KSR - NFL Cover Zero: Week 3 Review and JJ McCarthy Traded

Episode Date: September 28, 2026

Matt Jones and Drew Franklin open with the Ravens win over the Cowboys in Rio.  Matt isn't worried about the Rams, even with a 1-2 record.  The Bills moved to 3-0 while keeping the Chargers winless.  Which team has been a lot better than expected?  Matt explains why he's not ready to count out the Texans.  The Steelers surprised the Bengals behind the play of Aaron Rodgers.  What did Matt think about the Commanders win over the Seahawks?  Baker Mayfield will miss some time with an injury.  With the Raiders at 3-0, Matt is looking forward to the Chiefs in Las Vegas in Week 4.  Onto some breaking news, JJ McCarthy is traded to the Giants and could it be a good deal for both teams?    NFL Cover Zero is part of the NFL Podcast Network 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 I-Heart podcast. It's NFL Cover Zero. Week 3 review, Matt Jones and Drew Franklin, Billy R. Sports on the mic, ready to rock, after an exciting weekend of football, not just a regular weekend. Crazy games and the games in the prime slots delivered. Drew, I know you went to a music concert last night, but then came home and caught up on some of the action.

Your second favorite team had the game of the day down in Brazil. I would like to say something that I've seen happen in NFL media. I feel like every single time they play in a different country that is not England. The story leading up to the game is, the field is a disaster. People are all going to die. And then they go and it's completely fine. I actually fell for it this time. You did.

Well, the day before I saw a tweet, I didn't know who this person was. And they're like, there's a chance this game gets canceled. It's that bad. And I'm like, we got Derek Henry out there. It's not like we just have some scrubs out there. We have some stars. We cannot lose a knee to Rio. And then it went well.

But you're right. I feel like World Cups, any international anything. And they always complain about the grass. Part of what I don't understand about it is like, we all grow up, I don't know about you, but my yard wasn't perfect growing up. No. The football field we played on it. Yeah.

I played on it. Nobody was like, this is too much. Helen and Alash's yard is going to tear up Matt Jones's ACL. You just did it. Yeah. Listen, if you got tackled at Browning Springs Middle School field, you might land on a rock. That happens. If you're playing at Pineville High School, a rock might fall on top of you.

Even better. And nobody. Or even worse. and nobody says a word so they go to Brazil it looked fine to me honestly the field in Tampa Bay looks worse

by the way if you all ever had the feel good I feel like every time I watch it there's big chunks it rains a lot down there you can't do much if there's a ton of rain but you're right kids today they all have turf fields now at high school but the turf fields everybody says you get hurt more

just have grass and if it's you know if it's bad I mean they used to play on baseball diamonds you remember like you'd watch the Raiders or the 49ers play and half the field would be dirt. I've played on concrete before. Yeah. Too in touch. So anyway, that ended up not being a thing.

And you got one of the better games of the year with the Ravens and the Cowboys. Back and forth. Lamar plays well, makes a couple bad decisions. And then the end of the game, I think the takeaway from this game was what a disaster the end was for the Cowboys. I could go through the sequence, but they made like eight. terrible decisions, right? They're first and goal from the one.

They have, I think, something like 30 seconds left or 24 seconds. The first thing they do is throw the ball. I don't know why they don't just on first down run. The number one thing is you're guaranteed a field goal. And I believe they still had one timeout, maybe two. Run the ball and get the clock to where there's not. no time when it's done, right? Yeah.

At worst, you're tied. At worst, you're tied. Do not, there's no reason to leave time on the clock. Then you get a false start, which the one thing you can't do on the one-yard line is have a false start because it's like the most back-breaking penalty. They get a false start. If I was the coach, Billy, I would say to people, if you start false, I am sending you to prison.

Prisonable offense. It's a prisonable offense. They get a false start. Then second down, I guess they get, what, two yards or something? Now you get the third down. Dak, for reasons I do not understand, seemed like he intentionally didn't score the touchdown. Pickens is wide open and he throws it 14 rows into the stands.

That was not a catchable ball for anyone. Why? I don't know. Brian Schadenheimer said after the game, it's on me. I think I told him. him to throw it away. I told him to throw it to the guy in section G row 32.

But why not just throw it to the guy that's in the end zone? I think the field. I think when he planted his feet, he slipped a little bit. He's just wayward ball in the crowd. But he was like, I made him too cautious by telling him to throw it into the, you think they watched the NC State Vandy game? And they were like, just don't do what that guy does.

They gathered in Rio the night before, watched that game and figured out how to handle the Red Zone. So I will continue my crusade of if you're going to throw it away in a circumstance like that, throw it 500 feet in the air. Right? No, I'm seriously. It runs clock. A little clock, yeah.

Like if he threw it 500 feet in the air, probably takes another three seconds off the clock, right? As long as you don't have the Michigan, Western Michigan refs that get a little fishy. But I like the principle here. So anyway, instead, he throws it they get seven seconds. And I said there's still time. I like how the announcers never acted like it was plausible that they could throw one pass for a completion because you get the ball at the 35. Then the other thing is, okay, on the kickoff, you've got to make them waste time. We cannot kick it into the end zone, right?

Seven seconds. Kick it to where they have to run it because if they have to run it, all that's going to be left is the Hail Mary. Exactly. Instead, he kicks it out of the end zone. How does that happen? I don't, I don't know. You'd be better off kicking it to the, the 30 than to kick it out of the end zone.

Now, squib kick would have been better than to the end zone. And then, of course, you get, and then what kind of defense are they playing? They're playing the, okay, we'll give you a catch defense. We're giving you, oh, would you like the target field goal area? Is that where you would like to catch the ball? He landed right on the line. He did, the red line. It was, you could play that sequence starting on first down.

You could play it 100 times. And absent fumbling the ball, I'm not sure the Cowboys could have played it worse. A friend that loves the Cowboys. boys much more than I do is very worked up about the play calling at the end of the end of the game for me it's forget all that seven seconds till overtime and you're kicking off i don't know how you mess that up i what makes me matter than the play that they catch is that they the kickoff is inexcusable the kick the NFL has rules that makes people return the kick right like it's they college football doesn't even have that rule and the

Cowboys, it was almost like nobody told him the writer, kicked the hell out of it. Just absolutely, basically surrendered there. And they give up nearly a 30-yard gain to say flowers in the middle of field. And we're not kidding. He like lands on the field-go-target on the TV head. And no one was like, you know, people who know defensive coverage is more than me, were like, that's the worst defensive coverage you could pick right there.

The other reason. Because at a time, I gave him the whole middle of the field. Gave him the whole middle of the field. You also could make it to where, you know, okay, Lamar, throw it 70 yards. If that happens, it's just absolutely. And then Tyler Loopty Loop, who missed a 44-yarder to go to the playoffs last year, nails it.

He runs around like he's Ronaldo. Suddenly that field wasn't a problem anymore. Yeah. And then everybody's, that's got to be the greatest moment in the kicker's life. When the other teammates are acting like you're part of the team. Yeah. Like, oh, they know me. Normally they won't pass me in the building and don't make eye contact.

