Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - AFC Squad: Can Tennessee Titans Do Anything To Compete in AFC South?

Episode Date: October 23, 2024

In this episode of AFC Squad, the crew discusses their team’s Week 7 outcomes, their thoughts on Tua Tagovailoa’s Week 8 return, which second place teams in their AFC Divisions have the best chance at success this season, and whether or not Lamar Jackson is the better MVP candidate than Patrick Mahomes.

Tua Tungovailoa is set to return for the Miami Dolphins this week. We'll debate whether or not that's a good idea. And can Tua save the Dolphins season? I'm sure the Chiefs and the Bills are shaking in their boots, just as Bill Belichick's girlfriend is wearing hers to the pumpkin patch. We'll break that down and much more here on today's AFC Squad. You are talking ball with the AFC Squad. From the Chiefs to the Bills, the Ravens to the Texans,

and everyone else around the AFC, it's the local experts of the Locked On Podcast Network bringing you scoops, breakdowns, and the most comprehensive preview of the upcoming weekend for hard-hitting AFC football with our harder-hitting takes. Buckle up. It's the AFC Squad, and we have a seat for you. No hurt feelings allowed. Squad up.

You're part of the AFC squad. What's happening everyone? Welcome to another episode of the Locked On AFC squad here on the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Cody Rourke, host Locked On Broncos. We're driving the conversation here on today's show and I'm joined as always by Joe Marino, host of Locked On Bills. Chris Clark, host of Locked On Chiefs. Mike DeBate, host of Lockdown Bills. Chris Clark, host of Lockdown Chiefs. Mike DeBate, host of Lockdown Patriots. And Big Sarge, one of the newest hosts over there at the Lockdown Texans podcast. And if you're mad that we're not talking about

your team, bring it up with the hosts of your show. We're obviously looking forward to expanding this every single week here. But really, folks, welcome to the AFC squad. Sit back, grab your favorite beverage, and join us as we get you ready for another wild week across the AFC. And today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel.

Place your first $5 bet and you'll get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed. Visit FanDuel.com. Gentlemen, welcome into another installment of the show. We got new faces here. Obviously, Big Sarge joining us for the first time of Lockdown Texas. Joe Marino joining us for the first time. Lockdown Bills. I know Bills fans, if we look at your comment section, Joe,

they weren't happy the first couple of weeks when they were like, what's this show? Well, now Joe Marino's here to represent here on behalf of Locked on Bills. Folks, I mean, wild week seven across the entire NFL landscape, but we're going to focus on the AFC. I want to start things off here, Joe Marino. Obviously, the Buffalo Bills made things a little interesting down to the Tennessee Titans early on, found a way to come back and obviously win that game. What's the vibe right now in Buffalo with everything going on? Yeah, you mentioned they played with their food a little bit against

the Tennessee Titans, got out to a 10-0 deficit in the first 20 minutes, and then they scored 34 unanswered over the last 40 minutes of the game. And it was really fun to see the passing game come to life with Amari Cooper now in the mix. And they started to play him a lot more and went to him a lot more. He winds up catching a touchdown in his first catch with the Bills after dropping the first target that he has, winds up having four grabs for 66 yards.

And I think you just saw what that was able to mean for the passing offense. Josh Allen goes for 325 yards, 258 yards passing in the second half. And Keon Coleman making big plays. And Kincaid, the tight end down the field making plays. And Khalil Shakir from the slot. It felt like you saw Bill's passing offense that finally had a defined order of who the dudes are. Who they're supposed to get the ball to, and it really came to life. Made some good adjustments there.

Got the 5-2, 3.5 game lead in the AFC East as we enter Week 8. So things are good in Buffalo after Big Sarge. Come on, man. What are you doing here? We're trying to forget about the Texans and that Ravens disaster on Sunday night. So they bounce back after a couple of losses. I would say you gave lockdown Titans. So it was Tyler Rowland, a little bit of hope there in the first 10 minutes of the game

where, you know, they're winning and all of a sudden maybe they were going to have conversations about, you know, Mason Rudolph being the resurgence over there in Tennessee. But, you know, that's another story for another day. Chris Clark, host of Lockdown Chiefs, Kansas City, staying undefeated right now in the lone undefeated team in the AFC. It wasn't pretty, but, you know, a Super Bowl rematch, and they got it done on the road in a game where Patrick Mahomes didn't play his best. He hasn't played his best most of the season, and lost another wide receiver.

