KSR - NFL Cover Zero: Blocked Kicks, Throwback Uniforms, and Thriving backup QBs!

Episode Date: September 22, 2025

Matt Jones and Drew Franklin open NFL Week 3 with Matt continuing his stay in South Africa trying to explain 'American' football.  Matt was amazed at the Eagles comeback win over the Rams and explains why he thinks Greg Olsen is his favorite announcer.  How did the Browns get past the Packers?  HC Ben Johnson gets his first win as the Bears down the Cowboys.  Drew was impressed with the Chargers staying undefeated.  The Patriots missed out on a huge opportunity against the Steelers.   Baker Mayfield has the Buccaneers undefeated with 3 straight game winning drives.  Is there another QB you're more confident in?  Matt has a end of season prediction about the 49ers. Are the Colts for real and are Titans fans already eyeing possible #1 picks for next season? Daniel Jones could be eyeing a bigger award than Comeback Player of the Year.  Isaiah Rodgers led the Vikings defense, but how about Carson Wentz?!?  Matt thinks the Texans passed the torch to the Jaguars today.  The Panthers blanked the Falcons and Matt says Atlanta fans should be concerned. What is there to root about as a Saints fan?  We wrap up with Matt's next adventures in South Africa and living without a cell phone. 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. A few days hiatus, we are back. It is Cover Zero. NFL, NFL cover zero. That's the way they want us to say it here. I am in Cape Town, South Africa.

Yes, that's exactly right. Cape Town, South Africa. Drew and Billy are in Lexington. It is 1245 at 9. and Drew, I did something that I don't know how many people do in Cape Town, which is sit and watch NFL Red Zone all day, looking out over the ocean, and it's great to be here with you. Oh, I did a little red zone on my couch, but you sounds like you had a much better view.

Also, I'm glad that no technical difficulties. We're good to see it. Haven't talked to you in a week in South Africa. So yeah, glad to be talking to you today. I want to start this by saying we didn't get to do a show midweek, and the reason was one of our friends. also a listener to this podcast. Manny Robertson passed away. Both of us were friends with him. Drew, he was one of your closest friends,

and we wanted to give you some time off to be able to honor him. And, you know, he would be listening right now and proud of you. And good to have you back. And I'm sorry for both of our loss, but particularly you, he was one of your best friends. Yeah, thank you. We were very close. I lost a great guy very unexpectedly, but I appreciate the little time to grieve and be with the family and sort things out. But it's good to be back with you guys. We'll miss him.

But, you know, he was a great one. He's listening somewhere. Prayers to the Robertson family. They were good. He was a great guy. So, I mean, there are people who might say, Matt, are you going to be in South Africa forever? Because I've already been here a week. And I have like 10 more days for people who don't know.

know, I was doing a fellowship with the Aspen Institute as all NFL podcast hosts do. And now I'm on an 11-day trip around South Africa that includes a safari. And I don't think people on this podcast know, Drew, it is me and 10 women. And tonight was the welcome drinks where I met the 10 women. It was quite a thing. They all sort of are like, you're not a woman. You are a man. And so for the next 10 or 11 days, it is me and 10 women throughout the bush of South Africa should be very exciting.

I got to ask, at the end of the night, did you have to give nine of them a rose and send one home? That's what this sounds like. The welcome party, do they show up in a limo one at a time? It was going to be a trip where we just leave one everywhere we go. One of them has to stay. No, I actually had to leave. It was a typical male thing to do. I had to leave the party early to go watch football.

I was like, look, I have to go watch the NFL to be able to do this show. But, you know, the NFL, it's interesting. It's, I don't want to say it's not a thing here. As soon as I talk to people here about sports, they ask me about, they call it here American football. They're like, tell me about America. American football, but they don't know any of the players, and they all say the same thing, which is, I watch it and I don't know what's happening. And, you know, for us, it seems like the most basic thing in the world.

But I can see, like, if you don't know the rules, like one of the guys looked at me and said, how come they stop? And I said, well, I don't really know how to answer that question. Like, he said they fall down and then everyone stops, which I guess is true. but maybe we don't think of it like that, Drew. Yeah, that's going to be a lot of explaining how that works to them. But you're right in America. It's just like accepted culture in the fall Sundays.

A lot of people just don't. I'm on my couch. Watching football. Yes. It's every single week here. So if you may have these suggestions as to how I can explain the rules to South Africans that I meet, that would be good. I also have had a situation, Drew, that I, you know me well enough to know how difficult this is for me. I haven't had my phone for the last couple days, and I'm not going to have it for a

couple more days. And that's difficult enough for me as it is. I'm sort of wedded to my phone. But what's even worse is when I explain why I don't have my phone. You've not even heard. No, I don't know this. But this is one of the more embarrassing things I've ever done. So you know Nelson Mandela, right? He was the South African president. Yeah, never met him, but I'm familiar. You guys were not boys, but you know, you know who he is. He was kept for 27 years as a political prisoner on a place called Robin Island, which is like five miles from Cape Town. So to get there, you have to get on a ferry and you go out there.

So my fellowship group, we went out there. Now, I don't know how much people know, but like this is where the two oceans come together. This is where the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean come together. And thus the water is very choppy because it's. It's different temperatures. This is some of the choppiest water in the world, the tip of Africa and the tip of South America. So when you take the ferry to Robin Island, it is very, very choppy. So we go to Robin Island.

It's a very powerful thing. We saw the cell where Nelson Mandela was for 27 years. Very powerful thing. But when it comes to, we were there for like four hours. So when it comes time to come back, I need a soda. Right? And they don't have Diet Coke. For those of you video, they don't have Diet Coke in Southern.

They only have Coke Zero. And so I've been drinking a lot of Coke Zero. Well, I get on the boat, Coke Zero is 45 cents here. I mean, it's unbelievably cheap. So we get on, and there's a group of probably 20 older women who are from rural South Africa, Drew, and have never been to Robin Island. Now, I am going to defer to these ladies. Like whatever these women want, Drew, you're going to let them have, right? Absolutely.

Yeah, this is a treat for them. This is a treat for them. So I'm sitting in my seat. This woman is sitting a few rows behind me. She walks up to me in the middle of the boat ride and it's very rocky. And she walks up to me and she looks at me. She's probably 90 years old. And she looks at me and goes, get up.

I said, what? And she went, get up. and I got up and she just set in my seat. Okay. All right. She just set my seat. She's like, that will now be my seat, okay? And it threw me off.

