, three out of four. 50 onside kicks were converted. So only 6%. 6%. And you mentioned it was a wild game. Ben Johnson deserves a lot of credit. Caleb Williams was catching passes.

I mean, tight-d-ins were thrown. I'm going to talk for a second about how bad I think the Bengals. The Bengals coaches should all be fired. They should be playing golf with Hugh Freeze tomorrow. As a Bears fan, I'm angry for the Bengals, how bad they were. But before I get to that, the creativity. was unbelievable. Three of the Bears' touchdowns were on trick plays.

Ben Johnson is in his bag. DJ Moore threw one and ran one. Through one and ran one. Caleb Williams, I mean, Caleb Williams was basically a wideout for most of the game. We brought a running back that I've never heard of onto the field from the practice squad. What was his name? Monongay, Monongai.

Never seen that guy in my life. He was good. He was awesome and could not be stopped. Caleb was great, by the way. He was great because the Bengals got pressure on him the entire game, but his escapeability, you could see why he was the first pick the way he played today. Yeah, and the Ben Johnson stuff especially.

It's so fun. They had the little flea flicker with Colquimette. My favorite stat is Caleb Williams has more receptions than commit in that game. He had one and Caleb Williams had two. We mentioned DJ Moore. He is just so creative and fun to watch. John Toppe going for two and just the exciting stuff with it. Well, let's talk about Zach Taylor because there were two plays that, in my opinion,

should have been fireball offenses the moment they happen. First of all, one of those trick plays. The Bears bring on Tyler Baygett onto the field, and he's a wide receiver. Any coach worth even a grain of salt would say, why is the backup quarterback lining up at wide receiver? That's not where he's supposed to stand. The backup quarterback is in the game at wide receiver.

When I saw him, I'm an idiot. And I was in the crowd and I said, that's our backup quarterback. Well, he must be a decoy. They're not going to throw him the ball and then do a pass. And then they did. And it was like the Bengals had never even considered it. When Tyler Bejant got there,

no one even bothered to go. I wonder what happened? to Kayla Williams. I could not believe they fell for that. No one on the Bingle's sidelines seemed to notice that the backup quarterback was in the game at wide receiver. Yeah, I add that to the long list of complaints with Zach Taylor.

Bingles fans had fun when they first got Flacco, had the Aaron Rogers game, but the last two weeks have them in absolute shambles over little things like that. Yeah, I mean, they're wasting a great offense. I mean, this offense, even with Flacco instead of Burrow, has been spectacular. And the last few losses are hideous.

They had some amazing catches. the Bengals Widerce. Higgins is nuts. T. Higgins had some catches that were just absolutely insane. And then, and I've watched a lot of football, I've never seen this happen in my entire life. They challenge a play where the bears are knocked out at the one to say that they thought he fumbled it through the end zone.

And the challenge turns into a bear's touchdown. Is that not, like, is that the most Bengals thing of all time? That's an all-time back. It's an all-time back. They did get their timeout back, which actually ended up being important. First of all, I don't think that should be the rule. If you challenge it and they overturn the call, but they make it worse for you. Yeah, you lost points.

How do they get the timeout back? Because that timeout ended up being big at the end of the game, right? I guess they're thinking it's bad enough for them. Keep your time out. But have you ever seen that before? No. They turned a ball. They made the, it was worse.

for the Bengals after the challenge. Yeah, that's one you'd like to take back. I can't think of a time where it's backfired that bad. Maybe occasionally, you know, call doesn't go your way, but to actually give up a touchdown over throwing a challenge flag, that's bananas. So when the Bears did finally score, again, no Bengals fans left in the stadium, the Bears, it was like a home game in Soldier Field, and I got to see my very first in-person Bears win.

It was, you know, I'm a. Kentucky sports fan. I like the Cincinnati Reds, the Carolina Hurricanes, and the Chicago Bears. And I would say, except for 85, this might have been my favorite Bears Day.

I'm serious. What an absurd game to watch in person. I mean, you've named like 10 things that are part of a circus afternoon. Probably helps you're at an away stadium, but you took it over. Always been doing your Green Bay thing in Bingle Stadium. So I get it. I'm just shocked that your whole life. That was your first one.

I had seen them. I've been to Soldier Field twice. We lost both. I've seen them lose in Cincinnati, in Nashville, in Indianapolis, in Pittsburgh, and maybe in St. Louis against the Rams when the Rams were there. And every time they come around, I will try to go. And this is the first time I've seen them with. Now they've won five of six. I mean, you took a little dip last week, looked a little ugly against Baltimore.

Now are we back in to believing? No, because they still have a lot of problems. Their offensive line is not very good. The receivers are good, although Roman Zoot-owned Dunzei continues to drop passes. I mean, he dropped the pass. It probably wins a game if he catches it and he drops it there at the end. So I am still a little bit worried about that. But overall, you know, five and three, you can't be that upset.

Their schedule gets a little bit harder here. They've got two. I think they play like the Giants and somebody. They got a couple easy games. And then they have every game until the end of the year is hard after that. And there's something to be said about just being fun. I mean, you want your team to win and you won today, but just the flea flickers, your quarterback catching passes,

stuff like that can make a team that's just middle of the pack still be a lot better for you. And the Bears have won five of their last six games. Yeah. Would you fire Zach Taylor? Yes. I feel like you should. I don't think they will, but he's awful. And he just sits there with that goofy and grin on his face.

And as someone whose team just had someone from his coaching tree, I completely understand. I mean, they are, well, first of all, they're the first team since 1966 to score 38 points in back-to-back games and lose them both. Yeah, that's ugly. That's a bad statistic. And that visual of Loveland just running right between the hash marks, 58 yards to win the game. If you're on the Bengals defense, how do you look in the mirror? How do you accept your paycheck? Like, you guys don't owe me this week.

Not my best work. Yes. That play, that'll go down as a... When you think about the way the Bengals have lost these last two games against the Jets and now this one, I don't know how many teams have had two worse, just demoralizing back-to-back losses than those. And Flacco had almost 500 yards. Yeah. I mean, you have a geriatric on your team out there.

He has taken his metamusel, right? He's got his AARP card so that he could get a discreet. count on refreshments before the game. And he plays that well. Don't you owe it to him to at least make a tackle? I don't know how the defense can even get on a plane or a bus or walk into a locker room with that offense. Yeah.