You know, Juju Smith-Schuster, hamstring injury. Now his top three targets that are wide receivers are out for this next game. Rasheed Rice is still not going to be back. Obviously, Holloway Brown may be late in the season. Juju won't be playing against the Raiders. This receiving core is just decimated, and I really am hating on Joe Marino and going and getting a guy like Cooper because I was really hoping Kansas City would win.

You really should have done that. Chris, they really should have changed Amari Cooper. Let's be honest. No. And the thing that I find They really should have tried Amari Cooper. Let's be honest. No. And the thing that I find funniest about that is watching Amari Cooper catch his first touchdown pass and not knowing what route he's supposed to be running because it was a check play and asking Keon Coleman. Well, Keon will tell you.

Man, just over-communicated. He knew the plays. He knew the plays, right? Well, it works. It is what it is. You have a guy that steps in as a professional and can help your team, and that's really what Kansas City needs. While I don't

think it was a huge loss, I'm surprised Kansas City didn't sign MBS back because at least I thought that would have raised the floor a little bit in their receiving core. But at this point, I'm not sure what they're going to do. Who needs it more, the chiefs or the saints with the wide receiver chiefs maybe even the buccaneers now but that's the saints are going nowhere though so that that's my point right i'd say the chiefs and yeah the bucks are going nowhere they lost their top two and the chiefs will end up playing the buccaneers now

without evans or godwin oh wow i mean yeah it's going to set up some interesting things now obviously you got everyone on social media debating about the Patrick Mahomes effect that, oh, you can't hit him because he's going towards the silent. Hey, Patrick Mahomes using his legs. You know, I don't see the argument there. It's, hey, until he's out of bounds, you know, fine. You know, he's free ground there. Juke the guy, though.

But obviously, that's a larger discussion we'll continue to have later on. Mike debate, host of Locked On Patriots. The Patriots went over the pond this week, and it wasn't necessarily the product in which I think a lot of people were expecting because it was a battle between them and the Jaguars, both teams that were struggling, but then hey, Drake May, they get off to a little bit of a nice start,

and then all of a sudden it just comes crumbling down to Trevor Lawrence and the Jags. Yeah, you want to talk about a reversal of fortune. Joe talked earlier about a team that went down a little bit early and found a way to come back. Patriots got out to a fast start, and then they just found a way to give it away. You hit the nail on the head, though, Cody. The Patriots definitely have something with Drake May here, showing a poise above his years right now. He's showing an ability to be able to take the ball, put it in his hands, and make things happen

with it, and he's making better decisions. His eyes are matching his feet a little bit more. The Patriots are looking at him as someone who can not only facilitate out of play action, but also be able to take deep shots down the field. So I like what I see from Drake, but this team is not going to be competitive until they run the ball more effectively, 38 yards on the ground, not going to get it done. They surrendered 171 in the running game to the Jacksonville Jaguars, and they allow a 96-yard touchdown on a punt return that is simply just not allowed. It's not, excuse me, kick return. It's not allowed in that case, and the Patriots are struggling to tackle at all three levels. As long as they show deficiencies in all those three areas, it's going to be a very long season for New England you're going to see result after result in what looked like on Sunday afternoon. Head coach Gerard Mayo

obviously called the team soft after the game said they're a soft football team across the board we'll dive into that a little bit later on especially with some of Bill Belichick's comments following that too but you know speaking of you know one obviously former player who's been a head coach D'Amico Rines the Houston Texans they went into Green Bay this past week competed down to the wire against Jordan Love and that Packers team unfortunately losing late on a field goal big Sarge hosted locked on Texans what's going on with the Texans even though that CJ Stroud didn't play his sharpest game of the season struggled in the passing game they had a lot of success on the ground with Joe Mixon but fall short against Green Bay right now but they're still in a good position right now in terms of the entire AFC conference.

Yeah, the Houston Texans will be good if they never have to play the NFC North again. If we never have to go up to Minnesota or the Green Bay, they'll be a great team. We know they're five and two right now, and their two losses have come to Minnesota, which was a terrible loss. But I think that the Green Bay Packers loss was even worse because a week prior, Mike, I'm sorry I have to say this, but a week prior against the New England Patriots in the second half, they scored 27 points. And the second half is where the Houston Texans have seemed to falter on the offensive side of the ball.