And as soon as she did that, someone took her seat. So now I'm staying. Right. So I'm standing on some of the choppiest waters in the world in this ferry. And I'm getting thrown around all over the boat, right? So I have my Coke Zero. and I'm like having to struggle to stand. And so I put my Coke Zero in my coat pocket,

my coat pocket so that I could brace myself. What I didn't realize is my phone was in there. And so the next bump we hit, my Coke flipped over, poured onto my phone, shorted it out. And I now have the story, Matt, how did you break your phone? Well, I spilt Coke on it on the island where Nelson Mandela would. prison. That is how I lost my phone. So at least it's an interesting story. Did the lady that

had you moved, did she know that this happened? Was there any, do you think she had any guilt? No, no guilt. She had no guilt. And I think we should all have the self-confidence that woman had to just say, you're going to get up. She didn't say, may I? She didn't even give a rationale. And by the way, she had a chair. It wasn't like she was standing. She just was like, I would like, chair and I would like you to have no chair. I can't imagine now that you don't have a phone just being in South Africa with a phone at all, not just the fact that you like having your phone, it's always in your hand. Just being alone in another country and not having your cell phone.

Another country can't get an Uber, okay, can't get an Uber, no map. So I'm not really sure at any given moment where I am, you know. And then you go, so then think about this. When you don't have a phone, first question. question is, where do I get my phone repaired? Well, how would you find out? You'd have to use your phone. You don't have an Apple store near your safari? Well, they did. So they do it. So in South Africa, and I'm not going to spend the whole show talking about South Africa, but in South Africa, things are cheaper. It's probably like a third of what things are in America, except for some reason,

Apple phones are like three times more expensive. So like you can get a full dinner for $3.30. But an Apple phone is like $3,500. So I don't really, I can't really replace it. And so it's just like, if they can't fix it, then I'm just going to be roaming around hoping someone takes me where I need to go when I'm in South Africa. Now, you know, last time on the show, we heard you were just having trouble getting yogurt. Now you're telling me you don't even have a phone down there. Is there any danger involved with not having a phone? What they tell you, Johanisberg was a little different.

What they tell you in Cape Town is you can walk most places, not everywhere, but most places during the day, always take a car at night. But I'm now having to be like my grandmother and like order a taxi at the front desk. I don't know. You can still do that? I didn't either. But I'm like, can you call a taxi? And they're like, they look at me like, still? What are you, 90?

Yeah, well, that's what I have to do because I have no other way of getting anywhere. But still got to watch the games and now I'm ready to go. Now, Billy, you're going to give us the – we're kind of doing the games in the order of excitement today. You're going to give us the score and some notes about them. I think the biggest game, Billy, was probably Eagles Ram. Oh, yeah. Yeah, got to start Eagles Rams. A battle between two, two and O teams.

Philadelphia wins 33 to 26, thanks to the first. So Jordan Davis blocking two field goals in the fourth quarter. The Rams had a 26 to 7 lead at one point. Jalen Hertz hadn't thrown a passing touchdown pass in 10 quarters and then throws three in the final two for the Eagles to stay undefeated. I watched almost all of this game today. When I turned it on, I think the Rams were up like 19 to 7, and I thought that's a really strange score.

And then the Eagles, you just kind of had a sense they were going to come back. two block field goals by the largest man on the field. You always, I guess they just take the view. No reason to go around. I'll go through. And the last runback was one of the more epic plays I've seen, Drew. It was an epic play for a game with, you know, some high stakes in that conference. But also, if anyone dabbled on Rams plus three and a half, you probably thought that was good.

You probably thought you had that from the first quarter until it was already gone. because they had to lead most of the game until Philadelphia scores the four straight touchdowns. But even with the field goal attempts, you're good. The one thing that couldn't happen was the runback. And I think that'll be one of the worst beats we ever see in the NFL. I didn't even think about the gambling aspect of that. That would be really difficult. It was very well-played game.

The Rams, if you remember from the first episode of NFL Cover Zero, the Rams were my Super Bowl sleeper pick. I actually picked them to go to the Super Bowl on this show. and I was feeling really good about that in the third court. I still feel good about it. But I think it would have been a lot better for them if they could have. I mean, that would have been a big game today for home field advantage if they'd been able to get it. Absolutely. It looked good the whole time.

It's kind of going viral now. But Jalen Hertz, I mean, the Eagle's sideline is just going absolutely crazy. They're running. He didn't even smile. I mean, it was just stone cold. There are people bumping into them. They're just bouncing off of them. They just walked straight on in the field to shake hands.

Do you think he cared? It looked like he had somewhere to be. He was just like, well, this is fine. Can we get to the next thing? I just think he might be a stone cold killer. I know the Eagles are sharing that video a lot. Like, look at our quarterback. Just locked in.

I didn't need to go run and celebrate. But a huge win for the huge one. I would like to know what, I would like to know what's got viral from this, but I have no idea because I can't get on my phone. And I can't log into any social media. So I'm just going to take your word for it that it went viral. Do you think I lost like this if you're the Rams? Can you come back? from that, like that one pulls at your soul.

Yeah, there's no moral victories when you're in the NFL and you're the Rams, but to basically beat the Eagles for three quarters in Philadelphia, I think if anything, it just gives you a hunger to get another shot at them because you had them really dominated the first half. And you know that maybe you are on a neutral field or maybe you can get home field, that in another shot you're going to be right there with them. Now, I haven't seen any analysis, but how did this dude who's looks, to weigh about 3.30. How did he block two kicks straight up the middle? I mean, have you seen

anyone make an analysis of how that happened? It was a little wild because, and we'll get to some of the others, but in the witching hour at Red Zone, there were a lot of blocks, including the Eagles game. You never see block kicks. It was insane. I mean, it was like three and three minutes. And Jordan Davis, Eagles kind of, I don't know if it's the last year of his contract, but there's already been talk about him really getting paid. If I were him, I would have walked straight to the GM's office after blocking two kicks and almost single-handedly beating the Rams with that play

and saying, where's my payday? Did they say it was because the kicker kicked low? I haven't heard, and I couldn't figure out watching exactly what he did that made him get through so quick. He got right through the middle, just straight up through the middle. Just bull rush.

He got his hand up pretty high. Yeah, he got his hand up pretty high. I mean, in another game, there was some nice hurdle, but on the block that he took back for a touchdown. I mean, he just straight up the middle, got his hand up, got his and picked up the ball. So Jalen Hertz, as Billy said, had gone, you know, two and a half games without throwing a touchdown,

throws a bunch there at the end. They look to be, I don't want to say unbeatable, but I think that at this point you would say they are the best team in the NFC by a decent margin. If I gave you over under one and a half losses, what do you take? I mean, they don't have many tough games coming up. That division looks like it might have a couple of teams that aren't going to threaten them much. If they were going to drop a game, I know this was at home,

but the Rams was one of the toughest ones on their schedule. I think they might be a one-lost team, which is crazy. That is crazy, but I think you're right if you look at it. They go to Buffalo. They go to Buffalo, so that's one where you could potentially, that might be the one. I want to give a shout out to my man Greg Olson. okay. Greg Olson did that game. And he is so good. And, you know, he got bumped for Tom Brady, which I thought, you know, like that was a little rude. Like you bring in a guy who's never done

anything, like never, well, I mean, he did play football well, but he never called football with any background and just completely bump. I think Greg Olson, in my opinion, is the best announcer in the NFL. And I thought he was excellent on that game. He does such a good job breaking everything down. I think he is the most underrated person that calls maybe any sport, but certainly the NFL. Yeah, I love him too. And I'm with you on just putting Brady above him.

