Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked On AFC Squad | Can Tennessee Titans Hold Off Jaguars Climb From Bottom Of Division?

Episode Date: October 10, 2024

In the debut episode of Locked On AFC Squad, the New York Jets decision to fire Robert Saleh in favor of Nathaniel Hackett and Aaron Rodgers was discussed by our host of AFC team representatives. Plus, which AFC teams are on upset alert for Week 6 and which team in the AFC in the bottom of their division has the best chance to make the playoffs?

Robert Sala is out, Aaron Rodgers is old, and the AFC is looking a little bit like a hot mess through five weeks of the NFL season. It's time to get the squad together for Locked On NFL 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 up, everyone? Welcome into the Locked On NFL AFC squad. It is our debut episode here as we get a little bit of some fiery takes around the AFC.

This is supposed to be fun, laid back, some banter. So sit back, grab your favorite beverage, and more importantly, join us as we get you ready for another wild week across the AFC. Today's show is brought to you by our friends over there at PrizePix. Go to prizepicks.com slash lockdownNFL and use code all lowercase lockdownNFL to win $50 instantly when you play. $5.

I'm Cody Rourke. I host the Lockdown Broncos podcast, joined alongside by Marcus Moser of Lockdown Dynasty. He also covers the Cowboys as well, Lockdown Cowboys. Tony Wiggins does some work over there. Obviously, Lockdown NFL in the second slot of the day on top of locked on Jaguars. Kevin Oxtriker, another host of locked on NFL and host

of the Locked on Ravens podcast. Mike DeBate of the Locked on Patriots podcast. Chris Clark of Locked on Chiefs. And gentlemen, obviously it's great to see all of you here today as we debut this new style. You're going to get this every single week. Designed to be fun laid back. So hopefully you guys have your drink. People watching at home have their drink. We're kicked back. I think there's something big that happened in the AFC this week that has really nothing to do with any of our teams, but let's get it out of the way. What is going on with the New York Jets? Robert Sala can, like to be honest with you, Jets and Marcus, I'm going to

throw this to you to start here. This kind of surprised me that Robert Sala was fired as quick as he was. But more importantly, I think it showcases that Aaron Rodgers is running the Jets. I think the timing was the surprising part. I don't think anybody was surprised that Robert Sala was fired or that he didn't make it to the end of the season, but this Jets team has a chance to be in first place in the AFC East after Monday night. It's, it's kind of shocking that they didn't even give him that chance. But to me,

that shows that Woody Johnson, the Jets owner and Aaron Rogers, who was really the Jets owner, believes that he's lost the locker room, right? It feels like that Robert Sala has lost the locker room. He's lost the team and they had had no choice but to move on. And look, gentlemen, feel free to chime in, whoever, wherever,

your thoughts as well. You know, Tony, Kevin, Mike, Chris, like this is – we're just going to let it all out here. Listen, man, yeah, he probably lost the locker room, but, oh, I wonder who caused it. You know what I'm saying? You got a Hall of Famer, and the way players wonder who caused it you know what i'm saying you got a hall of famer and the way players think man you know they they're in awe of this dude man look aaron rogers

one of the most talented people to ever play the quarterback position right they seen what he's done a lot of them grew up watching him you come in there your coach trying to hug you on the sideline and you pushing them off and then now you got to he lost the locker room no you took the locker room from him that's what it was it was game of thrones and you came in and you snatched it that's that's he won't do that old dude in that gown in that cave the people that didn't take a real religious people on game of thrones you know i'm talking about yeah like they play the reins of castamere like that's what robert sawler heard when he went to his office this morning and he's that's exactly who aala heard when he went to his office this morning. That's exactly who Aaron Rodgers was.