That 27 points against the Patriots was the most they had scored since week one against the Indianapolis Colts, and that was 17. Well, against the Green Bay Packers, it seems like the ghost of second half pass showed up again, and in their five possessions, they went punt, punt, punt, punt, field goal. I did not like the way that the offensive play calling went on their last offensive drive. They were playing it too safe, and D'Amico Ryans has talked about that. I didn't like the play calling. D'Amico Ryan's talked about that as well. And one of the biggest issues that

is playing in the Houston, Texas offense right now is their offensive line play. And so coach D'Amico Ryan said, he's about to shake that thing up. And, you know, one of the, one of the worst things that could happen for that Houston, Texas organization is that you hired a former head, excuse me that you hired a former head you for excuse me you hired a former linebacker who played at the highest level you've hired a former defensive coach who looks at this game and when he looks at the offensive side of the ball he says look I know how to exploit that and if I know how to exploit this by looking at this film then y'all need to get it together so I wouldn't be surprised if the Houston Texans did some type of,

you know, some Taylor Swift and Chris, you'll like that, right? Some shaking it off and getting back on against the Indianapolis Colts. I just have to ask really quick, Sarge, what do you think the big difference is? Because to me, what I've seen from that team is Nico Collins comes out of that offense. And that offense just, I'm not going to say the Ryan still halt,

but it's a completely different offense than it was early in the season. And when he's playing, I know he's a great player. Don't get me wrong. Number one receiver. Oh yeah. Sure. I mean,

you know, I understand Joe. You still, it's Joe. I know it hurts you to watch. Kindly for everyone hit that 59-yard field go to win against the... Yeah, you're not wrong.

So one of the main issues is, and I know that this is going to sound like an excuse, and D'Amico Ryan is definitely not one to make excuses, but when you're looking at that offensive line, you're looking at a continuity issue. Kenyon Green was out. The left guard was out for the entire year, so this is his first time playing in that Bobby Sloan offense. Juice Scruggs, this is his, he

played two games in the playoffs last year at the center position, but he's only played a total of nine games at center. And so if you look at the, if you look at what's going on with the Houston Texans, that interior part of that offensive line is getting beat from Kenyon Green, Juice Scruggs, and the right guard, Shaq Mason. Mike, y'all can't have him back though. But the interior part of that line is what's getting beat. And so when they're getting beat, you're also looking at Bobby Slowik, who is calling too many long developing plays. He has condensed the formations. And so if he spreads it out and gives CJ just a little bit more time, even if he's going to bring in Mechie and Hutchinson

and use them as decoys to get the ball to Tank and Stephon, because there's no possible way that Tank should go a whole game with no receptions. And so they have to look at Bobby, and Bobby has to change up some of these plays, and they have to fix that interior part of that offensive line. Well, some of the things we are going to see developing a little bit is can some teams fix their fortune a little bit after some rough starts? So we'll talk about the Miami Dolphins specifically with Tua Tunga-Vailoa set to return for the Miami Dolphins this week.

Is that a good idea, and do they still have a chance inside the AFC East? We'll have some widespread opinions on that here on today's episode of AFC Squad. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by our friends over there at the GameTime app. And look, if you want to go check out the widespread of AFC games this week, I know the Broncos are going to be hosting the Carolina Panthers. You want to go check it out if you're in Denver? Well, you got to check out the GameTime app where you can get access to exclusive tickets with the best deals inside the app. And they have a brand new feature called GameTime Picks. And GameTime Picks, they filter out the

fluff to show you only the incredible deals on great seats. So you don't have to waste time searching through thousands of tickets. You can find the best ones with one click inside of the app. And on top of that too, they also have all in pricing where if you toggle this feature, it shows you your total upfront. So when you go to checkout, you're not hit with any surprise fees. But my personal favorite, if I'm going to go to an event,

I want to see what the action is going to be like from the vantage point of my seats. Their seat view feature inside of that gives you a panoramic view of all the actions. So you know exactly what to expect when you go check out the game or even concerts other events that are going on in your area inside the game time app so take the guesswork out of buying tickets with game time picks download the game time app create an account

use code locked on nfl for 20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account use promo code locked on nfl for 20 off downloadTime today. What time is it? GameTime. Today's show is also brought to you by our friends over there at the PrizePix app. And look, PrizePix is daily fantasy sports done right. PrizePix is the best place to get real money sports action. With over 10 million members and billions of dollars in awarded winnings, PrizePix has made daily fantasy sports accessible to all. You just pick more or less on at least two players for a shot to win up to 100 times your cash. Run your game all season long on PrizePix. And PrizePix is the best way to get

action on sports in over 30 states, including California, Florida, Georgia, and Texas. PrizePix is the only real money daily fancy platform with an injury insurance policy. So your lineup stay in place. Even if one of your players gets injured, if your player leaves in the first half and doesn't return PrizePix, they keep your lineup live all place even if one of your players gets injured. If your player leaves in the first half and doesn't return, PricePix, they keep your lineup live all inside the app. Sign up today and get $50 instantly. When you play $5, you don't even need to win to receive the $50 bonus. It is guaranteed.