And now they're lifting me up. Lamar Jackson's running to him. So great game, but a terrible Cowboys loss. It just felt like the Cowboys were going to win. And they come back from being down. There was like the fourth and one at the goal line where they tackled Derek Henry in the backfield. There was a third and one where they get back there and tackle Derek Henry. That doesn't happen very often.

One of the chances you stop Derek Henry on a fourth and one and they got it. Yeah. And then the third one was big because that's when Baltimore had to punt that set up Cowboys going ahead. It just felt like it had switched and everything was going the Cowboys way. And to give up with seven seconds. They had to have just been thinking, all right, overtime. focused on that to let their guard down the way they did. But a huge loss for them the way they flipped them.

There's probably no two teams that screw up the ends of games more than those. So one of them was going to have to win. And that's why they keep, well, Harbaugh was there a while. But both of them have, they get new coaches because they cannot get over these little humps like this one in this game. Well, I mean, I still think both those teams are good. But I'm glad it worked out in Brazil. J.J. Watt was the announcer.

I got to tell him to calm down. He and Chris Hansen both were screaming way too much this weekend. Scott Hanson. I mean, I don't know. Chris Hansen could have been screaming. I wasn't watching him. But during the last 10 minutes of the first hour of Red Zone, he was, I mean, his voice, did you hear it?

I watched Red Zone. He was yelling as much as anyone's ever yelled. And then JJ Watt was kind of like that too. It's like, guys, I'm a yeller, but like bring it down. a notch. JJ Coe, he was doing a lot of Brazil talks. He's talking about Jim Nance wearing like a banana hammock at the hotel. It is clear to me that JJ Watt got a Portuguese for dummies book and decided I'm going to show off my language skills, right?

Yeah, there's just a lot of that. Yeah, I mean, he was like, my wife wears a Brazil. I mean, he was just like so, he was. so happy with all the puns and it was a lot. It's a big moment. You know, the door opened this year of this season. I think he's a good announcer. I did enjoy him.

I think he's a good announcer. He just, he's a lot. He's just very, very excited about everything. And he gave me a mental image of Jim Nance on the beach. I just didn't eat in that moment. Jim Nance in a banana hammock.

That would be the least subscribed to only fans. You know how he gives, doesn't he, he gives stuff. Wait, he doesn't give the tie. What is it he gives away? No, no. Jim Nance would get his tie to whoever is the final four MVP.

Do you think leaving the resort in Rio he gave his banana hammock to just some family walking in to check in? There is such a sense of a self-importance you have to have to give people. And Jay Billis would give his sneakers to people. Which is worse. I don't want your dirty shoes. Matt and I have a Jim Nance, hello friends, pin. Yes. I know exactly where it is.

I've had it over 10 years and I could go home and pick it up right now. The sneakers is weird too. Because, like, I think a lot of the times Jay Billis gives them to college kids who don't know who he is. And he's been wearing them. It's not like they're new. Yeah. And he also is, I'm sure he has big feet. So he's probably got like a size 16.

I thought this with the tie to. You're a college kid. You just won the national championship. You have confetti on you. Yeah. You have a net. And suddenly you're walking home and you just have a tie in a pair of shoes that you have no interest in. None.

I guess I got to keep up with these now. Yeah. That was, uh, it's like the scene in the wire. when the police officer leaves Omar a tie to wear to court. And he's like, wear this when I arrest you. Heck yeah. It's a little different when you're giving a tie at the end of the game. Well, I enjoyed, it was a very exciting game.

And that was fun to watch. You mentioned I was at a music festival. I have to pay a compliment to Bourbon and Beyond in Louisville. As, you know, this game was going on, we're getting texts. They had an area with three TVs and my wife who loves Dave Matthews band that's who were watching. like, do you want to go over to that tent and watch the end of the Cowboys game? And there was a crowd of people. It felt like a lot of dad energy in there too.

Huddled around like two TVs while the concert's going on behind us, but everybody had to go over and catch the end. Also, you know, Louisville was Lamar country. There's some Ravens jerseys in there. But a big music festival had a lot of people catching the end of this game. So that was a great game. And then the night game was really good with the Rams and the Broncos. Bo Nicks. So they score 30 points in the second half.

Rams got cheated, though. I mean, I'm not a big, you got cheated guy, but that was not a pass interference. It would have been an interception. Like, rarely do you see a call and you go, that changed again. That one changed again. If they do not call past interference, the Rams win. That was an amazing play. And instead, the Broncos win.

And your boy, Bo Nix, he's one of your top two favorite quarterfaction. I don't like Bo Nix, but he was good. Yeah, he was. And maybe this was just my mood. But he had a little smirk on the sideline there at the end of the game. Like, you know, he got away with one. Maybe a little known a guy.

It just, it had too much confidence and cockiness for it to be bonnics. Well, he's very cocky. I mean, but it was, there's just something about it.

I know they were up on the Rams on the prime time. I get it. He earned it. But there's just this little look in his eyes that was rubbing me the wrong way. Did you think it was past interference?

I did. Yeah. Oh, you thought it was past interference. Really? Yeah. Oh, wow.

He gives him a little nudge You're like the only person I know that thinks it's past interference. I mean, look, I mean, he tried to work back to the ball and couldn't. So, I mean, the defender's in the way,

got to give him a chance. But the defender's job is not to get out of the way and let him get to the ball. He doesn't have to do that. He's making a play on the ball. He's entitled to his space. He gives a little bit of a hand, push in the back.

But the other guy gives him a hand. The offensive guy gives him their handsy. Remember, it's all bang, bang. You can't slow it down when you're calling it. But when it's bang, bang, you can't only bang one of the two bangs. Both of them are bang. Pick a bang. Line in the sand.

I could see either way. I did think it was past interference in the end. I think in the last two minutes, they should be allowed to review the pass interference. That was a rule for a while, and then they switched it because they thought there were too many reviews. I understand that, but in pro football, where the penalty for pass interference is spot of the foul, I think it's too important to not. I mean, like, you... Yeah, we saw like a 49-yard gain yesterday because of a pass-interference call.

Yeah, I mean, I just think it's too important. that call decided the game. And I'm, you know, I don't think I'm to where you should review holding and all that stuff. But I feel like past interference, it's just too important a penalty. And I also think there should be like once a game where a ref, where a coach can do a, you can review anything. Like this is really important. It can be the, this is really important flag. We have like a super challenge.

Yeah, it's like super duper challenge. Or maybe you get three. a year or something. Maybe it's got like sparkles. Got a little glitter on it. It looks different than the regular flag. I just think that like, no matter what, they should have, like, you can't just let that go. Because here's another thing I don't like about flags. Five referees

can watch the play. If four of them think it's not a call, it doesn't matter if one of them does. It's like the person who throws the flag has super duper power. Well, sometimes they get together in conference and they'll overrule a ref. It doesn't happen a lot. You know, the Saints would agree with you in the NFC

championship game those years ago. And that was against the Rams, right? Yes, it was. Yeah. I'll go one step further. When there's an incredible play, like the catch he made stand and bounce, I think you even maybe, you know what, I'm going to lean his way just because that was awesome. It was so awesome. I agree. It was an awesome thing. I'm with you. I'm for the it's an awesome thing. You're opening up a Pandora's box. If you can give you judgment cards. Also lean towards what has the least impact on the game and an interception there where they're backed up against the goal. I mean, anything's going to change the game there. to change the game. I mean, I lean towards rewarding the defense than rewarding the offense,

especially that close. Well, I didn't like it. And then, of course, they score. And then at the end, you know, they're trying to drive Stafford make some good throws. I mean, to be fair, the Rams had first and goal from the 12, or they had one play from the 12, and it just didn't work. But I still think the Rams are really good. Like, they're one and two, but I would not be worried about them if I was, are you? I'm not worried at all. I still think they're great. But I am smiling a little bit when we had to put up with all the undefeated talk and they're losing record.