I'm like, Greg's been a rising star. He's earned this spot. Let's have him. Everybody loves him. They got a little criticism, the broadcast team, because during a tush push, Lane Johnson got hurt and they kind of didn't even really mention it. So Eagles fans are all up in arms about that. It looks like he's going to be okay.

They said it, though, at one point that he was out, didn't they? But he got hurt during a touch push? Yeah, and they just kept talking about just in general the tush push. And I think people were like, hey, let's talk about how, you know, one of the best Eagles is hurt on the ground, it's hurt right now. But he is going to be okay. But that some Eagles fans online were kind of upset about with Greg Olson. But I love him.

It wasn't quite as like, I mean, they succeeded in it, but it wasn't quite as overwhelmingly effective because now, they finally have to stop false starting, right? Like they don't get to just keep jumping a second and a half before everybody else. Last week, the entire offensive line, it was a false start on the touch push and didn't get called. Today, there was another one, but it was only one guy. So they're starting to at least wait to snap the ball. But yeah, the push isn't going anywhere.

Well, good win for the Eagles. Exciting game. And you're right. You don't see a whole, whole lot of games end up on a blocked, returned kick, changing the cover of the game. Sorry to the gamblers out there who lost that one. What's next, Billy? Well, speaking of blocked kicks, there was one in this next game in the Packers-Browns game.

An ode to Brown Spider-and-Friard, the Brownsnap an eight-game losing streak. Let's go Brown-Spider. Eight-game losing streak, dating back to last year at a 13-10 victory over Green Bay. They scored 13 points in the final four minutes. They were down 10 to 0. There was a blocked kick as Green Bay looked to take the win tied at 10. but Browns go down the field and Austin Schmidt

hits a 55-yard field goal for the win. I like Billy like doing the radio version of the game right there. You know, we didn't, because of the of Manning's passing, we didn't get to do a show in the middle of the week, so we didn't get to do our Survivor League picks,

thankfully, because I would have picked the Packers and, of course, the Browns get the victory. They're down 10-0 with four minutes to go, And then Flacco says no longer Wacko and takes them down the field. They score three times in four minutes. Pretty epic choke job by Green Bay, right? It was. And it was the final leg of my money line parlay.

But, you know, the Packers, even though it was only 10-0 most of the game, never imagine they could lose. I'm like, how in the heck, do the Packers only have 10 points? But then Jordan Love threw a horrible interception late in the fourth quarter. About three minutes left. Browns get it at the Green Bay 20. score a quick touchdown. Then you get the blocked field goal that set up their field goal.

So, I mean, just similar to the Rams. I mean, the whole game, you think you have it. Then just an absolute meltdown there at the end. Congrats to them. And then as for the Packers, that's another one, kind of like the Rams. I mean, you're going to get to playoff seating and you're going to go, how could we lose that game at Cleveland? That'll be a big one.

I was going to say, by the way, when it was 10-0, you got to replace Flacco with Dylan Gabriel now. I guess Flacco probably keeps his job for a little longer, right? Yeah, he had an interception. I don't think any touchdowns. It wasn't his best day. But if you beat an NFC contender like the Packers, I mean, there's no way you can make a move there. You can't.

You can't make a move. No, I just, it costs me about $500 on a money line parlay. That's all, that's all. Is this really, is this kid just going to be Drew talks about his gambling picks show today? Well, this one, this one especially because, like, wait until we get to the Titans. Oh, you know, you don't want to hear me about the Titans. No, well, actually, I was going to add this. You're just showing us his car all day.

And we won't do all gambling talk, but today I told my wife, I was like, I'm feeling it today. And every game, I bet three times more than I normally bet, and I went 0 for 7. So absolutely got murdered today. But this game is a very running-firing day. That he could fix my phone, and it didn't work. So I was 0-for-1 as well. Speaking of that for a second, when, have you been a lot? Have you, do you know what the Cape of Good Hope is?

Do you know what that is? I'm familiar with it, but I couldn't explain what it is. Like I recognize the name. It's like the southernmost point. It's like the southernmost point in Africa. And, you know, so I went there. And right next to, right next to the Cape of Good Hope is a city called Simons Town. Okay.

And Simons Town's an interesting place because you drive into town. It's the only city I've ever seen in the world. When you're driving in town, there's a sign that says, Baboom, watch out for baboons. Now, you have to understand, this is a city. This is not like, it's not like you're out in the woods. Like there's a grocery store, there's a restaurant, and there's a beach shop, and there's all this. And then they're like, watch out for baboons.

And I kind of thought it was funny. I even pointed out to people I was with. I was like, they think I'm going to see a baboon like at the McDonald's? Well, you know what? Oh, you do. The babboos, there are baboons in Simonstown. walking down the street. Like, just like people.

Like they're walking down the street just and they're, it's almost like they mimic people. I mean, you know, they're smoking cigarettes and they're making phone calls and and they have a flood wall on the town. I guess in case the ocean rises or whatever. And there was a baboon just sitting on the flood wall, just watching people eat. And the people were watching it.

And I just thought, what a, imagine if you were in Lexington and you just saw a baboon walking down the street. You'd be a little scared. In Simons Town, it's just like they're part of the, they're just part of the community. That's wild. I have a mental image right now of like a street corner, like it waiting for the crosswalk sign to change. Like it's a bunch of humans and baboons sitting there waiting for the pedestrian walkway. Yeah. You get to, you get to McDonald's and a baboon pulls the door open for you and let you go in first.

Are they just, what you said to the road? I mentioned it to the sidewalk. like a... Well, they don't, I don't know that they follow all the traffic rules. I think they just kind of go where they want to go. But I mentioned to the waiter, I was like, you know, there's a baboon just there on the wall. And he said, oh, they can mimic human behavior. He was like, they will open your backpack.

And this is what he said. They'll go through and find the best stuff and take it. And I wonder what the baboons... Is he talking about the most expensive? stuff. Is the baboon like, this is an old computer. I'm going to get your iPad instead. But he said that the baboon would like find which of the things were the best to steal and then take them. They're going and pawning off people's things. I know you're not the biggest fan of dogs. Is it uncomfortable with the baboons just, you know, roaming around all around? You can walk up to you at any point.

Yeah, I was in the car when the baboon was like on the wall. But I will say, I seem to be the only person that even had a problem with it. So it's that common. Everybody was just like, well, there's Johnny. You know, he's been drinking. So we're going to go. Give him away. It's an interesting part of it. Well, if only you could get video of this, I'd love to see it.