PricePix is the best way to win real money this football season. So check it out. Download the app today and use code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. Once again, download the app, use code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. Check it out today. Prize picks run your game.

As we continue our third week here on the AFC Squad Show here on the Locked On Podcast. Network your team every day. We're going to open things up a little bit by talking about some of the more interesting storylines approaching Week 8 and particularly with teams who are in second place right now in their divisions in the AFC. We don't have any representation here from Locked On Dolphins here today, but there is some AFC East representation with Locked On Bills and Locked On Patriots. Tua Tonga-Vailoa set to return this week here for the Miami Dolphins.

Obviously, they've struggled even in week one against the Jacksonville Jaguars. It wasn't pretty for them in that game. It was a long, drawn-out battle for over 60 minutes, including a little bit of extra there in overtime. Joe, I want to start things off here with you about this because right now the Miami Dolphins are second in the AFC East. Injuries aside, everything that's going on with them, do you think that Tua coming back this week is the right move?

Obviously, he was on IR. He's had some time off since the injury, which last occurred, obviously, on that Thursday night matchup against Buffalo. Your thoughts on this? Well, I think the only person that can make that choice is Tua, right? He's the one that's had the injuries. He's received the information. It's his life, right? He's got to weigh all those variables and make that choice for himself. And so I don't really feel like I'm in a position to comment on whether or not he should play or not play. It's his choice to make.

And he's back as a starting quarterback for the Miami Dolphins, and they're a much better football team with him in the lineup. And I think that Tua's absence from the lineup has led to some bigger questions about Mike McDaniel and his capacity and his evolution. And if Chris Greer had this team, the general manager Chris Greer, if he had this team in the right positions to be able to sustain an injury to Tua and obviously injury-prone throughout his entire entire career dating back to his time at Alabama. But obviously this team's a lot better when he's their quarterback.

I mean, this team has been in the AFC East race each of the last two seasons, kind of coming down to the wire. They've been a good competitor. They haven't been able to get past the hump of Buffalo. Buffalo has their number for sure. They're the boogeyman for the Miami Dolphins. But this is going to change the trajectory of their season. Now they're in a hole, they're two and four. Their schedule to me is pretty manageable moving forward. And when I look at this AFC in general, you know, someone's got to

be the six and the seven seed, you know, someone's got to be it. And I think the Chargers losing to Arizona on Monday night and we're talking, this is week eight man. Like there's so much that needs to play out. But, I mean, who of these teams? Like, I think you can, like, respectfully, goodbye, New England. Goodbye, Cleveland. Goodbye, Tennessee. Goodbye, Jacksonville.

Okay, goodbye. The Raiders, goodbye to you, too. You don't have a chance. Probably, I mean, so you got the Jets, Dolphins, Bengals, Chargers, Broncos, Colts competing for two spots. Someone's got to do it, right? And Miami's one game back of Denver in the loss column to be the seventh seed, right? So they're all in it, and I think this is a huge infusion.

Obviously, they have Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddell, and they're running the ball. I think Miami's probably running the ball better than they ever have. Now, all of a sudden, you're passing games back, and I think they have a playoff caliber defense. So, yeah, I think this is a massive boost for Miami. It certainly felt like the season got off the rails, but, I mean, this is as big of an upgrade as you can get at quarterback, and we know what this offense can be.

They were number two in the league in scoring last year, and I think they're better running the ball. So Miami's certainly got a hole to dig out of, but it's early. We saw what the NFC last year, we saw two, three and six teams get to the postseason. Three and seven. I think the Bucs as well. I mean, they're not out of it. It feels that way, but it's not the case because I think this AFC after the top five is pretty,

pretty wide open. Cody, let's talk. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Quick because and Joe, you make you make a great point. But on the flip side of that, at some point, the organization is going to have to save Tua from himself. I mean, this last concussion that he suffered, I mean, that was to his own doing. Like he caused that he caused that hit and there was no reason for him to take that hit.

And I know that during the offseason, he went through what? Taekwondo, jiu-jitsu, something. They were trying to teach him how to learn how to fall. And I understand you've been playing this game your whole life. And so in one way, you've been playing it one way. But at some point, and I'm asking the question, guys, like at some point, the organization has to step in and save him from himself, right? Well, to your point, the Taekwondo and falling thing, it happened going into last season and he was healthy all last season.