Pooka didn't play. They're going to be fine. And Garrett is not the end and neither is there and Donald. I'm glad they have their blemishes already so we could put that talk to bed though. That was in the preseason of how unstoppable there. I'm a Rams hater from way back from the one yard. Because the type of ball. Yeah.

Yeah. I follow my, that hatred goes multiple cities. This will be his last year, by way. He's going to go in the booth. You know, it's really good at the whole TV thing? Who? Mike Tomlin. So I mentioned that on the Hall of Fame on the show.

I was like, Tom, that's kind of fun. I think he's pretty good. And I think he's getting better. Like he was, he was kind of roasting. Yeah. He was roasting the Cowboys. And he was like doing something you don't see people on TV do. He was like blaming the coaches.

He was like, they should have done this. They should have done this. They should have done this. And I, including I didn't even think about, until he said it, I didn't think about the first downplay where they threw it. Like, I stole that idea from him. I think he's really good. Yeah, he and, they did a little segment with he and Maria Taylor basically just recapping stuff.

I like that. I think once he opened up about his Minecraft, it's like he got that off and now he can just be free and be open and not the Mike Tomlin. Those with Steelers. Mike Tomlin is releasing his Minecraft world this Wednesday. Oh, it's going down? Do you want to fire up the old computer and get in there? I don't know what that means. I mean, I know it's a thing, but I wouldn't know what I was looking at.

Are you excited to see it? No, but I, you know, I'm glad he's doing it. He's showing that personality. I think he's good on TV. Getting people to subscribe to his YouTube page. I did see this is nothing to do with this game, but they're saying that the Wolverine video game might be the worst video game of all time. Okay.

I didn't know that. I have to look into that. I don't know how bad it can be. I'm behind on my video games. I mean, it can't be worse than like Castlevania. You're in Castlevania fan? No, I mean, Castlevania was fine, but I bet the graphics on Wolverine are better than the graphics were on Castlevania.

I'll play it and get back to you. Yeah. I don't know. Micro transactions maybe. I hate to hear that. Wolverine's one of my favorites. Micro transactions? What's that mean?

It means that once you buy a game, they also make you pay to get other upgrades in the game. People don't like that. No. There was a huge thing with the college football game recently that they had a bunch of micro transactions. Give me an example, what a micro transaction would be. Like, what could I buy in the football game? Like, your football coach might be a better recruiter if you buy a micro transaction to pay to be a higher recruiter. See, I don't think you should be able to buy to be better.

Yeah, that's what it is. Now, I can see, like, if you can buy to, like, have a cooler stadium. But, like, you shouldn't just be able, although I guess that is capitalism. The richest people get everything anyway. They're getting rich off me. I bought the new college football game and the new Madden pre-ordered them, deluxe editions, have not turned on the system. to even look at the opening screen for either one of them,

and they've been out for months. Well, I bought a PlayStation at the time, I guess, five to play Red Dead Red Dead redemption. You couldn't get on the horse. I tried to get on the horse to start the game, couldn't figure it out and just quit and gave it to my ex-girlfriend. The horse or the game? The game and the system. Maybe we're not your video game podcast.

She still had it. I could not get on the horse. I think it's just triangle. I think it's just triangle. I hit the triangle. Did you get up near the saddle? I did, and I would look on and it'd be like, hit the triangle and I did it, and I'd just be looking at the horse.

And the stupid announcer would go, you're going to need to get on the horse. And I know that. I can't get on it. I will say, while we're off on this tangent, I played that game too. I got on the horse, but most of the game, you're just like riding. It's like, all right, you go to this mission, but it takes you 20 minutes to get there. You're just riding the horse for 20 minutes. I think it would be peaceful to ride a horse, but it's not peaceful when you're so inept you can't get on the horse.

That's like the worst thing in the world. And so then I just would walk around like, you know, you get on the horse at this woman's barn. So then I would just walk and talk to the barn or talk to the woman. And she'd go, you need to get on your horse. It's like one of the greatest games of all time. It's not a great game if you can't get on the horse. It's on the cuss. Everyone's telling you get it on the horse.

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Stream Miley's new album, Bass Persuades, today. All right, let's go over the other games. Billy, what's the first one? The Buffalo Bills are now 3-0 after they beat the Chargers 24 to 16 in their new stadium. The Bills won to spite committing five turnovers in the game. But it is the third straight year that they've started 3-0. The Chargers, meanwhile, got into the Buffalo 36 times and had three field goals and one touchdown. Jim Harbaugh and the Chargers now 0 and 3 after the loss.

It looked like they were going to have one of the weirdest years ever, where you lose the two bad teams, then beat the bills on the road, but they lose. Neither of the quarterbacks really played well at all. James Cook was really good. The Buffalo uniforms were hideous. They were. I'm not sure what I was watching. There were two games yesterday.

One with the Colts and then a buffalo. It took a second to figure out who I was watching. It's like, what is this? They look like when you have uniforms in movies that don't get the NFL rights and they just have to put like weird. Generic graphics. Yeah. Like the game, the show I'm watching about Running Point or whatever on Netflix

and all of the logos for all. All of the teams are like, they're like, we're playing for the Toronto Terriers. It's like the free clip art they could download for their logos. That's what the Bill's uniforms look like. And I think they played like it too. They were looked in the mirror and go, why don't we look like this? The Nickel City uniforms designed as a tribute to the strength, grit, and authenticity of Western New York's hardworking people throughout history. Was that a paid?

What was that? You saw you work for the uniform company. That was from the Bill's website. Oh, okay. You say Nickel City? Yeah. Is that like the mineral name? They're inspired by the Buffalo Nickel is what this is.

What's about, oh, like the old-timey script? The Buffalo that's on the back of the nickel. Like the coin nickel. Yeah, the actual coin. But was that Buffalo nickel named for the city of Buffalo or the animal buffalo? I'm not sure. I'm going to guess the animal. I'm going to assume the animal's on the back of the nickel.

They didn't put a chicken wing on it. But that's even a weirder reason to name it. Right? I agree. And then make a jersey out of it. I wouldn't rather see the uniform be a chicken wing. Now that, now you may be on the table. Yeah.

Well, they turn it over a lot. It's good thing they won. The chargers are done, right? They're done. They're done. Embarrassing. Embarrassing. Justin Herbert's been awful.

Knock the sunglasses off his face. You don't deserve to wear those sunglasses on the sideline when you're going three with that team. I don't want to see Madison beer on my TV. The chargers are a joke. I do. Even that one woman that was on the Zoom draft, they're like one fan. Get her out of here, too. Just get the chargers out of the league.