But, you know. I wanted video. I literally was going up to strangers and were like, will you use your phone and then send it to me, please? Can I tweet from your account? I really wouldn't want people to see these animals roaming around. This is amazing. Please someone type. All right, Billy, what's next?

All right, it wasn't the closest game of the afternoon slate, but the Bears get their first win of the year. Matt's team. They handle the Cowboys and Caleb Williams looked good. 300 yards passing, four touchdowns to Luther Bird and the third. Roma Dunzee, DJ Moore, Cole Commet, everybody was getting in on the fun. And not just that, the defense looked good too. Two interceptions of Dak Prescott, a big win for Ben Johnson and his first with the Bears.

Great game for the Bears. I mean, this is my team. This is the best they've looked in probably three years. I mean, I thought they played excellent. I thought they played, you know, they played well against the Vikings, too, in the first week. I'm confident. It was interesting.

I heard the announcer say that Ben Johnson, the coach said, if I was Jared golf, I would not like this comment. The announcer said that Ben Johnson said that, you know, in Detroit, the offense had to be perfect. And he's had to get used to having a quarterback who, if the play didn't go perfect, could still do something. something. If I was Jared golf, I'd be like, dude.

We went what, 50 and 2? Why you got to be like that? But Caleb Williams looked like what we'd hoped. Yeah, congratulations. They looked not just kind of good. They looked awesome, including Ben Johnson dialed up a wild flea flicker for their

second touchdown early in the game. I actually turned it off in the second half because it's getting ugly, but at least in the first half of what I was watching, they were just gashing the Cowboys defense. There were so many big explosive plays. It almost felt like Dallas was down a man in the secondary because the bears were hitting on so much. And I think in

our first podcast of these, I told you to look out for Luther Burton. And it's taken two or three weeks now, but finally had a big game. And I think there's many more of those to come. They got a lot of weapons. I mean, I wish they had won that game against Minnesota. Because I think if they were

two and one, they'd be a dangerous team. They've got a hard schedule. Their schedule, if you look at it, they had to win this one, because I think they play the Chiefs in the next week or two. So they got a tough thing. As far as the Cowboys, you know, your secondary team, they're one and two could easily be 0 and three.

Are they just a non-factor this year? You know, I didn't think they would be all that good, but would contend for the playoffs. But if you're losing, respectfully to you, Matt, if you're losing to the Chicago Bears, a winless team in week three at home, when you go, we've got Philadelphia twice, even though they've already played one of those,

that's a loss. You got Kansas City on the schedule. You got two with Washington. and this is one of those games in your schedule came out, and you're almost counting that as a win. You've got to beat the Bears at home to do anything. So I think it's going to be a continue to be a long year, a downward spiral if you can't.

Long year. Yeah. I think the Cowboys are in for a long one. Now, it's finishing right as the show started, the Chargers, get a 23 to 20 win. Three and O, your boy, Justin Herbert, you know, they've beaten three good teams. They've all been close games, but they've won them all.

are you on the Chargers train the game got kind of wild at the end yeah I had high expectations of the Chargers this year but the beginning you know the 3 and 0 where they are having beaten the Chiefs in week one that was a bit of a surprise now getting this big divisional game yeah they're they're going to be a big time threat I don't I don't know that they'll be up there with the bills Ravens that group but you never know three and oh with these wins they might try to join that conversation come playoff time and we got a game winning kick from Dicker the kicker, which is my favorite, when you name a guy Dicker, you got to hope he's a kicker.

And you get the rhyme, he's on the team, Jim Harbaugh, and Bo Nix, I knew college Bo Nix was going to show up at some point. And he's done it this year. It's been a big sophomore slump, really been a sophomore slump for him. You could even argue for Drake May, Michael Pinnock, really everybody except Caleb Williams, you know, Jayden Daniels, unfortunately, has gotten hurt. I mean, the sophomore slump has been real, and I think it's been the most real in Bo Nix. Yeah, Broncos fans actually had some excitement behind this team.

Maybe not so much in Bo Nix, but they at least thought they had a good operation. I mean, you get one win, but it was against my Tennessee Titans. I don't even know that I would celebrate that one. But then you've now lost two games that, again, kind of like I said with the Cowboys, the Colts, you lose them last week, their surprise team, but the Broncos are a team that's probably not going to do much.

I've had some high aspirations. And Bo NICS has been bad. I mean, I just, last year, I would see him play and I'd go, that is not the Bo Nix I know. It's he's going to come back to Bo Nix reality. And that happened. And I'm glad to see it. Chargers now, three and no, and in first place. And his backup is Jared Stidham.

So it's not like, you know, they got some rookie. It's like you got Chador or somebody. You're waiting to just, you know, unleash them. Jared Stidham, he puts out like direct to Netflix action movies, right? I think so. I think so. When he's not backing up bone, I believe so. Okay. What's next? This was a one o'clock game. The Pittsburgh Steelers advanced a two and one on the season after a 21 to 14 victory over the New England Patriots. The Steelers defense forces five turnovers and Aaron Rogers throws two touchdowns.

And in doing so, he now is thrown the fourth most passing touchdowns all time with 510 by passing Brett Favt today with his two touchdowns. Why are you talking like with the energy of like a 1970s advertising executive in ratings? I'm just setting the scene. That's not how you usually talk. Like, are you feeling energetic for some reason? I am. I'm excited. We're watching football and getting to talk about it.

You're talking like an old-timey baseball now. So you're like, and then how your normal voice is. I can go back to Montone Billy and for the next one. I think I like Monitone Billy. five turnovers for the Patriots. Stevenson, the running back, fumbled it, I think 18 times during the game. They had to be getting, I mean, the Patriots fans have to be livid. You talk about, they fumbled it twice inside the one yard line.

Yeah, and Drake May had a bad interception in the red zone. Bad. It's not just that they had five turnovers. They were in like scoring position on just about all of them. This could have been a big win for the Patriots. If you just hold on the ball and not make that bad interception, perception may have just rocked his head on the play before they're a yard away from winning the game they had they fumbled it leon mary stevenson fumbled it twice inside the one all you got to do is hold on to it

i didn't know who i hated more in this game you know i cannot stand patriots fans specifically is it bad that i get joy when bill simmons loses like well it's i this is a bad character because I like him. He's the reason that I got into this whole business. But how can you like someone and want their teams to lose every single game so you can listen and take joy in their misery? Is that fair? It is because the Boston success that they've all had.