And I think he did. There was very practical application to the way that he fell and protected himself. The problem is he got the contract and then the first opportunity that he had to protect himself and make a good decision, he didn't do it right. He took on DeMar Hamlin in a game where they're down three scores or they're losing heavily. And that wasn't the time to take that hit. It was not the time. And so the questionable judgment, I think, is is a bigger issue. But I don't know. Like, I mean, it gives them their best chance to play quarterback. And if he's if he's cleared and he wants to play, I don't know, man, I think I think it's his his right to play I don't want to second guess it too much but do you think that guardian

cap would have actually helped him not get a concussion in that in that specific scenario I'm not sure I and that's the thing too is like because he could be playing with one come this next week sorry I just want to throw that out there no I think it's a valid question I think there's still a lot of confusion as they like, are guardian caps actually effective or not? You know, I think that there's mixed reviews on it. I know when I was coaching, we had our kids wear them during practice, but we didn't see any difference in terms of the data. And right now I'm very curious to see what the actual data is

in terms of how they're tracking it, how they're monitoring the effectiveness of it. You know, you ask a lot of players there. They say, yeah, it just feels funny on the helmet. It makes the helmet way a little bit more. I'm all for player safety and extra protection, but if I'm not mistaken, didn't Tua have a helmet as well, a design helmet that the NFL has looked at that helps a little bit more with

stability because when you do get hit, I mean, people don't understand your brain will go from one side to the other. And that could be subconcussive blows right there. I don't know if there's a legitimate answer right now yeah no you got to protect yourself and look you got to slide you know instead of diving every time i see a quarterback dive i cringe a little bit slide protect yourself and of course there's been instances in the past i think joe flacco comes to mind against miami where he slid one time got blasted helmet came up but that's penalized though

protect yourself at all costs and i'm sure that there's an emphasis from the organization and the coaching staff i think from people around to it say hey like you got to protect yourself slide live to see another day it kind of falls on the conversation of what joe talked about you're down multiple scores in a big game you're not going to come back and win that one kind of similar conversation we had on the nfc side with whether or not todd bull should have pulled Chris Godwin out of the game on Monday night. But you could go check out NFC squad for that conversation there. So kind of to this point, as we wrap up this portion of the AFC squad here today, kind of to that point, obviously Tua's return will be big for Miami. Obviously Miami is second

in that division right now. Of all the teams that you had mentioned though, in the, in the AFC though, the only teams I feel like right now, if look at the top seven Kansas City Houston Baltimore Buffalo Pittsburgh Indy Denver and then you got the Chargers Bengals and Miami I really think it's between those five teams right there and if there's any team that's not in it right now that I would say hey they probably have the best way to work their way up to be successful I would say Cincinnati right now in that division even that's going to be hard because you already have Baltimore and Pittsburgh inside of that playoff hunt right there. And the bagels aren't playing their best football, but out of all the teams right now that are second place inside of their division, gentlemen, we'll go rapid fire here. I wanted to look at it from this

standpoint here in the AFC East it's Miami AFC North it's Pittsburgh AFC South it's Indy. And then AFC West, it's Denver. Of those teams right there, which teams do you feel like have the better chance of having success this season, whether that's climbing the ladder, making it as a wild card, or even maybe creeping up and stealing a division? Joe, let's start with you and then work our way down. Yeah, I think it's very clearly Pittsburgh. I don't know that they win that division,

but I think that they're probably in the driver's seat to be the five seed. Their defensive front's really good. Their special teams is always really good. They can run the ball, and they continue to just figure it out at quarterback, right? I mean, last year they went on a run with Mason Rudolph because they ran the ball, played good defense, and played good special teams. Now they get a little more upside, I think, regardless if it's Wilson or Fields with some dynamic play there, as long as they're not turning over the ball. I think it's very clear Pittsburgh and Mike Tomlin and that team is inevitable.