Just for the right, I'm fine with Madison. Like, if I'm going to have to watch the Chargers game, I'm totally fine with that. All right, what's next? The Brown's got it done with Deshaun Watson at the helm. Harold Fanon, Jr. That was a great cat. I think of you every time that's right. Not once but twice, that's right.

But Deshawn Watson led the team on a fourth quarter comeback. With less than two minutes left, Watson found Harold Fanon Jr. for the touchdown. Watson threw for two touchdowns despite being booed in the third quarter after a three-and-out. It's nice to see, though, a gritty underdog. It's nice to see him get something positive. Oh, he didn't get booed in my house. That's my fantasy quarterback. I was wearing my Deshawn Watson jersey yesterday.

Browns find themselves two and one now after a Carolina painter. Watching the Browns with Deshawn Watson at home is an amazing experience because every play, people are either cheering or booing him. Every play. Nobody knows what to do. Every play. If he makes a good play, they cheer. If he makes a bad play, they boo.

Like, those people, you talk about having a crazy headspace. The dog pound doesn't know what to do right now. It would be a great storyline through the year. If they're just good enough to just kind of, you know, not sure what to do, I think that would be great. They're going to end up missing out on a good QB draft class. It was a horrible game, though, wasn't it? Like 12 to 7? Yeah, a lot of field goals.

Yeah, it was awesome. Rice Young not his best. Rice Young did not play with it. 12 to 7 was the Titans game. That's what was exciting for us. was this one. It's still 20 to 17 or something like that. Oh, well, that's a lot different.

Yeah, you're thinking of the other crappy team. Well, let's do the 12 to 7 one. That was the Giants and the Titans, right? Yes, John's the Titans. They were both so bad. But not as bad as the Tennessee Titans. So are you going to win? I thought this was the one.

I said it last week. I didn't bet the money line, but I bet them to cover two and a half. Couldn't even do that. I mean, you have first and goal to win the game. All the storylines. We have our coordinator is their old. coach, their defensive coordinator was the Titans defensive coordinator.

Sala back in his old building. Wondell got a touchdown. Titans have a chance to win it. And Cam Ward just throws it directly to the... The Titans almost became the first NFL team in eight years to not get a first down in the first half. They got one with about five minutes left. Oh, is that right?

I will tell you, it was fun because you know, my inclination is not to like Cam Scataboo. And you had him on your fantasy team. So you got to root against him? Yeah. So every time he would do something, I would be like, fall down. By the way, we should acknowledge that I destroyed you in fantasy.

Your team is terrible. Not our best week. Well, you're just, it's bad. My team is really good. Mine too. I'm looking at scoring records. Yeah, I mean, you go, I'm going, first of all, brilliant coaching to bench Drake May for Brock Perkins. Beautiful, beautiful work of the quarterback position.

By picking two quarterbacks has paid off. Yes. Ashton Genty, I saw the potential. CD Lamb, I knew he liked Portuguese. You know, Chuba Hubbard. Yeah, we all love hearing about your fantasy team. While we're flexing. Tyler Loop.

How about having Jaden Daniels, he goes down and you have, I went and got Deshawn Watson right away because I knew in the 25 points yesterday. That's how you win fantasy leagues as moves like that. Listen, we can't get, but Billy's not going to be able to compete with us in this. We understand that. I'm glad he got his L. he can try to feast on the other teams in the league. Look, I panicked, okay?

I didn't have Puka. You had somebody named Booty on your team. No, yeah, this is what happened. Marvin Harrison Jr. It's been terrible. I went to the Waverwire the morning of and kicked up Kisham Boutte. How about eight minutes before it started? I take the Giants off the waiver wire.

He took the best defense available. And then start at how smart was that? Huh? Huh? We're going to regroup the morale's down right now with Puka out. Our last place person is trying to trade with me. I'm not having it. Tombo finger on that trade.

Get out of here. I have three tight ends now. Nice. I picked up another one. Well, good thing we have to force trade with each other twice three times over the year. People should listen to me because I wouldn't want to trade my team. It's too good. Who's next?

Let's go to a thrilling game as the Jets lost to the Lions, 31 to 24. Jemir Gibbs. It actually was a good game. Why? I said thrilling. Oh, I thought you meant sarcastically. No, Gino Smith was dealing. He threw for three touchdowns.

Jamir Gibbs had three touchdowns and over 160 yards himself. The Jets were down 14 in the fourth quarter. They come back to tie it. The Lions get it done. And Aaron Glenn, the former defensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions, fell just short. The Jets are a lot better. I mean, they're one and two, but they're a lot better. The games are competitive.

They have a functional offense. The Lions got the win. I don't have a lot of strong opinions. Jemir Gibbs, though, along with Bejohn Robinson, they're the two best running backs, I think, in the league right now, and they're fun to watch. But this was a really good game. It was.

You're right. Jets look much better. I mean, they're still the Jets, but I don't think they're, well, my team is now the joke. But I think they've got a little something going this year. Won't make the playoff or anything, but they won a few more games. But the Lions, that offense has been awesome. Their defense has not, but they've had right at a hundred points through three weeks. If that defense can get healthy and figure some stuff out, I mean, they could be in the mix.

Dan Campbell shows not one. ounce of emotion during the game. He just sits there and just stares. Win, lose, draw. I need the guy that quoted Metallica back that was fumping fist. What's next? What's next is the Indianapolis Colts snapping the NFL's longest losing streak at nine games dating back to last year.

The Colts beat the Texans 19 to 17. Not the best game of Daniel Jones. He fumbled three times and lost two of them. And Jonathan Taylor only had 68 yards. But Indianapolis gets it done. and the Texans are now 0 and 3 for the second straight year. Well, they came back last, you know,

there's only what, 4% of teams that go on 3 make the playoffs, but they're one of them. They did it last year, and you look at their schedule. They could do it again, but they should have won this one. This is a bad one to drop. I don't understand why they're not good, really. I mean, C.J. Stroud actually plays decently well, but then they do something stupid or someone fumbles it.

So, you know, I'm not ready to count them out. They're also in a bad division. They played three hard games, too. Bill's Bingles, I don't know, though. Is that Colts really a hard game? Well, not hard, but they haven't had a cupcake. I mean, they're going to get the Titans twice.

And then actually trying to find the seventh playoff team in the AFC is kind of hard, actually. So, you know, you look at it and you go, I mean, the Raiders are three and oh. So maybe they are the seventh playoff team. But if you assume, let's just do the division winners, we'll be bills, Ravens or Bengals, then you go to Chiefs or Broncos. You know, now that's five teams. The Chargers are essentially out. So you're looking at like Raiders.

Oh, and excuse me, the Jaguars is the Six. So basically you're looking at like Raiders and the Texans. And the Raiders have a three-game lead, but I don't know that I believe it'll stay like that. Yeah, with the Texans, they could still get in there because the scenario just painted. But this one was bad. It's not just that you lost. Jonathan Taylor didn't play good. Daniel Jones didn't play good.

The Colts had three turnovers and you still couldn't find a way. It's not like they played well and beat you. They actually had played a bad game and beat you. That's very, very true. And the Colts Stadium is stupid. I agree. Mostly for college basketball. I mean, it's 2026 and we've got shadow issues.