And maybe they're all out to after their teammates' custom out in the press conference today. It was also, it would have been fitting for them to win, you know, that one of the Bengals legends passed away this morning, Bob Trumpy. Oh, yeah. You might remember, like for those of us of a certain age, was one of the first broadcasters of games. I still, as a kid, you'd get a lot of Don, Cricky, and Bob Trumpy. They called four Super Bowls.

Bob Trumpy was on four Olympic games. Four Super Bowls. He was a Bengals player, famous when he passed away this morning. So you thought, like, in his honor, they'd win the game. And instead, in his honor, they said, you know what? Let's do what we do, which is blow these games. Yeah, and let's not just kind of lose it. Let's really embarrass ourselves in it.

Chris Collinsworth talked. a lot about him leading into the Sunday night games. He's a kind of forgotten part of NFL history. But I can tell you if you're over 35 and you heard his voice, you would remember it. Like he has Don Cricky

who also had a very unique sounding voice. If you heard their voices, they worked together for years you would remember. 80 years old. He's in the broadcasting hall of fame. Big loss of the bingles both in life and then on the field today. Yeah. So there you go, did you, you all were texting me during the game.

Do you know how sad I would have been if they had ended up? Be a long drive back after a game like that. Oh my goodness. It was weird because you want to text after a big thing, but it's like, well, two minutes left. Little do we know, seven more things would happen before the game ended. And then when it was over, celebrated at Skyline Chili. Oh, that's why you're smiling so big. I can just say, let me just say this.

And I say this would love to Bengals fans. Y'all are some gross eaters when you lose. people had chili like coming out of their nose and they were leaving it all on the tables just a little they were drinking at 9 a.m. It's just a little gross. I don't know if they're more gracious than winning, but your chili etiquette, Drew, is pretty gross when you lose. Kind of symbolizes how their fan base is feeling right now, I think. Yeah. So that was the big game for me.

Probably for the rest of the world, it would have been Bill's chiefs. The Bills win 2821, former Kentucky Wildcat, Mexico. Well, Harrison gets his first ever interception in the NFL to seal the game. It was Josh Allen's highest percentage completion in his career, 88%. It was Patrick Mahomes lowest in his career, 44%. And yet, the Chiefs had a chance driving to win at the end but weren't able to do it. I was surprised by the drastic, the describing the numbers there with Mahomes having or excuse me, Alan having a record day

and Mahomes playing so poorly and then, you know, they're still in it, you throw the pick to lose it. But it just, it's another one of those bills get you in the regular season. And I'm sure when we get to the playoffs, Chiefs will be sitting there grinning because what is this? Now, the bills won five in a row.

So that's five straight regular season and wins for the bills. Have not won one of the ones in the playoffs. So it's just fit in the script that we've seen so many times, even Alan won the head-to-head in this one. Yeah, what happens if, because you know, this is all going to lead maybe to a playoff? game again. They have won, the bills have won all five regular season meetings. The chiefs have won all four postseason meetings. What if that happens again? What if it's five regular seats? Because this game,

it's going to mean the bills will probably host it again, but we've seen that doesn't really matter. No. What if they lose it again? It almost makes the regular season wins worse, doesn't it? It does because you're just, it's, you're toying with yourself, you're taunting yourself. It's odd, though, because they've all come down to the wire. It's not like the Bills and Allen specifically just come out in the moment's too big and they play bad. These playoff losses, they're in it. You would think one of these times the ball would just bounce their way once, but so far, 0 and 4, now that they've done the 5 and 0 in the regular season,

I feel like we're heading for a crash course with the UFC championship in Buffalo and Mahomes is going to get him. It was one of the rare Mahomes kind of bad games. I mean, he really, I know the 44% is bad, but he also just didn't. really play well. He made some bad decisions. He got hit a lot. I don't know the exact number, but he was a lot of pressure. Yeah. I was surprised because the bill's defense has been an issue all year

and they seem to for whatever reason have his number. But I do think this will be a game that has no impact when you get in. Now, I will note the Chiefs are five and four. They've got to make sure they get in the playoffs. I mean, they should, but right now, if the playoffs start today, they would not be in it.

Because they're tied with Jacksonville and Jacksonville would have the tiebreaker. right now because they beat them. So as of today, the Chiefs wouldn't even be in the playoffs. And if Denver can keep winning, I mean, we can be looking at the Chiefs as a wild card team, but still maybe even be a Super Bowl favorite by the time they get to that. I think they are going to be a Wild Card team. I think the Chiefs are going to have to play every game on the road.

Now, I think they've done that before, right? It won't be a problem. I don't think that's a big issue, but I think there's a good chance they are a wildcard team. That's the first time Holmes and Allen have met where both teams weren't division leaders. So they could be both playing on the road in the playoffs this year. We had the rare moment. That's a good point. I mean, Buffalo's behind New England.

Behind New England. Now, they still play them again, though, so they could beat them. I think that could flip back, but New England's hot right now. There was a rare moment. It was a bad look for the people that think the NFL's rigged for the Chiefs, because my homes got absolutely screwed on an intentional grounding call. It was like a tip pass. I mean, I even know how you could call that.

I don't know either. But then they couldn't review it. It's not a reason. It's not a reviewable play. So help me understand why that's the case. Why is intentional grounding not reviewable? It feels like you could see. It's not a judgment call, really.

Not really. And that one was so obvious. And it's one of those, even the announcers, everyone involves like, oh. I've never understood. Help me understand why anything is not review. Like if it's all going to be a challenge flag, why isn't everything reviewable? Why do we say? some mistakes are fine, but some of them aren't.

I mean, in the NBA, they'll even let you review a foul in an important circumstance. Yeah, some judgment calls, I guess, you kind of understand. I mean, you couldn't review a holding or something really. That's an extreme example. What if you didn't hold? Let's, if you start reviewing holdings, that'd be every single play. But if you're only doing one, like, if you get won a game, presumably they won't use it a lot. they'll use it once.

That's true. I mean, I don't know. I don't understand the idea that things are not reviewable. That's never really made sense to me. Well, on this one, we didn't even need a replay. Everyone knew in the moment, this is a horrible call. He couldn't have been more center of the field in the pocket, and the ball was tipped, and they called intentionally around it.