I have to agree. I think it's Pittsburgh when you look at all those different teams. The one thing I will say about Miami really quick, though, that it's going to work against them is they don't play great in December and in colder weather when they're outside. So I also think that could play into how things are going to play out with that team down the road. Yeah, I would agree with Joe and Chris right now. I think it's definitely Pittsburgh. And you look

at the Mike Tomlin factor and look, coaching does matter. And Mike Tomlin is battle tested. And that's not to take away from any of the other coaches on the teams that are competing for those spots right now. But when you do get into the latter part of this season, late December, early December, even that's when teams that have that battle test are going to share and they're going to show up what they can do. I think right now Pittsburgh is in the driver's seat, but when it comes to Miami though, definitely do not take the receiver off the hook, showing my age with that reference, but definitely don't take Miami out of your line of sight right now. This is a team that if they can show improvement in the passing game, like Joe said, they've got a shot. If they can clean up penalties, and we saw the Miami Dolphins

be victim of penalties early in this season, even against Jacksonville, five offensive penalties, three against the Buffalo Bills before Tua Tagovailoa went down. They've tried to clean that up. Now with Tua back in the lineup, if they're not going to commit costly penalties, that could be a dangerous team as well. Yeah, I'm going to have to say, I'm going to have to go ahead and make it a clean sweep. I'm going to go with the Pittsburgh Steelers as well. Looking at their schedule, I think that they have a formidable schedule, one that's going to be able, that's favorable to them. And I don't think that Russell Wilson will be the starting quarterback by the end of the season. I think that they will go back to Justin Fields.

I think that the Monday night game was it Monday night? If I'm not mistaken, Sunday night, Sunday night. Yeah, I think that that was an anomaly, especially playing against, you know, a dumpster fire like the Jets. And so I think that the Pittsburgh Steelers, they have the best opportunity. And like I said, going back to Justin Fields, I think that he gives them the best opportunity to run the table. I like what I've seen from Russell Wilson, but we all know, and Cody, I know you know this firsthand, that the league can catch up to him really fast. Yeah, no, 100%.

I think we saw, I mean, he got off to a little bit of hot start last year in denver and then teams kind of started catching up a little and then he had you know some late fourth quarter russ heroics that we have seen from him in the past one against the buffalo bills i'm sorry joe marino from that game there that was probably more so denver's defense than anything else but uh we'll continue our conversation too many men on the field on the field goal that he missed cody that's what happened hey you know big deal will he got another opportunity and now they hey Denver needed that but you know Denver's got a little bit of resurgence right now I agree I think it's going to be Pittsburgh out of all the teams more likely I'm excited to see maybe in these next four weeks

they're going to be big for Denver specifically and how they go I'm also eager to see how Indy responds because Anthony Richardson returned didn't look. Do they stick with him or do they try to make the jump to Joe Flacco? There's a lot of uncertainty in Indy right now with that question, but there is a lot of uncertainty as well around the NFL and specifically in the AFC about the MVP conversation. Some people say it's Patrick Mahomes. Some people say it's Lamar Jackson. Joe Marino might say,

Hey, Josh Allen's got a legitimate case there. We'll debate that much more here on today's episode of AFC Squad. Today's AFC Squad is brought to you by our friends over there at FanDuel Sportsbook. And as you all know, folks, FanDuel is America's number one sportsbook, and they want you to have a big return with the NFL season here this year. Week eight of the season is fast approaching, and there's a wide slate of games that are surely exciting to watch in primetime action.

On top of that, for division conversations, you can even go in right now and maybe change the landscape. You can bet on the same exact place where you placed your bets, where you can view live play-by-play and you can get statistics as games are happening. If you think that there could be a turnaround from one of these teams that we talked about

in terms of being second place, because there may be still a first place spot, you can choose who can win the division inside of the app you can also do same game parlays you can also put together money lines i like to look at the morning games put together a little bit of a money line parlay there and i like to see how things play out you can do that all inside of the fan dual sports book app where not only is it just the nfl but you get the mlb post season as well and you'll get started today with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet. Once again, place your first $5 bet, you'll get $200 in bonus bets guaranteed

all on Fanduel.com. That's Fanduel.com. Wrapping things up here today on today's installment of AFC Squad here on the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. A lot of conversation about MVP. Our NFC folks had a lot to say about who they believe should win the MVP in terms of the NFC side of things. Jared Goff got a lot of love. We even had one NFC host give an AFC quarterback some love. That was Josh Allen. We'll talk about that a little bit more, but I think the question we're going to pose and start off here today and obviously we'll go in order we'll start with

big sarge and then we'll work our way back up to joe marino here the question being is lamar jackson right now a better mvp candidate than patrick mahomes and if so explain your case but are there also any other contenders sarge let's start it off with you of course um and when first of all when i look at Patrick Mahomes, and I look at the Kansas City Chiefs, and Chris, I apologize. I have to say this to you while you're right here to your face. But, I mean, Kansas City has been winning, but they've been so inconsistent this year.