The people that made seriously walk and go, shame, shame, shame. I saw him walk out of the building saying, shame, shame, shame. Kevin, what do you got to say on this? For me, it's just I love the cycle that happened on Tuesday because there were like 15 different reports of everything that went down where it was like okay Salah's out but actually Salah had decided to demote Nathaniel Hackett five minutes before he was fired and then Aaron Rodgers was blindsided by it and all cool with it and I'm just like okay not everything adds up I think everybody here knows what really went down

and plus to me this is like uh how does this fix the offense for the jets? I mean, the defense was fine. Robert Sala defensive guy. And I'm just like, what does this mean for the offense? And honestly, to me, the whole other big storyline is Devante Adams. And we've been all talking about how, okay, this is the jets and maybe the saints and maybe sprinkle in the Ravens or the Steelers or whatever. But now it's apparently,

well, this hasn't really affected the jets interest in Devante. And so it's like, okay, who is really running the jets? We all know it's Mr. Aaron Rogers. I want to,

I want to ask you, how do you think this went down? Because part of me thinks this is like game of Thrones style. Like Tony mentioned, like probably Rogers got wind that hack Hackett was going to be gone so he wouldn't put a power play on Johnson today if you get rid of Hackett I'm gone as well I'm out of here what do you think happened here yeah I mean that would make sense because obviously the chain of events is usually you get rid of a coordinator you see if you can fix it that way and then it's the head coach that maybe falls after the season or a little bit after that but it's like we no nobody nobody

questions the relationship that rogers and akit have everybody knows the relationship that they have so i think to me i would agree with you marcus where it probably some level of the i came in here to new york because i was promised, and Z, and we know how difficult it was for the Packers to even move Aaron Drodgers to the Jets and everything they needed to get. Lazard came in, too, and there were conversations, what's that going to look like? I think it was some level of, hey, you know what? You bring in a future Hall of Fame quarterback,

and you're kind of screwed without him, and you might be screwed with him now, but at the end of the day he's going to get what he wants and woody johnson kind of was like all right well i kind of have to do this or else i don't know what the heck's going to go on now motion ask me how it happened i want you to be i want you to leave your office with your box right and i'm going to say what's wrong and you say he demoted me and then watch what I do. And I'm Aaron Rodgers. So you're coming out of your office. I'm like, what are you doing? What are you doing? I got fired. By who? By Woody. Like hell you did. Go put your stuff back in that office and watch what I go down here and do. You ain't getting fired.

And then I want you to look out that window in 15 minutes and I want you to see who's bopping to their car with security around. You ain't going nowhere. that's how it went down so Tony I gotta ask you do you think there's any chance that this works right like the Jets are they they band together as a locker room and they suddenly start to play better is there any chance that now that the bad guy is gone things start to get better over in New York temporarily and I'll tell you why. Because it always happens like that. But you remember when – Chris, you remember this. You remember when Romeo Cornell took over, and then all of a sudden the Chiefs won some games,

and then they put him in head coach. What happened? They beat the Packers. Yeah, but then the next year, what happened after that? Oh, yeah, horrible. Yeah, so that little quick quick switch it kind of always works right but see the thing the reason why i know it won't work is because aaron rogers won't stand in front of anybody answer tough questions and when you're the de facto leader that's part of

leadership you can't just go out there cause all this mutiny and then have everybody on your side but then when things get tough and they will when, when somebody like Baltimore or Kansas City starts smacking them around on the field, now what's going to happen? Okay, boss, there's going to be somebody in there that was very, very loyal to Robert Sala, and they're going to go on the defensive side. The interim. Oldbridge. That's right.

And they're going to go, okay, coach, what we do now? And he ain't going to be nowhere. He's going to be on McAfee. That's where he's going to be because people that leave de facto, they always pull these strings behind the scenes, but they don't want to answer tough questions in front of people. And the New York media is really, really tough. And you remember how that worked with Antonio Pierce last year in Las Vegas,

how everything was sweet with him. And, you know, they were playing for him and everything was great. And now in Las Vegas this year, there's the quarterback drama. There's the Devontae Adams drama. So, Wig, you're spot on right there. And, again, is that all Antonio Pierce's fault? No. But, like, it's that, okay, it's the initial new coach comes in.