By the way, there was also one really bad calling Bears bingles. I don't know if you saw it was early in the game. Which one? Joe Flacco threw it, I think, 14 yards in the air. And they called it a fumble. And it went 14 yards forward. And they called it a fumble. And then the Bengals were like, it went.

It had some power, bud. It remained a spiral for 14 years. And then when they showed it on replay, it was clear. It was a pass. I just kept yelling it was a fumble because it was making the Bengals fans around me mad. But it really wasn't. But that was maybe the worst call. I've ever seen. They got flipped on review, but it seemed like a really strange bad call.

So this is when the Bengals fans were still there before you all flipped. This is the first half. This is the first half before all hell broke loose later in that game. Steelers and the Colts. Do the sort of Cinderella, is the slipper falling off for the Colts? They lose 2720. Early in the game, it looked like it could be bad. Colts hung around.

Six turnovers for the Colts. And then this is the number. Daniel Jones with five. He only had four coming into the game and he gets five tonight. Yeah, the Daniel Jones shine got washed off at least for a week. He looked a lot more like the Daniel Jones we saw for many years in New York. We have three interceptions, two fumbles, even behind him. Jonathan Taylor didn't play a very good game.

He certainly didn't get three touchdowns. I think he was held beneath 50 yards rushing just a completely uncharacteristic. And I can't talk. Uncharacteristic game for the Colts. I mean, they've been one of the better teams that. protecting the football this year, and the Steelers defense just absolutely mobbed them, had all the takeaways. That comes after Steelers last two weeks.

Defense looked terrible, giving up 30 points to Cincinnati and Green Bay, and then they just put it on to Indianapolis. You just chalk it up like one game. It is what it is. Yeah, I've been hesitant to say it, as we've heard. It felt like the Daniel Jones magic. Each week it kept going on. It's like, all right, this dam's going to break eventually. It seems like it broke really hard against a defense that was desperate to go out and play well.

MVP odds get hurt. I'd say so. Unless you still want them. You might get some... Yeah, it's going to be hard. You get five turnovers in a game. That's hard to come back from. Steelers get a win after losing last week.

The Steelers fans held a funeral outside the game before the game for their defense. Explain, you saw. One was part of the funeral. Well, because they've played so poorly the last two weeks, The defense especially lost the last two games. Telgate, pretty decent-sized Telgate, had a Steelers casket. People spoke. They held an actual funeral for the defense saying that the defense had died.

And then, of course, the defense responds with the six takeaways today and maybe their best game of the year. So who are the Paul Bears for the funeral? The offense? I don't know, but I think if you're that Telgate, there is now a pressure to do it every week. I mean, if the defense is going to play like that. Oh, multiple funerals. I think you have to bring the casket every home game now. If the defense is going to play that well after you taunt them,

you owe it as a fan to continue to do that because I believe there was some superstition involved. It was a huge turnaround. Yeah. Well, it's probably the most fun funeral anyone's ever been to. If you go to a funeral for a defense and a tailgate, when you die, which I hope doesn't happen anytime soon, do you want a fun funeral? Oh, yeah. Or do you want a sad fun, fun fun funeral?

Okay. Why? Because don't be sad I mean it'd be sad for a moment But let's have a party Let's celebrate maybe I don't need to be at an NFL Tailgate maybe if you all want to Whatever you want to do you all figure it out

Be yes have the most fun We're actually going to go to a Steelers tailgate Like that team you don't even care of care about Just don't lay me to rest near the Titans right now That will be the sad part I'm the opposite I want it to be very sad All black I need for my funeral

I need like people to cry. I need it to really hit people. Like, I don't, I don't understand when people are like, I just want everybody to have a party. I don't. I want this to be remembered as a day that was bad. You can party the other days. For this day, I want to see some tears. You just want people to be miserable. And just for the record, from the afterlife, I'm going to just look at the three of you. I'm going to be seeing who's crying. I'll take some odd drops. Whoever's not crying.

I'm going to know how you felt. Are we doing this at a bear's tailgate? No, oh, no. I want it to be in a somber church. You want it raining outside. There's going to be no refreshments. No sunshine. Pick the worst day of the year.

I need it to be raining. You want us to remember the day of your funeral. Of course. I mean, people remember, I do want a closed casket. No reason for you. I want your last view of me to be all purple. No, we want to view of you on cover zero and this beautiful. That's exactly right.

I want this lighting we have right here. And this camera where I'm right in your face, believe me, we know this camera should be backed up. I have no idea why this camera is so close. But no, I want people to be sad. So I don't like it. I'll make sure I'm sad then if I'm still around. I want it to be a miserable experience. I think I've told you I was on a plane once where,

where John Calapari and I, the UK basketball coach, were on a plane together, and we thought the plane was going to go down. Or at least I thought the plane was going to go down. I think Cal did too. And I remember thinking, this is going to be awful. A, because I'm going to be dead. But B, no one's going to care that I'm dead because he's dead.

You're going to be the small font in the news story. Oh, I'm not even going to be in the paper. Page two, continue to say, Calipari, three others die in plane crash. Or they could have named the other three. These three people and one other. Yeah, I'm going to be, there's no doubt if he's on the plane. I'm an other.

And so, yeah, I didn't like that at all. Well, now that we know, we all would have been very sad if that happened. We would not have partied at all. Yes. Please cry. Please have lots of tears. And feel badly. What's up with all these big life moments in the NFL this season?

I mean, we had Brown Spider getting. married. Now we're having funerals. Is it just... When are we going to have a baby? Yeah, right there to tailgate. It's the big life things going on in NFL TV. I'm sure there's been people born in Taylor. Oh, I bet it's happened.

I mean, just by sheer numbers. Somebody's giving birth. Are you saying it was planned or they're there and they're like kickoffs in two hours. I'm not going to hospital. Get the midwife, honey. Section 117. It's coming out. Meet us in the blue lot.

We'll have chili. That's exactly right. Honey, go to the concession so we can cut the cord. Exactly. Your first communion is a Mickelope Ultra. I don't know that that's going to happen, but I do think it. I bet it's happened at some point. Somebody may know.

We'll have to look into the NFL research next-gen stats. That's right. Patriots beat the Falcons 24-23. Extra points being missed and made. This is a little theme today. Falcons miss an extra point. They ended up punning at the end of the game. fourth and 20 with two minutes and 15 seconds left, they punt, they don't get the ball back.