And Patrick Mahomes is having a down year, if I'm not mistaken. He has six touchdowns, but he has eight interceptions. And they just haven't looked. They haven't had that consistency on offense. But when you compare that to what Lamar Jackson is doing, and I have stats right here, Lamar Jackson, 1,810 yards passing. He is part of a rushing game that's averaging 210 yards rushing the game and 250 passing yards with 15 touchdowns. I mean, every time he steps onto that field, he is, uh, uh, he can either run it in or he can, you know, throw the ball to Zay Flowers. I mean, we even

seen him get a touchdown pass to Derrick Henry the other night. And what Lamar Jackson does along with Derrick Henry is they open that offense to, uh, they, they take that office to a whole nother level. And so when you have a ground game that is averaging 210 yards, and that's with Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson, and then you take that, especially when a lot of people don't think that he is good at passing the ball. And so you try to put eight in the box to stop Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson. Then he just go ahead and opens it up downfield. There's nobody in the NFL right now that is better than Lamar Jackson. He is MV. Yeah, I mean, I would definitely say right now, Sarge is right in terms of Lamar

Jackson being the better MVP candidate over Patrick Mahomes right now. And look, I say this with every bit of reverence to Patrick. I am a firm believer in the Ric Flair school where to be the man, you got to beat the man. And no one yet has beaten the man. Patrick to beat the man and no one yet has beaten the man Patrick is still the king of the hill but Lamar's season speaks for itself and Sarge basically made a great comparison there when you talk about someone who's able to air it out downfield and having someone like Derrick Henry to be able to complement his abilities it really is right now I think Lamar Jackson's season he's running away with it in terms of those two but I also want to give Joe Marino's guy a little bit of love as well and I think Josh Allen has had a tremendous season in Buffalo you look at 1483 yards a 77.6 QBR best in the NFL has yet to throw an interception which has been the

knock against Josh Allen for a number of years and now 12 touchdowns you look at the way the Buffalo Bills have played alan i think is definitely climbing up that ladder so do not sleep on josh allen as an mvp candidate i think he's going to be right in the mix by season 10 chris clark patrick mahomes i know i look hey kingdom is watching this conversation very closely but i feel like there is an objectivity here to say like you know hey patrick even though the chiefs are undefeated, Patrick's not playing his best football that should put him in the MVP category right now. I will say this, and I've had this argument on Twitter multiple times.

Betting market-wise, Patrick Mahomes is going to be the leader and is going to be the leader probably for most of the season because betting market isn't going to bet against him. The way he's playing right now, and Big Sarge, you made a great point, six touchdowns, eight interceptions in six games. That is not Patrick Mahomes-esque type football. I agree. I think probably Lamar Jackson is probably the leader at MVP.

I would also give credit to Josh Allen, and I think Joe Burrow has also played very well after starting slow. The one thing I would say about Patrick is it's really going to be hard for me to say that there are many QBs in the NFL that could step into his shoes and continue to win with losing as many weapons as he has in the first six weeks of the season and still be undefeated at this point. So I do think that plays into it, but he's not playing at an MVP level right now. So the question is, is Lamar Jackson a better MVP candidate than Patrick Mahomes? Absolutely.

It's not particularly close. Lamar Jackson's the MVP of the NFL through seven weeks. And here's the deal with Patrick Mahomes. They're freaking 6-0, right? They're not playing good football, but they just win. It doesn't matter. Who cares if he's the MVP or not? I surely assure you that Patrick Mahomes doesn't care.

They're 6-0. And you can do this at your own risk. I saw this with the Patriots for 100 years. I've now seen it with the Chiefs. Don't sit there and do this to yourself every year where you're like, yeah, I don't think they're that good this year. Not playing well, they're sleepwalking through the season. They're still winning. And guess what? This chiefs team had the 15th scoring offense last year. Did it matter? Nope. Because when it matters most, they know how to win football games in the post season. And so wake me up when Patrick

Mahomes isn't playing in the AFC championship game again, right? So it's six years in a row. He's won three of the last five Super Bowls. It doesn't matter that he's an MVP candidate or not. The team is 6-0. They're going to win that division. They're going to have it locked up in the second week of December.

I'm sure of that. And everyone's going to sit there and be convinced that the path to the AFC is wide open. And it's really not because the Chiefs are inevitable. The Patriots did this for years, right? Everyone kind of the count them out. Bill Belichick's being asked questions about benching Tom Brady. Come on, get out of town. So, yeah, don't fall for it.