I mean, the Cowboys have the same thing, which is stupid. But the Colts was crazy. Did you watch that? I did. It was hard to watch. Yeah. Yeah. I agree.

And they play at 1 o'clock all the time, so they should be used to it. Yeah. And there was another game that had Shadows. No, no, I guess it was Colts-Texans because I thought it was in Houston. You might be thinking they had college basketball game exhibition yesterday that was like half court was dark, half was light. Yeah, that was Vandy. Yeah. They had Nate Burgazzi on the bench.

Yeah, he joined the handshake line and nobody even noticed. Yeah, he did. You know, I, yeah. Can I say something. I hate to say this, but he needs to chill out. We're getting a lot of Nate. There's too much Nate and like, he's just... He's Mr. Nashville.

He's opening up at a theme part. He needs to calm down. Like, his... Movies? His thing is that he's in every man. And I don't know. His movie was apparently terrible. I didn't see it.

The theme park, I mean, I guess. Is it going to be called Nateland? That's the plan. His thing there is he used to work there, so he's trying to revive it. That's fine. But like, call it, you know, call it the Granddoll or Opryland. I just called Opryland. Bring back Opryland. I just saw him on the bench.

And I was like, all right, man. It's in the handshake line. It was players and coaches. I mean, I don't think anybody paid attention because it was an exhibition game. But, like, we're only a few weeks away from him, like, being the backup center. Well, he's already buying all the football players for Vandy, too. Yeah. All right.

What's next? It's the Kansas City Chiefs speeding the Miami Dolphins 24 to 10. Kansas City is now 3-0, despite. Mike Mahomes saying they didn't play to their standard. Well, they didn't play well, but they still won. They didn't. And they're good. Like, I think they're good again.

It's not fair they got Kenneth Walker. Yeah. And Travis Kelsey, marriage has revitalized him. Yeah, and I said yesterday it wasn't even that good of a game for him. And yards, both teams are pretty similar. I mean, dolphins, not on the scoreboard, but it's just head to head and hung with them statistically. The passes I've seen him catch this year, no one is within 30 yards of him every time. Big news coming out of this, though, is Miami running back.

Devon A. Chan left with a knee injury. It was reported this morning. He suffered a torn ACL. He is out for this season. He's the only player. He was the only good player they have. So, like, they are the worst team in history. It's them versus the Titans for the first pick.

Well, congratulations to the Miami Dolphins. Well, no, that means they get the second pick. Excuse me. I mean, you're going to win a game. I'm saying, like, we're going to be the worst to the worst. They're bad. They're really bad. Yeah, I think the Chiefs are back, man.

I mean, I think you watch. Chiefs and bills, I think they just had a hiccup for a year and now we're back to that. The fact that it's the Dolphins at the bottom and the Dolphins have our last quarterback, like we are, we drafted him to save us and now they have them

and we are guys. We didn't talk about it. Did you see Cam Ward just like stand still and do that nonchalant play? We just stopped in place and was like, looking around, did you see that? I did, yeah. Don't can we start on them again.

But get him out here. I believed and then we had that yesterday. Bring back Will Levis. Bring back Malik Willis. Yeah. Who's next? Reback, Zach Mettenberg. Ooh, good name.

Carrie Collins. Ron Fitzpatrick. Vince Young. All right. That's enough of this. We saw a shootout in Pittsburgh as Aaron Rogers out-duled Joe Burrow. I don't think that's true. I think Joe Burrow screwed up.

They both throw for three touchdowns. That was a horrible, horrible fumble by Joe Burrow at the end. They're already in field goal range, right? It's the exact same thing as the Cowboys. Except they turned it over. Maybe the Cowboys, maybe Shot Nymer was worried that what happened to Burrow was going to happen. But like, all he's got to do is hold on the ball. And he gets the fumble and Pittsburgh ends up winning.

Aaron Rogers was pretty good. That's the best he's played that I've seen. He still moves around like he's 97 years old. Everyone's while he makes a throw. But he'll make a really good. He'll throw like a dart somewhere. Yeah. Really the reason the Steelers won this game is how much.

I love the bingles here. This was like my lock. I was telling everybody all week, bet the bingles. Of course, when you love something that much, especially in the NFL, it's going to go the other way. I was very confident the bingles would get this done. I was very surprised. Were the bingles,

bingles were like a three and a half point. Philgo. It moved to three and a half, but you could get it three earlier in the week. Yeah, because we did that for the... I think on this podcast last week, we called it a lock, too. Yeah, we all missed that one. No, bingles won.

We were three and a half, and it was three, right? Or was it four? What was the final score? 30 to 27. Yeah, so if you went to Bengals. Beagles were the favorite. Oh. Yeah.

I thought the Bengals would win here. Well, here I thought I won. Very worse, though they'd win. Yeah, Steelers, 411 total yards on that new Cincinnati defense. And now all four teams in the AFC North are two and one. Yeah, that's interesting. They are all two and one. That's a great.

Chasing Higgins had a big game. That's a little exciting getting those guys. Who has Higgins on their fantasy team? The same guy that has Jalen Warren on their team, too. Yeah, and so who did they play this week? That was, it was you, I think. And who did I play? Because I can't remember.

Because I think I meet them by a lot. Boote team. Are we bragging? Do you all want to see my T. Higgins anytime touchdown? There's no bragging. I'll show you. I'm just, I just know people are trying to keep track at home. No, I was winning the fantasy.

Yeah, two to one. Fantasy league. This record is on. Miley is having a moment. New name, exclusive shows. So I-R-Radio is sending you to experience it all. Life at the Hollywood pole, lights, hotel, tickets, and $1,000 cash. Listen to Iheart new music for 10 minutes a day on the IHart radio app and click enter.

Every day you listen is another chance to win. Stream Miley's new album, Bass Persuades, today. All right, what's next? What's next is the biggest upset of the day on Sunday. The Washington commanders beating the Seattle Seahawks 33 to 31. The commander snapped Seattle's 12-game winning streak dating back to last year. Marcus Mariotta comes in and throws for three touchdowns. The Washington Defense Forces three turnovers,

and the commanders beat Seattle in a wet game in Washington. Marcus Marietta, he's like the measles. When you think you've eradicated him, he then comes back and he shows up again. And there's no virus. If you don't take the vaccine, next thing you know, Mariotta's back. And to beat the Seahawks. And, you know, and I didn't just beat them fluky.

Like, the Seahawks would come back and then the commanders would fight right back. It was a good performance. I mean, by the end of the game, Marriota got knocked out. Who was the guy at the end? There was someone else playing at the very end of the game. Oh, I don't even know that part. I was like, I don't know, George Strait or something like there was another person there. I'm not trying to make this a Titan show, but I'm watching Cam Ward, can't throw it five yards.

And then Marcus Mariotta. Who you also had? He threw a touchdown to Trelland Burks, who was a. first round pick a few years ago. One TV that's happening, why Derek Henry is doing something, I'm like, there's just former Titans all over my TV right now doing big things. I'm actually happy for Mario to get in this win.

I held the L. Seahawks were part of my Money Line parlay and blew it up. I couldn't imagine Washington would get it done. But watching him with his gray hair through three touchdowns and no receptions. I was pretty happy for him. I love that his gray hair is not going to do anything about it. Like if I were him, I would do something about it. He's not.