Did you, what did you think of that call to punt on fourth and 20 and try to get your defense to stop it? I don't hate it that much because you're not picking up that fourth and 20. I mean, I probably would have done the same thing. It didn't work in that spot, but they weren't picking that up. It's good. Drake London had a good day, maybe if they threw to him. But other than that, I think you had to punt. Just such you didn't get another opportunity.

What's more likely, though? get a fourth and 20 or punt and stop them three times and then lose all that field position and come. I mean, I feel like I think I go for it. What do you got to lose? It's to be in 20. Like a fourth and 10,

fourth and 12, the 20 just, that's so much to pick up. And I guess I would surrender in that situation. I find the falcons. Unless I'm Pat Mahomes. I didn't mention this, by the way,

in the Chiefs game. They picked up another fourth and 17 late. Now they ended up winning, but the Chiefs did it again. again. There's never been a better team at 4th and 16, 4th and 17 in the fourth quarter than picking that up. I meant to add that talking earlier, but Falcons don't have that kind of magic. They don't. Michael Pennix is not able to do quite the same thing. Drake May, they get the win, but as with all Falcons games, impossible to predict. I mean, comes right down to the end.

I would say I haven't seen the odds, but my guess is if you look at the MVP odds, Drake May is probably second now, isn't it? Probably Josh Allen first, Drake May second. Is that where we are? Yeah, he had another big game. Is that six in a row for them? I think so. They start 0 and 2, and now I think they're 6 and 2. And their schedule's so easy. I mean, they're going to, they have a legit shot at the one seed just because their schedule, you know, I think they still play the Jets twice.

I mean, their schedule is simple. What are the odds? And we focus on Drake May playing so well, their defense hasn't had a 50-yard rusher against them all season. Josh Allen plus 180, Mahomes plus 350, Drake May plus. 425 and then Stafford is plus 550 right now. Yeah, I mean, I think it's unlikely they pick a second year guy. So unless Buffalo collapses, I think Josh Allen will win it. But, you know, all they got, if you could make the argument, okay, Patriots beat the bills the second time, maybe he gets it, right?

Oh, if he gets him a second time, I think you have to. And you're just seeing a change around Drake May and the Patriots. They're not the chiefs, but they're getting. kind of cool. Today, Robert Kraft and Cardi B were sitting together. They kept showing her. So, you know, we're starting to get the celebrity treatment and treatments. Not just Taylor anymore.

We got Cardi B being seen in the Patriots booth. They're starting to get a little. What is Cardi B date? Stefan Diggs, who had a big game today. He's starting to get some touchdowns for them. Was I supposed to know that? They're the second biggest couple in the NFL. How long have they been dating?

Or Sierra Russell Wilson, unless you're tired of them. What about Haley Stanfield and Josh Howard? Also a big couple, Madison Beer, Justin Herbert. Yes. Wow. These are a lot. Cam Ward and Not covering. Interceptions.

How do we rank the celebrity couples? Obviously, Travis and Taylor are one. Who's two? I'm going to say Josh Allen, Hayley. Hayley Stiffel's going to get nominated for an Oscar this year. Yeah, but it's Cardi B though. It's Cardi B. But what makes her so great?

All the songs. Yeah. She's with child now, too. Did you just use like a biblical she's with child term? Yeah. Stefan's child She's with child So they've dated a long time

Enough to It's off season Enough to impregnate each other Or at least my one of them Their love moved fast They'll move fast What do you think her and Bob crap Talk about this week

I didn't even know they were dying I didn't even know they were dating Yeah well I think that that was just recently announced Okay Oh so it was it was an old love That just became public So I would put them third

And then I think Russell and Sierra, there's a time they'd have been number one. I think it's just so long running we've all moved on. I think they dropped the four. And then I don't know what Madison Beard does. So I'm going to have to put her fifth because I'm not sure what she does. I just know they went to the Dodgers game instead with the Beaver. And then there's a Cavender and a Ferguson.

Yeah. Jake Ferguson. Who else? Yeah, I'm thinking. It's kind of funny. Like it's only the big start. Like you never hear of like a backup offensive. Well, no, no, no.

Well, he's not in the league anymore. I was going to say Jason, Kelsey, and his wife are pretty famous now. Yeah, I'm trying to think. He's got to be someone that was already a celebrity, though. We know her because of her marriage to Jason. I see. Okay. There's others.

They'll come to us. On a different note, today I met Tony Pike, former University of Cincinnati quarterback, who I believe maybe was in the NFL as a backup in a couple places. I met him today and got to talk to him quite a bit. We should have him on the show. He's actually very funny. He played college football with the Kelsey's under Brian Kelly. So Jason Kelsey was his center and Travis was his tight end.

That's wild. And I asked him, I said, are you going to get invited to the wedding? And he said, depends on how big the list is. He was like, I wouldn't be on the intimate list. But if you got to the next tier, maybe. And I said, oh, what would that be like? And he goes, I told Travis, I have to say. sit next to Ed Shearing.

It's Shiren. I like that Tony Pike believes he's big enough that he can demand the seat next to Ed Shearer. Do you think Ed Shearin is somewhere saying, you know, when I get to that wedding, I hope Tony Pike is at my table. It would be tough, though, if you were like Travis Kelsey, you play on all these football teams. You almost have to invite all or nobody, right? Yeah, it's weird if you invite like, you know, usually you got three, four tight ends on a team. you invite one of them from that team. You know, you're in the same locker room with them the same practices.

But Tony Pike was his quarterback. So it tied in and I feel like that's... And in college. You know, he stuck his hands under his brother's butt for years. That's got a matter for something. He's got to sit with that, Shearin. I mean, who else could you put next to him? Well, it's just also you try to pair people with similar interest in Shearin.

Tony Pike. Maybe have him walk in together. That would be nice. 1915. The thing that this happened for me in this game is I remember Davis Mills was in the league. Yep. That was a guy I'd forgotten. Great neck.

Great neck. All time neck. Great neck. He had to come in and play. Houston got stopped at the goal line again. He had to come and play because Stroud almost lost his neck. I didn't see the play. I heard it was bad.

Sliding, defender hit him as he was going down. They kept the defender out? I actually didn't see. I would assume so, but it was a bang, bang play. I don't think there was intent, but it was a nasty hit on him. I completely understood why he had to go out. Big win for the Broncos. I had a pretty big wager on the Texans.