We all have a little sports jealousy of Boston. There's like that famous, there's the kid that went to like all the parades and he takes the poster. he's like 10 and he's been to 10 championships prairies or something silly like that. So I think it's universal. Anyone that's not in the Boston fandom, I think we all hate them just because we're a little bit of jealous

of how often they were winning there for a while. So you get the Bill Simmons versus how much I hate Aaron Rogers. And this game, I just wanted, they kept going back and forth and I would root for both of their miseries. But I ended up, I was at the end pulling for the Steelers because I think they got a tougher trek than the Patriots. do. Air Rogers had, they won, but he had a couple terrible throws. I mean, terrible. It'll be interesting when they get to the meat of their schedule. It's hard for me to see

him succeeding when they play that Ravens defense and some of these teams going on. Yeah, I keep doubting him and he keeps proving me wrong, though, at least so far this year. I thought we were going to see a big decline. I thought the age, Father time would catch up to him, but he still got it. There was a moment in this game, though, that he does. We got to admit it. Man can sling it around. He can sling it. There was a moment in this game where I really, really, really missed my Peloton guy, Mike Vrable, bike Vrable. He went for it on fourth and one on their own 15 early in the game down to seven. And he's about the only, maybe Dan Campbell, but there's only a couple people that would do something that crazy. And it panned out and they went,

drove down the field. So that was a pretty unique moment in this game. Yeah. I want to give a shout out, by the way. Well, actually, I'll save it for another game. What's next, Billy? All right. Up next, we've got Jets, bucks. Stop right now. You don't have to be NPR.

Now you're doing Delilah. All right. We'll find the middle ground here. Delilah, I met this woman on the bus. I made Mario laugh. We got Mario over in the corner laughing. She was eating a Kit Kat, and I looked at her, and I told her she was my honey. Go ahead, Billy.

All right, my team, the Bucks are off to their best start in 20 years after a 29 to 27 win over the Jets. You thought it was going to be easy. It was for most of the game. It was 23 to 6. Then the Jets score a touchdown. They block a kick and they return it for a touchdown. They take a one point lead until Baker Mayfield leads his third game-winning drive in three games. And the Bucks are now 3-0.

The Bucks are three-and-o. They're exciting to watch. I'm going to let you talk here for a second, Bill. You're a Bucks fan. Are you for real? They are, but they're injured. I mean, they're missing three offensive linemen. Mike Evans looks like he's got a hamstring injury.

I mean, and he has one every single year. They're still waiting for Worf's and God when to come back. I mean, Levanti David got hurt today. They are just beat up. So, I mean, the division's a joke. I mean, if they can stay somewhat healthy, they'll make the playoffs again and win another division title. But can they beat the Eagles and the Rams and some of these better NFC teams? I don't know.

but Baker Mayfield has turned me into a believer. No, no, no, no, no, no. Maker Playfield. Because he's earned it. He's earned that name that we laughed at earlier. First QB in NFL history, he's gone back to back to back game winning drives. It's been, I'm not a Bucks guy, but I've watched all three of those. He's looking pretty awesome and how these brought him back from every gun.

And I would say outside of the elite guys. Outside of the elite guys. So you take away Mahomes, Alan Lamar. of the next tier guys, there's no one in football that when he gets the ball at the end, I'm more confident than Baker Mayfield. And that's crazy.

I would have never believed that could be true. But it's almost like, it's becoming like Reggie Miller, where he's almost better at the end than he is during the game, and you have more confidence at the end than you would in a normal play. Yeah, I saw a graph track.

I don't have the exact numbers, but you know they do the probability at certain points of the game. The Bucks have had, which are all, by the way, those are complete. They are. But I mean, just the image of, you know, we all know it's not accurate. But just to show how down the Bucks have been all three weeks and he's let him back. He hadn't thrown an interception all year.

I thought, I guess it was last week, though, when it looked like he got hurt and Gardner Johnson's tawn him and he just gets right back up and he gets his face. I'm not a Bucke's guy, but I like Maker Playfield, and I'm jealous that you have him. And Amike Eibucah. It may be rookie of the year. He has been phenomenal. He had another. He's been great. And a lot of fantasy experts were picking that before the year, and he's been great.

I will say, you know, the thing about Baker Mayfield is I love to see a dude who has been, like, life has just hit him in the crotch. And they get all the way down to the bottom, and then they come back. I think that's a really, I think that's an interesting, you know, he was the top. of the heap, number one pick, falls down, is embarrassed, is a joke. And then to have birth, I think, is a very cool story. It makes me root for him, whereas I used to kind of not be a fan. Well, really, it looked like his career was over, and then he gets that one chance with the Rams a little while ago.

On like a random Thursday night, they didn't have anybody else. And then he's just completely changed. He had gone to Carolina, didn't look good, backing up the Rams, and you're thinking, well, we've seen the end of him, and he's completely revived his career. Also, it helped, you know, they're fun to watch anyway, but they wore the cream sickles today. Billy, y'all got to wear those every week. Those are awesome. They're so good.

And usually they have like a losing record in the cremicles, but it was nice to finally get a win. It's funny how after time, things that used to be terrible become things you have nostalgia for. So when I was a kid, the bucks were awful. And the cream sickles were like an example of why they were awful. Right. Why would you wear this? This is a loser thing. And now you go all these, same thing with the uniform the Patriots wore today.

Like those were hideously ugly uniforms that now they've brought back and people love, even though the teams weren't even successful when they wore those uniforms. Well, I have a mental image when the bucks were terrible of like they'd have the brown bags and it was the cream sickle area where the fans and they're just miserable. And forever, you would associate it with that, associate it with that. but it is it's just kind of like we're Kentucky basketball fans you know the denim back in the day was kind of you know some people like it but mostly hitters like if you're talking throwbacks what are the are the cream sickles for Tampa Bay the best or because the current Tampa Bay logo is kind of boring so I've I've long thought they should go back to the cream sickles they're more fun yeah I mean I'm a Titans fan the Oilers there's been kind of a Houston Tennessee for fight over who actually had that one. I like them. I hated

these when they were current, but the old Seahawks ones, I kind of like those with the silver and the little blue and before they went neon and navy. I like those too. The Rams back in the day, I think had good ones. Even the Eagles, I think, have some pretty good old ones.

It was interesting that they both, the Patriots and the Bucks wore those today, because when I think of sort of old school uniforms that have kind of gotten lost to history, those are the two that stick out and they both ended up happening today. What's next? Well, five backup quarterbacks started in the NFL this week and one of them was Mack Jones for the 49ers as they beat the Cardinals on a last second field goal by Eddie Pinheiro 16 to 15. It looked like

the Cardinals were going to get the best of the 49ers when Clias Campbell was, I guess he had a holding call in the end zone. It gave two points to Arizona. But you know what? It's going to be a win for San Francisco, 16 to 15, final score. Yeah, there was a, a, Major safety at the end. Look like Arizona was going to be able to sneak it out. Arizona loses more games on the last play. Arizona does not have a game that does not end at 725 while we're waiting for CBS 60 minutes and does not end in the last second heartbreak.