Like, he's like, I'm good. I'm the gray hair quarter. He looks like the quarterbacks from back in the day when like Wight Tiddle had a horseshoe haircut. Those guys look 60. I know. Did you see somebody, I saw a picture today of what's his name? What's the guy's name?

Wilford Brimley. Remember Wilford Brimley? He was in. He was in. He was for some sort of like life insurance. But Wilford Brimley, I want you to look up, Billy. Look up Wilford Brimley and the natural. I just want you to see, everybody look, if you're at home, look up Wilford Brimley and the natural.

And he's in a baseball uniform. Do you see a picture of him? Do you know how old he was in real life right there? Before you tell you, I would guess, and I'm being serious, that person is in their 60s. All right, what would you guess? I would guess 70s. He is 48. He is my age in that picture.

No, I'm serious. He and that picture is the same age as I. That's great. Is that not nuts? Like, just take a look at me and then take a look at him. We are the same age. That is someone's grandfather. I know.

And the problem is when I see that, there's two ways to look at that. You can say, I look good for my age. Or you can say, is that what I look like to other people? I don't think it's that bad. I'd love to make fun of you here, but I don't think you have a lot of. Wilfred Brimley going on. Look at that. He was 48 years old right there.

Now, people do look older at younger age. But that's a whole other level. I mean, that is a 48-year-old man. What was the connection here, Mario-Ota? Mario's going gray, like Wilford Brimley. Okay. Anyway. So when we're Wilford in this scenario,

are people just going to look like teenagers at age 40? Well, I mean, there's, you know, like there's a lot of these. the golden girls, you know, Blanche, look up Blanche in the golden girls. Okay, this is another crazy one. Mm-hmm. Look at Blanche. I don't talk her up. She was my favorite.

Blanche is the saucy one. She's the one that's always having sex in the retirement. Okay. Are you seeing her? You know how old she is in that? Again, like, obviously it's younger than you think. But if you were to just look at Blanche, what would you think her age is? Yeah, close to 50.

What would you say? She's 44. Look at that. See, I'm surprised. You say 50. 60s again for me. I would have had her at 60. Yeah, yeah, I could see 60.

I mean, I don't know how. I mean, the 44-year-old women's, Billy, is that how you look at 44-year-old women in general? Do you think they all look like that? I think Billy's telling them. You know, the game was trending younger, so I thought it was a good guess. Well, anyway, so you're right. People do look much, like people looked much older. back then. Some of it I think is cigarettes, but I don't know what else it is.

I saw one just this morning on social media. It's not the extreme of Blanche and Wilford, but Tony Soprano in season one was in his 30s, and you wouldn't have guessed that. George Costanza was in his 30s in the first season of Seinfeld. Tony Jr. is now older than James Gandalfini was when he was. Really? Yeah. But when you see a side by side, you wouldn't think it. George Costanza looks 55, and he was like, I think, 37 maybe. at the time of the first season? With them, I think it's the balding.

I think it's the balding. I mean, Balding is certainly part of it, but nothing explains Wilford Brimley being 49. Or they're the football player. What's the extreme one? I mean. Why Tittle is the one that people. Is there a Ken Stabler one that's pretty stable? Stabler.

Yeah, that's the one I'm thinking of. He looks 60 in this one. I don't think I've seen the Ken Stapel. This is a current, well, not current, but in the time he played. Oh, my goodness. Yeah, that's the one for me. He was on the football field? Yes.

Looking like that. That dude looks 70. Wow. Ken Stabler is the one that I always think of. Wow. All right. We're a little blind. So you need to rush through here.

What's next? Well, somebody they could use a cigarette after their game Sunday was Drake May. After they got beat by the Jacks, 35 to 6 in Jacksonville. Okay. So is he terrible? I didn't have them winning, but I didn't think they had them losing by 30. But he was awful in that game. I think I heard the stat.

He has 10 interceptions and nine fumbles in his last seven games he's played. He has one T and six interceptions in his last three. So he had two interceptions and two fumbles, one loss in the game versus Jacksonville. Did he get pulled or hurt? Because I thought they had a backup end at the end, too. I was trying to see if there was any injury. I don't know, which is crazy because he was like second or third for the MVP last year. Yeah, that wasn't a fluke.

Statistically, he was crazy last year. Might have been number one in QB rating. So am I correct now in saying that like the idea that he was a great quarterback was always ridiculous? I'm not saying he's not going to be better than he has. is right now. But I want you to just think about the great quarterbacks in history. Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, let's just say the ones that are now, Lamar Jackson. I mean, by most people's standard, that would be the three really good quarterbacks

of the modern air, right? Matthew Stafford, maybe at age 39 or at least. I never think to put him in there, but let's just say. Even his lion's years were silly. They've never been as bad as Drake May's been these last three games. No. Especially when you include the playoffs. Even like when they were rookies, they weren't as bad as he's been the last three.

One touchdown, six interceptions. Stafford's thrown some interceptions, but he also drugged that Lions team to the playoffs a couple of years. That was a great moment, by the way, in that game, too. They were like, Matthew Stafford just broke the record for most pick six is thrown in history. And maybe 15 seconds later, Chris Collinsworth goes, you just don't ever see Matthew Stafford do that. And I was like, did you not just hear? Your partner just said he's done it 33 times in his career. It was a classy.

It was a Ryan Lemon. Like, I'm not listening to the show unless I'm talking. Yeah, he doesn't do it except the other 32 times. Yeah. All right, what's next? The Tampa Bay Bucks lost to the Minnesota Vikings 23 to 16. It's an NFL record 12 straight games. The Bucks have not covered the spread.

They stink. 12 straight games. They stink. They're 0 and 3 for the first time since 2014. It does, yeah. You don't just pay Baker to? Oh, yeah. How is your backup?

$55 million a year. How do you not have a back of the first? better than an undrafted guy from Kansas. He had a great preseason, and they let that get to their head. They cut Kyle Trask, who was a competent. When he came in, I was like, well, I'm interested to see who the backup is. And they were like, he's an undrafted rookie from Kansas. And I'm like, I don't, Kansas wasn't good at football.

Jalen Daniels time, baby. Because Baker Mayfield dislocated his right thumb. He'll be out at least three weeks, according to reports this morning. He was ugly when he did. So is that dude from Kansas? He's going to be your start? Yeah, that's all they got. I don't like it because when Jayden Daniels was in college,

I'd get these two confused. Jalen Daniels, Jalen Daniels. We can't have him in the NFL at the same time, too. But how can you not have someone better than that? Well, because he played great in the preseason. You're about to find out how good he is. He's good? I mean, he looked all right in the preseason,

but what do you take away from those games? Well, I guess you don't find out. Could it be that you all maybe miss a receiver like Mike Evans who was carrying the offense for a decade? So they're done, right? Like, they're done. No, the leader of the NFC South is one and two. So, I mean, bucks are right there.

Well, even more reason to have a better backup than, I mean, it's not like we're talking. This guy didn't even, he was Kansas. You can't really, you're not going to know what happens in the NFC South until they play each other. So like, wait for Chris Myers or Kenny Albert, whoever it is. By the way, was on Panthers Browns. You just played Kyle or Murray. I would argue that's worse and you didn't win that one. It's not a good look.