I thought they were going to win, but I assumed C.J. Strah would play. Before the winning kick, Gary Payton, not Gary Payton. Sean Payton. The glove. Oddly, Gary Payton yelled at the kicker. And people are like, what are you doing here, Gary Payton? Sounds like something he'd do. Don't you have somewhere to be?

Why are you here? Who let you on the field? He yelled at the kicker and said, through the middle. Now, of course, there have been other coaches who say you don't talk to the kicker. If you were a kicker, would you want to hear from your coach, not hear from your coach? What do you think is the better strategy for a big kick? I've actually thought about this recently. Kentucky was playing a game, Texas, and we needed a field goal.

And I was watching the kicker on the sideline, and nobody was talking to him. And I kind of had the conversation with people around me. And I feel like I would want to be that guy. I'd want to be left alone, pacing. If you want to come up and give me a little pat, sure. but, you know, I know the objective here. There's not much you can say to me right now. So you want to be left alone.

Yeah, leave me. And if I'm the coach, I would probably just let him be. He knows what he needs to do. All right. So I wouldn't want to be yelled at. I'd be like, I'm trying. Stop. But I also wouldn't want to be left alone.

Because then I feel like you're acknowledging how nerve-wracking this is with the fact that you're not talking to me. You know, sometimes, like, if you're in a relationship and like you're the person your dating doesn't call you for a while you assume the worst is wrong I think I'd be like that with the kickers like they're not talking to me this must really be they must really think I'm going to miss this so I'd want it to just be normal I'd want billy to come up and be like have you seen the task no that's good I don't want the coach coming up like all right bud see these two uprights you're going to need you to put it between no I know what I'm supposed to be

doing pat me on the back maybe a fist bomb maybe smack me in the back of a helmet to get me fired up, but like I don't need a pep talk. What if I did it in a joking way? What if I was like, all right, Drew, I'm going to need you to kick your leg back and then go through the ball. That made you laugh. Would you like that? Start giving some tips. Yeah. Like, hey, I know you've been doing this your whole life, but have you thought about maybe taking eight steps back? Really getting their head. Really use the hips. I think that would be good. Try to find one person in that crowd out there. Lock on them and kick it to this. There's a famous story in our team Kentucky basketball that there was some big

free throws once and Tubby Smith went up to the guy right before he was going to shoot these big free throws Patrick Sparks to beat Louisville and he said, so what are you doing for Thanksgiving? See, I like that. Icebreakers. Yeah. Talk about something else. Don't talk about what I need to do. I know what I need to do. I've been working on this.

Sean Payton yelled at the kicker. He makes it in the Broncos with. I have a fun Denver stat. What's that? They've trailed four times entering the fourth quarter this year and won all four games. Look out for Denver in the fourth quarter. That's a good time. This Giants game just a couple weeks ago stands out on that. That's right.

Jaguars beat the Raiders 30, 29. The score was 9 to 6 going in the fourth quarter. Ends up 30 to 29. Did you like the Raiders going for two? I did. I said earlier in the show. I'm all in on going for the two now. I know there's different circumstances you should,

but you're at the point. If you're in the NFL, you should have a play to go get two yards. If the circumstances say, try it out, I'm off for it. And I thought they did today. Both coaches were gutsy. I mean, the Jaguars got first ball. They get down in three minutes. They go for it on fourth and one.

People were acting like that was a crazy gutsy call by Liam. I actually think it was a smart call call. Let's go back to what we talked about last episode with Greg Olson saying, if you don't get it, they have the ball at the arm one. There's only three minutes left. Whereas if you kick it, they're going to already be at the 30 at least. So I actually thought going for that was smart. I love that.

They're not, I mean, it's not like college. In college, you might not go for it because they get the ball at the 25. But in the NFL, they have to stay where the ball is. So I think it makes more sense. Yeah, you got them pinned on the goal line. At that point, you're thinking, worst case scenario is a tie in this game. And I was fine with the Raiders going for it. I mean, it didn't work.

You're the Raiders. But you're the Raiders. You're what, two and six or whatever? Go for it. Gino actually had a pretty good game. They threw four touchdowns through an incompletion on the two-point tribe. But yeah, I go for it. Now, the real thing is, was anyone watching this game while the Bills and Chiefs run?

I turned it on for overtime, but I forgot in the 430 time slot that there were other football games being played because I was locked into Mahomes Allen. And then they're like, oh, overtime in Las Vegas, Jacksonville. And it's probably the two markets where the local people might watch them the least, Jacksonville, Las Vegas. We had history made. There's a record setting kick. So, yeah. So the world did not get to see Cam Chicken Little make a 68-yarder to break. the NFL record. I feel like we just talked about this the other day.

Used to be, we all knew Rick Dempsey and his club foot, and we knew that he had made the kick, and now someone named Cam Little is going to have the record. Do you think at the end of the season, if I asked NFL fans who has the record for biggest kick, they'll be able to remember Cam Little in January? Maybe. He also kicked the 70-yarder in the preseason that didn't count. I think it was the first 70-yard or ever. So his name stuck out a little there. I don't think he'll even have the record when the season ends. I think Dan Bailey from Dallas is going to kick a bomb before the years over.

He was a... Did I say Dan Bailey? You said Dan Bailey. Who's that? That's the former Cowboys kicker. Brandon Aubrey, excuse me. Getting my legendary Cowboys kickers confused there. That was my ex's dad.

I was talking about him. What's he doing? I think he's going to end up one to one up him before the years over. They're at Denver and they set him up for one. he wasn't able to kick it. But Cam Little, I've now watched him kick one from 70, now one from 68. The game has just changed so much. I think it's just going to keep getting further and farther.

You're kicking too far. It's the balls. I don't like it. Stop. Make them use the actual balls. The game is more fun when it's more random. I need guys kicking it far to the left, far to the right. You're not impressed by just the human feet of kicking it.

Well, not if they're kicking basically, you know, rubber balls. like sponge balls. Like they've still got to stay accurate. I know, but they've clearly changed the ball. Like, it's not the same. And I don't like it. I want it to go back. I think football is better when there's more variance.

And there's not enough variance because the guys are too good. What if it's only in games like Jacksonville where the only exciting thing is when someone kicks a long field goal because they're playing the Raiders? Yeah, I mean, I did forget this game was going on. To be honest with you, I was at Skyline. I didn't really care. It's a messy skyline from what we heard. It's so dirty.