No one gets that more than Arizona. 49ers of 3 and 0. I know I say this every week. Their schedule is really easy. the hardest part of their schedule was at the beginning, and now they're winning all the games, and they're 3 and 0, they're going to end up, I've said this all year,

they're going to be 14 and 3 and not good, Drew. That's what's going to be. I mean, there's two of these three games been won by Mack Jones. Yeah, they should be 0 and 3. Remember week one, they had that catch. They said the most improbable catch of the week. You have the Saints who are terrible are driving last week, and Spencer Rattler fumbles.

and then this week, you know, last second field goal, 15, 16, what is just boring score game there too? But the fact that the 49ers have had some pretty improbable wins so far, it's running right into that record you're predicting a bad team with a good record. They're going to be 14 and 3 and not good. I cannot wait to bet against them in the first round of the playoffs. I'm dead serious. They're going to end up being like the two or three seed,

and they are going to get smashed. in the first real game of the playoffs. I cannot wait for that moment. And you will remember that. That is the NFL cover zero moment of the week. All right. It's time, Drew. It's 41 to 20.

Colts beat the Titans this week. Jonathan Taylor, three touchdowns on the ground, over 100 rushing yards. He had the best run. He had one of the best runs I've seen in years. That touchdown run where four guys had him one on one and he beat all four of them. I don't mean to interrupt you,

but that was like one of the best runs I've seen in a lot. long time. Yeah, leading the NFL and rushing yards right now as well. Cam Ward 219 yards, one touchdown, one interception, but can't do it alone. Your Titans stink. They stink. The Saints stink too,

but the Titans really stink. And I knew they were going to stink. My expectations I thought were at the bottom, and they've managed to not even match that. And you're getting to the point that you're hate watching them. I like when that happens. Tell me about hate watching. Oh, you know, I guess we're already shopping for

number one picks next year. I'm already looking at mock drafts and it's mid-September, knowing that going to at least have one of the top two picks. But I have a lot of friends that go to Titans games, season ticket holders. They're texting me. Brian Callahan got booed so bad. They were saying it's like the loudest the stadium has been in years with booing the head coach. At the end of the first half, he did, like, it made you wonder how this man had a job. This was like elementary level football. Like if you've even played one game of Madden, you would know how to handle this situation, but they've crossed the 50. There's two minutes left.

They have a first down. You have Cam Ward. The crowd wants you to go for the end zone. You're down by a little more than a touchdown. You got your rookie. Let them throw it. They run, run, run. Then they try to settle for a field goal.

This is where all hell breaks loose. Colts call a timeout. Titans call a timeout. At this point, there's been two timeouts. They trot out the kicker and get a delay of game with the kicker after two timeouts, which pushes them back, and which made people go crazy, is that the Colts were able to get the ball back,

which never should have happened anyway, and then they drive and score again before halftime. So I know we have a lot of Kentucky fans that listen, and we talk about Mark Stoops in the end of the first half. Mark Stoops looks like Nick Sabin compared to Brian Callahan. I don't know how that man has a job, and he got to go. Let him cook. It was unbelievably bad.

Unbelievably bad. Yeah, the double timeout followed by delay of game is one of the great, that's one of the great coaching mishaps. And by the way, our coach Mark Stoops has done that too. I mean, that is a double timeout delay of game. That should be one of those you get fired at that moment when it happens. And it's not your substituting, it's a kick. You just trot out your kick. Just kick.

Just try it. Just a game. I want to talk for a second about my man, Danny Dimes again. I mean, I, three and oh, okay, three and O in games that I think they were predicted to lose all three. He's looked great. Shane Steichen has him playing the way, you know, he had a little bit of period in New York where he looked like that, but most of the time he did not. The bangs are still cooking. You know, he sits on the sideline reading Dostoevsky in between plays, which I think is a nice move by him, gets a little Tolstoy in the post game.

press conference. He's doing, I don't know, he's doing his thing. Is Daniel Dimes, Danny Jones? He's going to be I don't know, are the Colts for real? You know, the first week is... John the Taylor's so good. He doesn't even have to be that great.

How about this? Today and the second quarter, they punted for the first time this season. It's week three second quarter they punted. Daniel Jones also had like a 20-yard run where he's breaking ankles. It's crazy to this guy that kind of became He was always able to do that.

He was always able. He always had that in his game. Yeah, but I'm just saying he's just out there, and it is against my Titans. But, I mean, he looks great out there. And he's kind of listed as a comeback player of the year guy. I think if this continues, and I'm not saying he would win the MVP, but the way he's on, the way he's played so far, we need to put him on another tier of where he, yeah, I'm not handing the war.

Do someone else to have that? But he at least needs to climb some tiers of quarterbacks, because this isn't like a fluky situation. He has looked really good. he has looked he has looked great uh it's been you know i i'm usually anti colts but i i i've enjoyed watching him and i've always kind of had an affinity for daniel jones so i i like i like seeing him him succeed before we go to these other games real quick let me uh i want to give you another south africa moment do you when you travel somewhere do you do you buy souvenirs like are you a

Are you a souvenir guy? I'm actually a big postcard guy because I have some family members that always want a postcard. Like when we do our road trips, I always try to grab them. So I don't really get stuff for myself, but I have people that like getting stuff. Like a casual gift, but not for me. So I'm trying to figure out how best. Do you know what a hyena is, right? Of course, yeah.

Do you know how hyenas are shaped? Yeah. Are you? Yeah. Okay. I'm with you. So think about how a hyena is. his shit. So I don't ever buy

souvenirs. Matter of fact, if you were to come to my house, you would think I'd never left my house. Like there's no remnants of anywhere I've ever been or anything I've ever done because, you know, I'm home. But sometimes when I came here, I had a lot of people say to me,

buy me a souvenir, which I think, by the way, is a very rude thing to say. Because who wants to carry it all the way? And I don't have kids. I'm not going to get them a penguin. Right? So, So, you know, but a couple people have asked me for a souvenir. And so one of them said, get me an animal.

Well, you know, I'm kind of mad that they asked me. So like, not getting them an elephant, not getting them a giraffe, okay? But a hyena, nobody likes a hyena. Kind of ugly. It doesn't do it. It's ugly got it's big, long shaped and then around like butt. Looks like it's got some back issues, bad. posture.

Yeah. So I get the hyena thinking like, okay, there you go. That's what you get. You get a hyena. You thought you're going to get an elephant or giraffe? You're getting a hyena. And it's like all multicolored and all this. And I go to pay for it.

And it's got bedazzles and all that. And they asked me if I can wrap it up. And so they wrap the whole thing up in paper. And it's white. And so you got this long top and then this bulky bottom that you can guess with that wrapped up what that might look like, right? Long, slender top, bulky bottom, wrapped in white paper and probably like that long. Okay. So I look at it and I go, well, this is unfortunate.