I mean, I can't avoid it. I love that Chris Myers was doing Panthers Browns. I was like, that is the Chris. Myers game. Poor guy. Someone needs to rescue him. Bill Simmons, by the way, has stolen my Chris Myers stick. Ah, is he doing it? Listen, I grant you some of my opinions come from Bill, but Bill's now doing the Chris Myers. This is a Chris Myers game. Listen, I've been doing that for years. Bill, you listen to Cover Zero. That's fine. I listen to you. But don't, you know, I gave Sal credit for Drake, maybe. You should give me credit. Just saw your sources. Chris Myers. All you want to

Just a little citation. Yes. This record is on. Miley is having a moment. New name. Exclusive shows. So IHart Radio is sending you to experience it all. Life at the Hollywood pole.

Lights, hotel, tickets, and $1,000 cash. Listen to IHard new music for 10 minutes a day on the IHart Radio app. And click enter. Every day you listen is another chance to win. Stream Miley's new album, Base Persuades, today. All right. What's next? The 49ers beat the Cardinals 36 to 30 in a game where Brock Perry

threw for just under 300 yards and four touchdowns. But you mentioned Mike Evans. He left the game on a cart. Trent Williams left the game hurt. Nick Bosa was hurt before the game even started. What is going on? They have more injuries. There's no, but only he and Mark Pope have more injuries.

Like they are, they get injured. Trent Williams, has he ever played? I feel like he's injured every moment. But you got a good party game. He was a good. It was great. It was like his birthday or something. There was a hook and ladder on the first play that looked good.

Can I say something? It's not a hook and ladder. If these announcers don't ever, it is not. The announcers always say it's a hook and ladder. It's not. Well, tell me what a hook and lateral. Okay.

Because the hook, like, again, I'm a football guy. The hook is the route the guy runs, and he's lateraling the ball back. It's a hook and lateral. But somewhere in the, life, people have started calling it a hook and ladder. What is the ladder? The lateral. I'll find out this. I'm right. It is not a hook and ladder. You're right, but I think it's just been said so much. Exactly. So we're just going to act. It's like when people just decided ain't was a word.

Ain't is not a word. But now it's a word because they're like, well, these idiots keep saying it. So I guess it's a word. And that's where we are. But it is a hook and lateral. Not a hook and ladder. I will find out the reason why it's called hook and ladder. No, it's... No, that's right. I'm right. But it has been so common that latter has said so much. So now people say it, but I expect the announcers, it's like all of a sudden just deciding I'm not going to spell a word right because people...

It would be as if the announcers did there and there wrong, you know what, or you're and your. So why... Yeah, because when people write me and say, you're stupid and they write while you are, it would be like just deciding that that was okay. It's kind of like the hook and ladder is kind of like A-Chain, who just lets people call him ATN, just not speaking up for itself. And then he waits six years and goes, by the way, it's A-J. You waited too late. Hook-and-Latter, same thing.

I'll find it, don't worry. You don't have to find it. People just said it wrong. Why are you on a congressional website right now? Well, Wikipedia wasn't really showing me what I wanted to say. And so you thought Congress would show you the right thing? Okay. All right, what's next?

Yes. what's next is the Raiders and the Saints the Raiders are now 3 and 0 after a 35 to 27 win over the Saints they matched their win total in 2025 it only took three games do you believe in the Raiders I believe they're good but believe yeah I believe they're good but like with that division and actually making a playoff spot

I'll be no but they're already much better than I would have had them before this year started I enjoy watching them you know next week is Chiefs Raiders both teams 3 and O in Vegas that used to be a past at robbery too. That's going to be a great game. Hopefully it's back. I think it is the late afternoon feature game.

I mean, that's a first place. Somebody's going to be 4 and 0. Like, that's a game. You sit there and look at it. That's a game I want to watch. Imagine the Raiders still in that too. And Mendoza's not even playing. Kirk Cousins, man.

What if Kurt Cousins, like, what if he takes him to the playoffs and they're like 11 or like, let's say they go like 12 and 5? And he takes him to the playoffs. Do you just tell Mendoza, you're sitting another year? Yeah. I think you do. You can't just undo all the Goodwill Cousin' I've just done. I mean, that's what happened with Aaron Rogers in Green Bay

and Jordan Love and Green Bay. I just think that's what you would have to do with him, right? And maybe with Rogers it would work out and be good for him, but it wasn't the plan when you drafted him. Yeah. That's a luxury lot of bad teams can't afford, so that would be interesting. So, I mean, I don't know if that'll happen.

I mean, they might start losing, but if they keep winning, Mendoza may just have to sit there and, you know, smile. And who had this happening? Another one of these crazy starts to the year. I don't think it's sustainable. I think last year a lot of people thought the Raiders could be the surprise team and then they weren't. They were awful.

Maybe this was the year. And Max Crosby wanted to stay. Maybe he saw it. Maybe he's like, but we do have something here. Yeah, and one final game here in week three to talk about the Falcons and Packers. The Falcons won 35 to 14 in Lambo. You want to talk about booze? There were some booze.

Well, that was one of the worst. I mean, what a horrible. But first of all, an amazing performance by Bijon Robinson. 194 yards. He was awesome in that game. But what a terrible performance by Packers. They're like bad, bad. Yeah.

Towards the bottom, maybe last in penalties. Like, it's not just that Michael Parsons is out and Jacobs is out. They kind of stink as a football team with what they have. And to lose the Falcon, I mean, they're done, right? They're just wasting a Michael Parsons over there. This isn't going to be a year if they do anything. I mean, I think they're close to. I mean, they're one and two.

So, like. But they don't look good at all. I mean, they could make me think they're going to kick it into gear. Ladder is a traditional football term in which a second player would come up along or behind the receiver to receive the lateral. It's not true. While a lateral would take place, the term ladder refers to the player that would come near the player to receive the lateral. That's false. Also, you said Wikipedia didn't have it.

I thought that can't be the case. I went to Wikipedia where it says the hook and lateral. Hook and lateral. Where are you reading this? First of all, where are you reading what you just read? What I just read was chat GPT. Okay. I'm not doing chat.

You can't use it as a search engine. Because chat GBT, if it's just said on the internet, the problem with chat GBT is it takes all sources as equal. Why won't you just believe? I won't let it go. So we'll do some more research. I'll let you know. The receiver runs a hook and laterals. I'm not saying that doesn't exist in the play.

But I'm also saying that ladder. refers to a term in which a player would go behind another player. Billy acts like I'm the one being stubborn. I am the one that's saying the correct term and also what the words actually mean. Lateral is exactly what. There's no such thing as a ladder in football. Well, I'm telling you there is. That was the term.

It is the case that they're both said so much. They're both just. No, they do. And the announcers all say hook and ladder. They do. They all say it. So, all right, we just got a few minutes. So give me some news.