Oh, is this the guy that can be the guy? And then all of a sudden, sometimes it works and then sometimes it doesn't. Yeah, Mike, I mean mike you're you're a guy who covers the patriots you see the jets two times per season i mean your thoughts on this and really how it impacts obviously the patriots who now making a change at quarterback themselves like the news got stolen like the jets came out and stole the patriot i mean obviously the patriots buzz here on the obviously tuesday yeah there's nothing patriots fans love more than seeing a jets implosion and anytime you can steal headlines from gangrene down there just south on 95,

Pats fans are going to love it. Look, bottom line, there's a lot to lament in Patriots Nation. So nobody's laughing at anybody right now in a Patriots uniform. They got their own problems and plenty of them. But I think it's interesting. You look and you guys have made such great points about Aaron Rodgers now kind of taking the reins and really kind of being that alpha in the coach's room, on the field, and really kind of taking that mantra with the New York Jets. From a New England Patriots standpoint, this is interesting because you're looking at a team now that all of a sudden could be on the verge of imploding. Maybe not.

Who knows? I mean, there's a lot that could go wrong. There's a lot that could go right on this. But I think the white elephant in the room is everybody's wondering who's waiting in the wings. We know Jeff Ulbrich is going to get his opportunity. But there's a guy right now that knows that division very well who is looking for a job next year.

And a lot of people are wondering if those types of feelings those that animosity that exists right now in one patriot's place between the former owner between the former coach bill belichick and that owner robert craft is bad enough for bill belichick to go back to gang green and the jets i don't see it happening, but you never know. Stranger things have happened. The WWE could not have scripted this any better. I mean, I can see Bill Belichick coming out on halftime when the Jets can't make a third down stop, the glass breaks, you got Jim Ross yelling, by God, that's Bill Belichick's music. And he comes out and saves that defense. I'm telling you, Triple H definitely, call me, I could script this out pretty well, guys.

No, look, obviously the AFC right now, there's a lot of ups and downs. And speaking of that, some things can change. We've seen it's been a week-to-week league so far through five weeks of the season. As we all go into week six, which teams in the AFC should be on upset alert? You're going to get that and much more here on this debut episode of Locked On NFL AFC Squad. get that and much more here on this debut episode of Locked On NFL AFC Squad. Today's Locked On AFC Squad is brought to you by our friends over there at Z Biotics. Z Biotics pre-alcohol probiotic is the world's first genetically engineered probiotic. It was invented by PhD scientists to tackle rough mornings after drinking. So here's how it works.

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purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account, redeem code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off. Download GameTime today. What time is it? GameTime. As we jump into the deeper action on today's episode of the Locked On NFL AFC Squad, we'll highlight which teams in the AFC might be on upset alert,

but also highlighting some key performances from Week 5 around the National Football League. I'm going to throw this first and foremost here to Kevin. Kevin, obviously the Ravens, a team that you cover, they were in a little bit of dire straits going into that fourth quarter against the Cincinnati Bengals. They find a way to claw back in it and win it in overtime. What's the vibe right now for the Ravens? They're certainly hitting their mark a little bit

after a little bit of a slow start. I'd say probably at one point the best one and two team in the NFL at one point. Now they're getting some momentum here. What's it like in Baltimore right now? Yeah, no, it's good. Wigwin, let me talk about him. Yesterday I'm locked out of NFL, so I'm going to talk about him right here on AFC Squad.

Look, I mean, a game like that, I'm still kind of coming down from that game emotionally just with everything that happened. It's back and forth, back and forth. But people are feeling pretty good in Baltimore here, at least on the offensive side of the ball. Obviously, in the secondary, they have had their fair share of issues, miscommunications, and just poor play in general.