But it's wrapped up. So I put it in my in my suitcase Don't think anything about it Go to the hotel My passport Is it in my bag And the guy says He's got my bag and he's like

He was like do you have your passport And I was like actually it's in that bag just reach in And it's right there and he reaches it and he grabs and pulls that thing out You're just thinking about that. You're standing in the middle of a nice hotel lobby. And he pulls that out of your back. And he looks at me with this big smile and goes,

I don't think this is your passport. I think you just got to run with it. You guys say, man, I'm traveling alone. You know, slowly out here in South Africa. Don't judge me. Do not judge me. The heart wants what it wants. I always say the heart wants what it wants.

So he reached the passport. I think he was doing one. I think he was doing it on purpose. And so it was embarrassing. And now I've got to figure out how I'm going to get it through customs. Because they'll go through your stuff in customs. I don't want this to happen again, Drew. I can skip over just someone making you travel with this thing.

Because you're still there a little bit. You know, you already had packing. I'm here for 11 more days. I think it's very rude to ask for a souvenir. Can you give me a souvenir? No. The answer is no. That's why I'm post-com.

They're gone before I even leave the city. I mail them from the hotel. They're there when I get back. Easy to do. But no, I can't walk around with a gift. I was in Europe last year. I was in like 11 countries. They said, bring me a magnet back from every country.

I was like, okay. But that starts to get heavy when you get a lot of those. And they stick together. And it's like you will never hear me ask for a souvenir from anything. What's next? Two backup quarterbacks in this one. clock game. Cincinnati, first game without Joe Burrow. They didn't look good. 48 to 10, the final score. Minnesota wins with Carson Wentz throwing for 173 yards and two

touchdowns. Five turnovers by Cincinnati and two defensive touchdowns for the Vikings and defensive back Isaiah Rogers, who become the first player. Let's talk about Isaiah Rogers game for a second. Yeah, go ahead. He scored a interception return touchdown, fumble return touchdown, and caused two other fumbles. Now, think about that. He caused four turnovers. It's the most any player. It's the first time anybody's ever done that, that little combination. That is one of the more insane performances of all time in terms of just being able to create havoc, right?

Heck, yeah. A guy that I think he went to, they said it's like UMass or something, like a small school guy coming in the NFL and having a game like that. That's got to be one of the all-time performances for a defensive player. And that was all in the first half, too. Yeah, it's just, I mean, that's. That was all in the first half. He was on fire. Well, he was definitely talking a lot of trash.

The less said about this game, the better. Except for Carson Wentz, you know, quarterback controversy, 48 points. He looked amazing. I mean, you know, JJ McCarthy has had basically one good quarter, which was the final quarter against the Bears. Second game, not good. And then this, and then he doesn't play. And Carson Wentz does it. I don't know, man.

Maybe Carson Wins is the new Baker Mayfield. Put him on a different, well, I guess it's like a fourth team, but still. No, no, no, not 14. Here's what's funny about Carson Wince. This is his six team in six years. It's like sometimes NBA players like a Rondo at the end of career. And he started, I think, one game each year, right? Yes, he said that was an NFL record, six teams and six years.

He's been quite the journeyman, but you're right. I know they're fired up about McCarthy, but you have Wince step in there, had two interceptions today. I know defense was a big part of it, but he really handled it well. Yeah, he, you know, as we've said about him before, he got engaged at a castle in Versailles, Kentucky. And for that, I pull for him. Tough day for the Bengals. You know, Jake Browning played all right last week.

I think once you have tape on him, it's going to be tough for them with Burrow Al. I'm not ready to write the Bengals off yet, but I'm pretty close. What's next? The commanders defeat the Raiders, 41 to 24. It's next man up in Washington. No Jaden Daniels. No problem. They've got Marcus Mariotta.

got Jeremy McNichols. You wrote that, didn't you? No, I didn't write it? Yeah, he wrote it, didn't he? Why didn't he do his radio voice, though? That would have been perfect for there. You were like, no way you on the fly said no Jadens, Daniels, no Austin Echler, no problem. There's no way you didn't write that down.

All right, well, you know what? We'll just agree to disagree. Mario, did he write it down? I think he wrote it down. Mario says he doesn't know. He can come look at my notes, but it was a big win for Washington in an odd game. The Raiders are one and two, despite Gino, throwing for three touchdowns.

Yeah. There's the only thing I care about this game. My man, Chris Myers, starting to get some respect. He got put on this one. That's respect. When I saw Panthers, Falcons, I thought,

see you. See you. Go ahead, Chris. No, no. He got commanders' raiders. And I don't know where that is on the chart, but I don't feel like that was one of the worst games today on the chart. So Chris Myers, after all these years of having to watch, terrible NFC South game after terrible NFC South game, got to see this in person.

Salute to Chris Myers. This might be the best game he gets to see all year. You're happy for your boy, Chris Myers. I'm happy for my boy, Marcus Mariotta, who I didn't even know was still in the NFL, former Titan. And I don't know if you saw this, but he took his helmet off. His hair doesn't have a few gray. It's not kind of gray. full gray. Oh, it is full gray. Not a little dusting, not a little sprinkle. Mariotta is gray

is gray. And I was happy he was still out there having a big game. He's not that old. No, no, he can't be at all. This is a big game for him too because Chip Kelly is the OC for Vegas, who was his coach in Oregon. So they had a big reunion. So I was I was pretty excited watching Mariotta have a big day. I really enjoyed him when he was in Nashville. Yeah. I mean, the gray thing is tough. Like when it happens. to you. But if it happens to you in your early 30s, that would be much worse. Yeah, you got it on the beard. I get it on the sideburns. You know, the one that cuts my hair is like, we're going to do gray blending. And sometimes it's like, seems like it's more gray when she's done than when

she starts. So this time I was like, I'm going to South Africa. I don't want any gray. And I mean, I'm not like George Clooney right now in that play when he's doing time. But like, it's a little, It's a little darker that it's normally been, so I can't seem to find quite the balance that we need. Well, Marriota, he can't be much 31, 32, and he's rocking the gray hairy. Where is it well? Ran into Dan Quinn, made him bleed.

Oh, yeah, good call, Bill. Did you see the Dan Quinn? That looked horrible. He got to run into me. I didn't see that. What happened? He hit his head on the ground real hard. He popped right back up.

I haven't seen anything out afterwards, but I think he was okay. But it looked like it was a nasty fall. He got ran over, and his head smacked the ground. I think a football guy though he hopped right up Dan quitt when I think football guys he's right there he's right there at the top by the way I've gone this far Cincinnati Reds hide for the wild card

I'm of course here I saw on on the website again I can't get on social media so it was on just an old website the hotel computer yeah the Reds have against the Pirates this weekend And they're saying might be the biggest series in Cincinnati in six years. And, of course, I'm not there.