Oh, yeah, we got some news today that the Vikings are sending J.J. McCarthy to the New York Giants for a 2027 fifth round pick. I think this is a good deal for both teams, actually. Yes, but it's not going to amounts to anything. You need J.J. McCarthy gone. He's not your quarterback of the future. You're 3 and 0. So, like, you're all right, we're just going to see what happens with Kyle and Murray and Carson Wentz. If you want, you can pick a quarterback in the draft next.

year. And the Giants, they're not investing their franchise in J.J. McCarthy. It's still Jackson Dart, but maybe you can see if you got anything in him by playing him this year. James Winston is not going to take you the play. James Winston is undefeated this season. And I'm mad that they are taking away our entertainment value by giving us J.J. McCarthy instead of James Winston. Oh, you think they'll start McCarthy?

Eventually. He's not going to work out. I get why both sides are doing it. Not saying you're wrong at all. It makes sense. But it's just an eye roll for me. Give me James Winston as the quarterback of the Giants. I think it's a good deal for both teams.

Billy, what do you think? I think James is a better quarterback than JJ McCarthy. So they just threw away a fifth round pick. But interesting that John Harbaugh will now get to coach the quarterback that Jim Harbaugh. And presumably he called his brother and was like, what do we think? I like it. I don't think he's going to work out long term. He called his brother who's 0 and 3.

and the Giants are two and one, right? So they still, you know. Well, speaking of the Giants, defensive end, Brian Burns is believed to have torn his ACL during the win over the Titans. And he already had an injury. Like, he already had like an angle injury and now he tore his ACL. We'll keep it moving. By the way, that's a fact that three years ago,

the chances of me knowing that, the chance of me knowing they had a guy named Brian Burns would have been zero. Chance of me knowing his previous injury before his current injury would have been negative zero. A couple times a week, there's like a moment. I'm like, that's one of Matt's ESPN show things where producers, like, we break down this trade. And that's how it's registered. You're exactly right.

There was a baseball thing a few weeks ago. You brought it up on the morning show. I was like, there's no way he would have known that before this ESPN. They put all these things on the screen. And even if I don't say them, some of them just seep into my brain. And I'll be like calling a woman and I'll go, yeah,

you know, Max Scherzer, more strikeouts, Bradbats, than anybody in history. And she'll go, who are you? What's next? Jaguars head coach Liam Cohen is the first NFL head coach to win 15 of his first 20 games since Packers head coach Matt LaFleur. Is that a sign of success? Well, he's clearly been good. I don't know if he's going to be like good forever, but he's clear.

I mean, they're infinitely better. Kind of fun to watch. You know, you look at the talent. On paper, they don't have a ton of talent outside of a couple guys on defense and Trevor Lawrence. and they haven't even gotten anything really out of Travis Hunter yet. Yeah. So. And Hunter, who was your top draft pick, was hurt last year when they won 11 games.

So you almost wasted a draft pick. I don't. I think you have to say he's a good coach, right? I think so, too. A lot of anonymous guys making plays. I mean, they're making names for themselves, Tootin, watching all those guys. But like, when you picked up the roster in June, you weren't like, wow, look at this offense they have. And they're looking pretty dang good.

And he's been huge for Lawrence. Yeah, I mean, what was it, Malik Washington? and then Root and Tootin. Rootin. I mean, you mentioned Chris Rodriguez from Kentucky. You're going to touch down this week. Yeah, Chris Rodriguez is a perfect example. I mean, that's a backup third string running back at commanders.

He brings him in as the short yardage guy because he knew him when he was at Kentucky. So I think he's done a great job. Yeah, he's got to get those ballboys under control. But other all. And sure, it's an easy division because you get the Titans twice. Pick it on them a lot this show. I don't mean to. But, I mean, Texans have been good.

Not so far this year in Colts. It's not like a complete pusover division. There's a few couple wins you get every year, but it hasn't been easy. That's a huge rise. Four years ago he was the quarterback coach for the Rams or five years ago or whatever. Now he's a successful head coach in the NFL. Speaking of the Texans, Matt, you alluded to this earlier. The Texans are 0 and 3.

Since 2000, only two teams have ever made the playoffs after starting 0 and 3. The 2025 Texans and the 2018 Texans. Oh, it's them both times. Them both times. That's interesting. I didn't know that. I still think they have a chance to make the playoffs. I do.

I'm not giving up, again, because you have to show me who the seventh team is going to be. And, you know, right now the biggest contenders are a Patriots team that's not good, a Steelers team with Aaron Rogers, both those teams are one and two. Or no, Ray and Rogers, two and one. The Browns. And then, like, the Raiders. So you look at that, there's no reason they couldn't be one of them. being a playoff team a year ago

and didn't they like smoke Pittsburgh or something like they won a playoff game last year not by a little bit I mean they won big yeah coming off that and with that defense they'll be fine in the long run Stroud needs to win them some games but who they play next? Even though it's O and 3 losing to the bills

bingles and at Indy is one of the tougher slates we've seen to start a season Let me see the Cowboys at home Okay well now that may be a must win game because I don't think you can go O and 4 and then the Titans So then they have the Giants Then the Chargers

Then the Browns The schedule gets easy The commanders So maybe you can even lose to them Because you're telling me their next four Are Titans Chargers Browns Next four are Titans

Jags But then you go Giants Chargers Browns Yeah so they could come out of all that Four and five And then Colt at home And then you can be five and five So yeah I'm not giving

I'm still I still give the Texans a shot They also have Steelers I mean there's a lot of games They could win All right, anything else? Yeah, one more. On Sunday, there were 20 touchdown catches by tight ends. That's the most in one day in NFL history.

Not even on tight end day. That's usually when they go crazy and set that mark. I do feel like I hear about tight ends more, but that may be because he married Taylor's Williams. Harold Fanon with two. George Kittle with two. Ravens were using a tight end never heard of. Yeah.

Yeah. I feel like a tight end. they're all like 6-4-240. Mm-hmm. Right. Yeah. Kind of be a little smaller offense alignment. I probably should have been a tight-in.

I didn't get around to it. I was in fifth grade number 82. Really? Mm-hmm. But like that's my build. You know, I'm a, I'd cut. We were both tall in elementary school. The tall kid, like, immediately goes the defensive end and tight-in.

Yeah. I just feel like that would have been good for me. I just, but the problem is I don't like to get hit. So I was a bit of a divo when I played rotary football. Well, I was a tight end, which I got excited thinking I'm going to be, you know, catching out. I'm Tony Gonzalez up in here. And I was basically just another tackle blocking the whole time. And I didn't like that at all.

Because like you, I wasn't trying to actually get someone. My mom wouldn't let me play football. She wouldn't. I never got to do it, which just goes to show you. So you hosted the NFL show. Yeah. That's one of the things. A lot of people talk trash to me and they go, you didn't even play sports.

And I'm like, correct. And you did. And you're selling insurance. And you did. And guess what? Or my favorite is the one that you don't, like, you don't know, you don't even know anything about recruiting. Right. I said that on the show.

I told everyone that. There you go. All right, Billy. Thank you very much. Yep, thank you. I'm disappointed. and you're not wearing an NFL hat today. Oh, but he got that at the Super Bowl.

This is my free Draft King's hat that I only saw because I took my sunglasses off. I think it qualifies. We're really reping Draft Kings today. I got the hoodie on and you got the hat. Yeah. Crown is yours. I'm a sucker for a free hat. That's right.

All right. Well, thank you all very much. We'll be back later in the week to preview the new games the weekend. I hope you enjoyed it. And we'll see you later. 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.