Don't fall for it. The Chiefs are still the Chiefs. They still have Spags. They still have that middle three on that interior offensive line. They still have the best player in football in Patrick Mahomes, but he's not the MVP right now. That's Lamar Jackson. And as far as like, I do have to obviously invoke Josh Allen,

who's having a terrific season, especially when some of the expectations were a little bit lower, given all the newness around him. But the other guy is Jared Goff. I think right now, if there's three quarterbacks, of course, because MVP is a quarterback award. If there's three quarterbacks that are in the mix for MVP, it's Lamar Jackson by a chasm,

and then I think you can have a fun conversation about Jared Goff and Josh Allen. But come on, it's Lamar. It's Lamar. It's Lamar. Yeah. No, he's playing unreal football right now, and I think the addition of Derrick Henry is a security blanket

because Lamar's going to run and use his legs. But now that you have a guy in Derrick Henry who's as big and bruising as he is, maybe you could take that off of him a little bit and i like the fact that they've gone a little bit more under center i mean that i think at the beginning of the year that kansas city chiefs game you saw a lot of them trying to get used to the shotgun situation there but now they've evolved a little bit and now hey lamar can do a fake handoff to derrick henry and he can run the opposite way to the outside because he's got the speed to do that and he's also carving dudes up with his arm he's evolved I'd say when

you look at obviously Lamar's progression the biggest struggle the biggest knack on him coming out you know obviously his first couple seasons the NFL was hey he's got to be more consistent as a passer I think he's done a really good job refining that and look you got two tight ends and Isaiah Likely Mark Andrews that are coming up with big plays Isaiah Likely obviously the benefactor in that week one opener there and then obviously Zay Flowers and all the different weapons that they have they are going to be a hard team to stop and I know that they were they were tough against the Bills you know just a few weeks ago we saw that matchup kind of go head-to-head it was the explosive play factor in that game and we may see

a playoff rematch potentially with these teams. I know we're eight weeks in, but right now with the way that things are trending, I think it's easy to project that, hey, these teams could cross paths here very, very shortly. It was interesting. The NFC guys even brought up, you know, they were talking about, obviously, Jared Goff was the kind of consensus guy. They also brought up Jaden Daniels a little bit, which I found to be a little interesting. I feel like you can't give that award to a rookie.

And now, unless they go on a big run here and win every single game, maybe, maybe it's in the conversation. Rookie of the year, certainly the case. Is there a non-quarterback position right now in the AFC that maybe is garnering some potential interest there for MVP if you had to choose? If Nico Collins was healthy, he was on a heck of a tear. I think you're seeing his value right now with kind of the way that that passing offense has looked without him.

So, I mean, that's the name that immediately comes to mind for me. And that's what I was going to throw in real quick, Cody, is that I wanted to add that I think that when Nico does come back, when they play against the Lions in two weeks and him being healthy for the rest of the season, I think that we're going to also have to, you know, try to slide C.J. Stroud's name back into that MVP conversation because with that healthy offense, even though they only had 86 yards passing last week, I mean, they did lead the NFL in passing yards.

Nobody's talking about it, but Bo Nix throws for 60 yards in one game and everyone is just, yeah. But I think that if you, if you don't give it to Lamar Jackson, you got to give it to Derek Henry. I mean, 873 yards rushing in the first seven games of the season. I mean,

are we looking at potentially 2000 yards this year? Can we see a co-MVP between those two guys since they're saying part of the same by-product, maybe, I don't know. See that flies in the, that flies completely in the face of MVP. When you have two players on the the same team like come on i told you it's lamar but you missed me with that idea mvp and maybe offensive player of the year we can maybe look at that sure yeah

that's a fair conversation here and we'll see how things play out here obviously week eight of the national football league is going to be here and so many different storylines that we're going to look forward to revisiting next week. Obviously, the Ravens will take on the Browns. We'll continue the conversation there. The Texans take on the Colts here. We'll look at the Buffalo Bills and the Seattle Seahawks coming off of a big victory against the Atlanta Falcons. And then Chiefs host the – I mean, the Chiefs are traveling on the road to take on the Las Vegas Raiders. They have a whole bunch of dysfunction going on currently there.

And then you look at the Patriots, a matchup with Aaron Rodgers and the Jets, the Broncos, they'll host the Carolina Panthers in a game where they can't overlook. We'll break that down. And hey, folks, once again, if your favorite AFC team was not talked about here, please don't be mad at us. Please direct your complaints to your host and make sure that they jump on next week's squad show here on the Locked On Podcast Network. Speaking for Joe Marino, Chris Clark, Mike DeBate, Big Sarge.

I'm Cody Rourke. We'll see you next time for another AFC Squad.