Bingles, we clean up after yourself. Leaving cheese everywhere. Could have been the case. And this one, Trevor Lawrence, said, Skyline, he was pale as a ghost, didn't sleep. He was sick. He was sick. He was sick. He was sick.

He was playing. Trayvon Walker, the former number one overall pick, punched a guy in the helmet again. I don't understand that. He was a jacked. People love the helmet punch. Has that ever done anything? No. Literally, that exists to keep people from the game.

It's why it's there. That's why it's there. You know, of all the things to do, it makes the least sense, right? And, you know, sometimes the guys won't show up, but it hurts their hand, but they can't, like, react and act like it hurt their hand. They have to act tough. But, you know, there's been a few times. There's been a punch thrown on a helmet. I'm sure it happened.

I'm sure that has happened. Vikings beat the lines, 27, 24. I need you to apologize to J.J. McCarthy, please, Billy. Yeah, I got wrapped up in a sponsored segment. And, you know, we're not blaming the sponsors. No, no, it's all on me. Your accountability. A big fan of Tate Ratledge and the Lions, so I thought it was going to be an easy victory.

But J.J. McCarthy had a great first quarter, two touchdown passes alone there. Looks good. It's got a great sporting cast, good defense, but big win for Minnesota. That's not a significant enough apology. You said he was, your exact word was trash. Yeah, it was not the best take by me. I apologize to Jay, McCarthy, wish him the best of luck.

Just going to take that one back. In case he's listening right now, JJ. If anybody else would like bulletin board material for their team, you can hit me up on Cameo, Billy R. Sports. No, you're not paying you to talk trash. First of all, why are you on Cameo? Well, I mean, people will pay for anything nowadays, Matt. Have they paid for you? Who?

Well, it was a couple years ago. My price was much lower back then. What's your price now? I think it's at 20, 20 or 25. What was your price back then? It was like four or five. It was five, I think. What would you do for $4?

I was just happy to be doing it, you know? What was it? Like, only fans? You'd send them one picture for $4? No, no. I can't get fast food for $4 anymore. Actually, I would argue you're overpriced at $20, but you're a bargain at $4. I think you're more like a $7.36.

$7.30. 36 cents. Feels like the right price for a campaign. Is that before after they take their cut? It's funny. Camio was so huge for a little while. I don't think about it anymore. Do you? No, there was a time where I thought it'd be funny to get random celebrities and some of the friends. I did. I got a bunch. William Hung. We got that. I got a lot of them. Some of those people have, you know, made quite a bit of money on it. Well, the guy that's always brought up is Kevin from the office. He made like a million dollars doing it.

Yeah, they'll throw a couple hundred bucks on that. Some people that were on a big show years ago, not getting much work. Just sit around and throw off some happy birthdays. Wait a minute. I like to play the game of, can you guess how much this person's going for? Okay, on cameo. On cameo. Are you ready?

Always one of my favorite games. How much do you get Shooter McGavin? He's got an ego. Yeah, I'm going to say 600, 800. 380. I'm with Billy. I thought he would have gone high. I thought he would have gone high.

What about New York? freely freed Congressman George Santos. By the way, he cut his price in half since he got released from prison, which is understandable, because he's probably easier to get now than he was then. I want to say something small, but I bet a lot of people do this. I'll say $125. $150. I feel like we were talking about Kevin from the office.

How much is he? He's probably not too high or he wouldn't be that popular, right? Yeah, it's got to be low enough to people. will do it. Like 175. That's exactly what I was going to say. We're both going with 175. Good guess. 200. Okay. We haven't been too far off on any of them. Bruce Buffer.

This is not, now that's, this is the other buffer. Yeah, this is the younger brother buffer. This is brother two. And he's not allowed to say the key words. He can't say, let's get ready to rumble. He can say like, let's get ready to round ball. That's what he said at Big Blue Madison, Kentucky.

Let's get ready to roundball. What's the other buffer? Bruce Buffer and Brian, Brad, Bill? It's not Brian. It starts with the B. Bill? Bob. Wait,

is Bruce not the main one? There are other, no, this is not the main, what's the other buffer? Michael. Not with a B. Well,

Bruce Buffer is $350. Wow. That's way too high. So that's the secondary buffer. Michael's probably not even on there, but he'd have to, he'd be. well no he charges

an insane amount of money all right let's do I want to do one more are there any NFL personalities on there Ray Lewis Billy R Sports oh Ray Lewis he's going to be 200

200 even Bob I'm going to go 300 on this one Ray Lewis is $330 Lovar Ball never lost I saw he recently lost a leg and he says he can still be

Michael Jordan I love it I just love that he's still talking to me. I'm going to say LeVar Ball is $150. Oh, big ballers. They got to spend more than that, $500. Wow. Well, you can get you $130.

Oh, wow. Two more. David Ortiz. Big Poppy. Big Poppy's a man of the people. He'll be cheaper. I'm going to say $100. $150.

$650 for David Ortiz. Wow. Who's paying that? Nobody. Respectfully, David Ortiz. You know, buddy? Think of the things you could go out and buy some one with $600 or here's a one-minute video on your phone. All right.

Finally, Bo Jackson. Huh, I wouldn't have had Bo as a cameo guy. He's been kind of low-key. I'd love a cameo from Bo Jackson. Yeah, I'll buy you one, Billy, if it's under $45. It ain't. I'll say Bo Jackson is $200 even. Yeah, $2.25.

$550 for Bo Jackson. Can't get that for you, Billy. Sorry. That's okay. So there you go. A little cameo, uh, uh, information. So Vikings beat the lines. You want to 7 to 24.

Upset the Packers for the second year in a row. What a crazy, what a crazy result that the Panthers have beaten the Packers now two years in a row. They win 1613. Jordan, uh, love was awful, including a terrible fourth down, uh, throw towards the end of the game. Um, how the Panthers, by the way, have been an underdog. in every game this year,

and yet here they sit five and four. Yeah, they're the second NFL team since 1970 to have a winning record being an underdog. And Bryce Young missed the game, which is one of their losses. So Bryce Young, as a starter, is five and three. I mean, his stats are very rarely impressive. People are, like, debating, is he good or not?