So, but let's go Reds. Mets sweep the Cubs. Mets lose three straight to the nationals. And now it's Todd, Drew. Yeah, it's very fitting that here in South Africa, you'd kind of thrown in the towel a few weeks ago and they had the bad West Coast swing. You leave the country.

And the Red's like, oh, Matt's gone. Let's flip the switch. And the only guy not playing well is Ellie. Like the rest of the team's playing well. They've moved Ellie. He's hitting like seven. now because he's been playing so badly. So if they make the playoffs and I'm here, I'm not going to be thrilled.

What's next? The Texans are now 0 and 3 after a 17 to 10 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. It was Jacksonville's first home win versus the Texans since 2017. So a long time coming. Brian Thomas Jr., who's been fighting demons, made a big catch late in the fourth quarter. The next play, Travis E.T.N. scores the Jaguars win by a touchdown. What do you mean? He's been fighting demons.

Well, people are saying he's scared to go over the middle or afraid to get hit. He's taking a lot of criticism. Are you talking to Brian Thomas people with a lot of Brian Thomas Jr.? I'd say the NFL media, angry fantasy football owners, just the general consensus. I didn't know. I've known you a long time. You've never mentioned Brian Thomas Jr. to me. I didn't know you had this strong an opinion about it.

This was a changing of the guard game for me. Billy hit the right stat. Eight straight years they've lost at home to the. the Texans. I picked the Jaguars to win the division this year. Cults are obviously going to have something to say about it. But I think this is a passing of the torch from the Texans to the Jaguars and Liam Cohen's era today, Drew. I agree with the passing of the torch. I've still not sold on Jacksonville overall. I think it might be more of the Texans just coming down. Stroud did not look good at all. He had two bad interceptions. Lawrence was just kind of fine.

what I watched this game, Travis Hunter made a nice offensive play. He got a catch and then took some ankles, absolutely juke some guys. That's a great gag. But then after the game, I see that he played more defense than offense this time. So they're commended the bit. I think it was 43 defensive snaps and 37 offensive snaps. So he's really going to split the time. I don't know, man.

I don't know if you can play 80 during a year every game. But I like watching them. They're actually kind of, this wasn't a high-scoring game, but they're kind of fun to watch. And they had a field. They missed a field goal. They had another kind of weird turnover. I thought they dominated this game and still one by seven.

What's next? We've got two games left, and it involves three NFC South teams. The first game is the Panthers Falcons in which Carolina won 30 to zero in that game. Another crazy game. Two interception return touchdowns. Michael Pennix looked awful. He looked awful. He was throwing.

the ball like an old man. Like he was awful. You know, I like him, but he's an older rookie to begin with. And that was one of the worst performances I've seen from a quarterback for a long, long time. Yeah, to lose to the Panthers like that. I mean, 30 to nothing. I do have to add here, we've mentioned my boy, Mani, that passed away.

Our boy, he was a big Panthers guy. He even, we've talked about Sir Per, the mascot. He had a custom Panthers jersey that said Sir Per. on the back. So I was smiling really big during this game. We were all texting each other, keep pounding. But what a shocking win for the Panthers to win by 30 and shut out the Falcons who didn't look nearly as bad

until this week. Well, I was Manny a Panthers fan. You know what? He was one of my best friends and I never even got a clear answer for it. But he was always keep pounding on Sundays and he had a couple jerseys. In fact, at the funeral, one of his pictures he was in a Panthers jersey. So I did

smile a little bit when they won 30-0 today. The Panthers could, not have looked worse than they looked last year or last week. And they could not have looked better than they looked this week. I don't really understand how that's possible. The NFL is such an odd league with such high talent and such hugely different performances week to week. And nothing epitomizes that more than the Panthers. But my takeaway for this game is Michael Pennix.

I mean, I had some belief in him coming into this year. And I know it's one game. but that was a brutal performance. And he hadn't been great in the first two weeks either. I'd be a little worried if I was a Falcons fan about the Pinnock's era. And what's last? Finally, the Seahawks defeat the Saints, 44 to 13. It was 21 to 0, 11 minutes into the game.

And then it was 38 to 3 before halftime. Ugly showing. If you were a Saints fan, what is there to care about? Is there anything to care about the team this year? None of the quarterback's going to be playing. again for you. I mean, like, there might be a backup, but you're going to be drafted

a quarterback. So nothing that happens this year is going to matter. Is there any reason, if you're a Saints fan, to care about this season at all? No, not even a little bit. And like, I keep making fun of my team. The Saints are worse.

I mean, Spencer Rattler and Tyler Schock. They're awful. Yeah, Tyler Schuck got in the game today through a couple incompletions, but they were down 38-0 in the second quarter. go home. What are we doing? I mean,

what are we doing? They could have scored 80. I know. Like for real. I mean, this was, they could have scored as much as they wanted.

The Saints are just absolutely horrendous. And I've been down here with a Saints fan, was in my group. And she said, she is on a plane right now. And she asked me to text updates to her. Because she could get text,

but she couldn't get the game. text updates during the game. And I forgot until about 10 minutes in. And it was already 21 to nothing. And I just said, you don't want to know. And she said, are you serious? And I was like, it just got worse because they scored again. So that's what she knew about the game.

You just, you don't want to know and it just got worse. You should have just sent her. Well, you can't. You don't have your phone. But you could have showed her. There was an insane punt return. Tony Horton, he had two touchdowns. It was a crazy punt return in that game too.

as they were just piling on them early. That's one. If anyone watched the second half, go find something else to do if you watch the second half of St. Seahawks today because that game was over. She is somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean right now. When you listen to this later, Sarita, I'm sorry about your team. It is really a sad, sad state of affairs. Well, thank you all very much for listening.

Subscribe, like, tell your friends. I made the entire group of non-women on my trip subscribe today. I was like, I'm sure you all will like this, especially you, woman from New Zealand. This will be your kind of thing. But tell your friends. And Drew, it's nice to see you. And we will be back Wednesday where I will be probably at the top of Table Mountain recording. Oh, wow.

What could go wrong there? Yeah. Look at look up real quick. Look up table mount. Look what it looks like. I'm going to be shocked to set to find. It looks like a table. And that's the day.

You can set a level on that. That's right. That's the day I'm repelling down the mountain. So. Nervous? Wow. Repelling. I mean, I'm not excited.

You know, I'm not an adventure guy, really. And there's a lot of that on this. And so the repelling, I think they call it absaling here. I'm not looking forward to it. But you know what? You only live once. You got to try stuff true. So that's what we're going to do.

Yeah, those non-women will teach you how to do it. That'll be a good look for you. I'm definitely going to look really manly. I think you ditched your phone so you'd have an excuse to not have any video or photo evidence. Oh, there's going to be no video. That's right. No video. Yeah.

The phone's broken, Billy. I get it now. If things don't go well, I'll never see these people again. We don't have to act like this ever happened. Thank you guys very much. We'll see you next week on 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.