But he's got a lot of come from behind fourth quarter wins and he had a game winning drive today to set him up for that field goal. So good for Bryce Young and the Panthers. And good for Meow Mix out there too. Y'all just keep staying. So did you see they're coming back? No, they can't come back. They're cut.

No, you didn't see it. They're back. To celebrate the win, Meow Mix is returning. Then they're going to lose. Not good for the season. They're winning Meow Mix because you left. They're coming back. Meow Mix said they were going to do a, I like they wrote a reunion episode.

They've been gone for one month. It probably will get a ton of lessons. I'll tune in. Yes, a reunion episode. The Meow Mix people are back. So good for them. I think the story for this game, though, is the way the Packers were awful. Two turnovers in the red zone.

That's terrible. But even worse were the uniforms. Why do they keep doing that? They wore... You don't like the old leatherhead helmets? I'm not normally Mr. Uniform. Wear your colors. I actually like when teams mix it up.

But we had the Rogers reunion with the Packers just a week ago, and they wore goof uniforms for what two of the iconic looks in football. And then today I didn't even know, it took me a minute to figure out what team was playing when I turned on the Packers wearing Navy and leather. Yeah, I didn't like it. I like the leather helmet look. I kind of think that's cool.

But there are just a couple teams that probably shouldn't do it a lot. And the Packers would be number one. And they've now done it twice. And the Steel, like you said, the Steelers did it last week. And so it feels like along with the Cowboys, those are the three most iconic looks. I don't, I mean, you can't just have the Cowboys showing up with candy canes on them.

I mean, at some point, you do have to have some respect for what you're embodying, right? I believe that's why the Packers lost. If you want to be a clown, go loose to the Panthers. Well, the Steers lost last week. Yeah, y'all want to put on your clown uniforms, you'll get clown results. The Bucks and the Seahawks had a good uniform game. Hang on, that's different. First of all, I don't care what they do.

They can come out with like corsets on if they want. They're the bucks and the Seahawks. That's not tradition-laced teams. Well, if you'd like when the Giants wore, they're kind of 90s throwback today. Yeah, but that's not much, that's not much different than what they're doing. I mean, this is literally like both of those uniforms

have looked like a child vomited paint all over the place. They weren't wearing green or yellow today. Yeah, I just, they're completely different. And I just think of all the. teams to do it. Those are the teams that should do it the least. Oh, no, I agree, especially just coming off when you just did it. And this, on a serious note, they lost Tucker Kraft today, which is huge. She's been playing so well, looks like an ACL. So just a horrible day for the Packers all the way around. Love didn't look good. You lose a star tied in. You looked like idiots.

You lose to the Panthers. A bad showing for an NFC. Continental. What about the penalty on Rico Dowdell for the Key and Peele dance? It is a little, I'm not, I'm not saying we have to be PG-13 all the time, but it had a little bit of thrusting to it. Too many thrusts for Drew? I think one. How many thrusts are okay? I think if he had thrusted once, he could have gone to the bench, nobody would have noticed.

But the second thrusts. He can't have two thrusts. Yeah, this is a family league. And the skit, it's three that gets them the penalty. So he did two and got the penalty. Yeah, the ref should have laid you one more. Do you think he was going to stop the three? I think if he didn't do three, he shouldn't have got the penalty.

Just because I didn't realize, I've never seen the skit. So the skit. The whole, yeah, the whole thing is waiting for the third pump. Oh, that's right. Okay, I have seen it. Yeah. Well, he got two. And so I bet in his mind he thought I'm not doing the third.

I won't get the penalty. But you have to remember you're dealing with referees that are old people who they don't watch Key and Peel, unless it's on Hannity. They didn't see it. Well, it mattered. They missed the extra point. And then Green Bay was able to tie it later. Well, they ended up winning the game. He can do it every once if he keeps running like that, though.

He had another huge game. It is time for our weekly sadness. known as the Tennessee Titans report, Drew. They lose to the Chargers, keeping my Survivor League. Oh, sorry, you had the Rams. All right, so we both remained in it. What do you got? Well, Matt, big day for the Titans.

We covered a point spread. First time you've done it this year, right? It's been so long. Yeah, the Cardinals. We won a game, actually. Now let's talk about why that's funny. They went up early, went up twice. They had a punt return touchdown and an interception return touchdown.

Interception return touchdown first. There was a stat. Let me find it. I believe they're only like the fifth team ever to not win a game when they have a punt return touchdown and an interception return touchdown in the same game. That's happened 90 times and 85 times the team wins. So even when we're making plays, we still can't get it done. But you won. We covered.

We didn't win. That's a win. For me. We have a buy next week. That's a win. That is just the best week of the seasons for the Titans. You can go do something else. The punt return was fun.

Cam Ward's still not looking great. It's just as I say. How long are you giving him? Are you giving up by the end of the year? Will Levis back? What do you want? I'm ready to bring Kerry Collins back at this point. Neil O'Donnell.

Bring them all back. Zach Bettenberger. Nora O'Donnell. No, I still like Cam Ward. I don't want him to go anywhere, but there's just no help around him. Although we got some young receivers. that are flashing some talent. On the Chargers end, Herbert just continues to get killed.

The Titans defense was wrecking him. And Joe Alt, one of his protectors, got injured again. So even though the Chargers got a win, they're going to get Herbert killed at some point this year. He just continues to get mauled. The Rams beat the Saints 3410. I will admit, I didn't see one millisecond of this game. Except I did see the highlight of the no-look pass. Are you a fan?

It blows my mind that Matthew Stafford does this. Mahomes, too. There are a couple others who've done it once or twice, but they seem to do it consistently. He had another big game, four touchdowns, something crazy. Devante Adams, I think, passed Tony Gonzalez for touchdowns. But he hit him one time, middle of the field, probably 20 yards down the field, but it's the no look. He's over here looking right and just zips it, hits him right in the numbers in stride. Anyone in the NFL, great athlete, unbelievably talented, the no look passes that he pulls off.

it's witchcraft to me. I do not understand how he's able to do it. It is very impressive. It also, I think often is unnecessary in terms of what. This one was probably one of those. Yeah. It was in traffic. I don't think they need to do it.

It's cool. It is cool, but at least they got it done. Tyler Shuck did not do a no look pass or throw four touchdowns. But neither of those guys are going to play for him again. 49ers beat the Giants 3424. Matt Jones had his nosebleed moment. running down his face. It was running down his face.

Just kept going. I'm Mack Jones. If you're like an old school football player, it kind of made you think of old time. Oh, bloody Mac out there doing his thing. They get the win. McHale Williams injured. They just keep, I mean, somebody's got to look at. It's looking like a season ending too.

I mean, the 49ers. And that's two years in a row that the whole team gets injured. Like on some level, I know it's random, but like. And we just said your starting quarterback has blood run. running down his face while throwing the ball. And everybody's like, let old Bloody Mac do his thing. That's what it.

But they get the way in Jackson, DART, four straight game with a touchdown. Yeah. They're running. It's a running touchdown. Their problem is defense. They've given up 33 or more points in three straight games.

Yeah. Giants, they had some fun with Dard and Scataboo there for a little bit, but I think it's going to be back to losing that. nothing after they got the fumble recovery. Is Jane Daniels? It's clearly sophomore slump. I mean, is this like a C.J. Stroud situation? I know he's been hurt, but still, this was a poor performance. And if it wasn't for the Bengals defense, I think the commander's defense might be the

worst than the league. Yeah, Daniels, we thought he'd slump a little last year, which just seemed too good to be true. And then this year, he's been banged up. I won't put any ruling out on him. Yeah, I think it's been unfair circumstances. But on the other end, Sam Darnold was unbelievable in that first half. And he has been good.

I know the Vikings enjoyed McCarthy today, but they've got to be kicking themselves. I mean, he was good as a backup in San Francisco, right, which is how he got the Minnesota deal, which then leads to this deal. Why did everybody just assume because he was bad with the jet? Everyone's bad with the Jets. Maybe he's good. And he went Jets Panthers, like two of the teams where you shouldn't grade anyone. He was a jet, then a Panther, people just threw him away. And Baker was on that Panthers team too.

I mean, they had both of them. Maybe two of the best quarterbacks in the NFC right now. But Donald, they put up a graphic in the first half when he was tearing it up. And he's top five in most quarterback stats the last two seasons. And you wouldn't think of that. And the Vikings let that walk out the door. But he's been great. Well, he had a bad playoff game against.

But it's one game. Yeah, it was a great regular season for him last year, too. I mean, Lamar's had bad playoff games. like it's okay. And you threw that away for a draft pick that's unproven. Like you saw what he did in your regular season. Billy clearly hates and has already given up on, which I think is rude. So that, yeah. So those are our games today. Let's go over a couple things.

First of all, the Survivor League. I had the Rams. They won easily. You had the Chargers less easily, but they won. Now we're both still in it. Now next week, I think I go first, right? No, I go. Because you were deciding between the Rams or the Chargers.

chargers and then you decide you go first i will go first okay well that's going to be a big advantage for you well first of all who have you used uh i have used the jags the cards the bills the colts the chiefs and the patriots and who have i used you have used the broncos uh baltimore detroit green bay new england in indianapolis all right well since you're going first you can't pick the team that i'm going to take well just take them then so i'm just going to tell you i mean we'll pick these the next show but i'm going to go ahead and tell you I'm taking the bills against the dolphins. McDaniels, he's going to stay.

Yeah, they said he's going to finish the year. Yeah. He said that he's going to finish the year. So it's not the biggest point spread, though. It's the Broncos Raiders. But I don't like that one. The Raiders could win that game. Besides this, however, besides the game with the Bills Dolphins,

these spreads are all very small. They're all like three and a half, four and a half. This is going to be a hard choice for you. I'm sitting here looking at the, none of these in my opinion Billy I don't know what you think none of these next week are obvious

a lot of teams that are very similarly matched the fact that I have the bills is really good for me because these other ones I actually think are quite hard and you can't just fade the Titans they're off yes and the Browns play the Jets so that's two bad teams playing each other yeah

Saints play the Panthers do you want to believe in the Panthers as your team and then the rest of the teams are kind of even Yeah, you want to stay away from divisional matchups. So that Denver, Las Vegas, and then Carolina, New Orleans is scary. You don't have to pick until Wednesday, but where are you leaning on this next week? I mean, I really like Bryce Young and what he's been doing. So that's definitely in my mind.

You're thinking about taking the Panthers in a Survivor League? I actually think Seattle has a favorable matchup at home versus Arizona here, too. Arizona plays tomorrow night, short game, to her short wrist. Yeah, no, that's probably the one, that's probably a good pick. But the fact you and I are still going. Yeah, either way, Drew can just keep way down there. I'd hate to be the guy that's already out of the league. No, you're looking at this wrong.

I get to sit here and just, there's no pressure. I just watch you all. It's like I'm a spectator just enjoying the show. I don't have to think about these tough decisions. There's big money coming down the stretch here. What happened with the quarterback thing? I got mine, right? Yeah, Josh Allen, rushing another rushing touchdown.

So I now have four. I did not, little lad McConkey didn't score for the Chargers. I say it three. And then Jemir Gibbs did not score for the lion. So Drew remains at one. I think Dan Campbell has headed out for me today. How does Gibbs have like 20 yards? What are we doing in a loss?

Yeah, I only had 25 yards, yeah. It was healthy too. Wasn't like an injury situation. It's probably because I picked him. Well, I enjoyed the week. I really enjoyed that Bears win. Congratulations on your first win as a fan. Well, I mean, I've seen the win games on television.

But yes, it was the first time I saw them as a fan, and it was a lot of fun. And let me tell you what I like about it. On the way out of the stadium, you know how many high-fives I gave to strangers? Oh, yeah. That's the best part. The high-five to strangers as you walk out of a road stadium. That's a lot of fun with everybody going, bear down, you know. That's one of the best parts in sports.

Even if you haven't won the game, leading into the game being the way team, might see somebody in the lobby. You just give each other a little point or a little high five. It's that bond. You're going to war to get together on forward soil. That's exactly right. So that was a really, really neat thing. And I enjoyed it. So an awesome day. And thank you all for listening to Week 9. Remember, we're coming to Buffalo in two weeks. So we welcome all Buffalo suggestions because we are headed there in two weeks for Buck's bills. But until Wednesday, we'll see you later. This has been NFL. Cover Zero.

NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin is a production of the NFL and IHeart Podcast. For more podcasts from IHeart Radio, visit the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.