Marcus Williams, who they signed to a huge deal a couple off seasons ago from New Orleans, has graded out as one of the worst safeties in the league so far, and that's been a pretty big detriment to them but Lamar Jackson's playing like an MVP again and ranked in the top five in plenty of categories and I think the the conversation around Baltimore and look especially with Jayden Daniels coming to town in week six obviously no one had that matchup circled on the calendar when the schedule came out it's kind of like oh okay those the Ravens will kind of stomp that match but now is this the upset alert yeah I'm not going that far personally I'm sure maybe other people will but I think and I've seen folks

doesn't yeah I believe it I believe it could the Ravens cover Cody and I right now if we were out on the field because that's my biggest concern hey you're going for 200 in the touchdown man that's the thing is like me Washington can turn this in the touchdown, man. That's the thing. Washington can turn this into a shootout. And if it gets into one of those games, you just never know. Yeah, I think the thing that encouraged me, though, and Lamar has done it before, this is not new, but the fact that they were in negative game script this time

and they were able to keep it close, where Cincinnati was scoring on every single possession, Lamar matched them. I mean, that was pure cinema quarterback play between Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow in week five. But the thing that I like about what the Ravens are doing this year, particularly on offense, is one, they've figured out how to use Derrick Henry against the Chiefs.

Chris, I know we had talked about it beforehand. A little bit of weird usage with them running them five carries on the first drive and then not really running them again after that. But they've figured out that. And the offense in the past, guys, we know in Baltimore, they just run through the tight ends. So it was kind of Lamar throwing it up and Mark Andrews down there. Let me chuck this thing up and see if he can go get it.

But now Lamar spreading the ball around. So I expect it to be a shootout, Marcus. I don't think this is going to be a very defensive battle. I think Baltimore has better defensive personnel, but they're not showing that they can use that personnel effectively through five weeks so far. But, man, this Baltimore team, I'd say overall, the vibes are good heading into a game against the Commanders.

There was a week five upset, so to speak, a little bit. The Houston Texans obviously beating the Buffalo Bills. Mike, the New England Patriots making a change to the quarterback. Drake Mays going to get the start for them. Now they play C.J. Stroud and the Texans. This game right here also has it as potential upset alert here. Obviously, according to our friends over there at FanDuel Sportsbook, the Patriots are seven-point underdogs in this game at home.

So, I mean, what are we feeling here, gentlemen? All of you chiming in like is this the upset game of the week Mike we'll start off with you I think this is going to be a tough one to get an upset on if I'm very honest with you the New England Patriots right now we're going to be feeling a little bit of extra juice with Drake May in the lineup and look the Patriots really have nowhere to go but up when it comes to their offense you look at what they did against the Miami Dolphins, the team that really was reeling defensively coming in.

They were without their top pass rusher in Jalen Phillips, and that defense looking for a little bit of an identity. Patriots managed only 148 passing yards. They converted only four of 13 third downs. That's not going to cut it. It's just not sustainable, and that's why you're seeing drake may in the lineup against the texans but it's a curious time to bring him out the patriots offensive line is yielding a league best 48.3 pressure and that's a lot i mean you talk about

the team now that is generating the most pressure in the nfl it's the houston texans 42 percent danielle hunter leading the league with 29 pressures. That's a lot of pressure to put on a kid like Drake May. Drake May is good with off script. He can definitely make the explosive plays. He can make the throws downfield that Patriots fans have been wanting to see. But at the end of the day, is that offensive line giving him enough time? That worries me.

And this defense right now is reeling a little bit as well. The Patriots had some off-field problems this week with Jabril Peppers. Obviously he will not be in the lineup this week. And you're looking at Kyle Duggar, probably still missing some time as well. It's going to be difficult for the New England Patriots to stop that Houston Texans offense. So going to be a lot of era of good feelings in the uh in foxborough on sunday with the red threads and the patriots with the red throwbacks and drake may finally getting his start but they're running in with tough texans team i don't see an upset coming the patriots offensive line play like they don't like uh jacobo they're like they're playing like they got a hit on that man man it's like oh yeah

y'all go ahead. You go that way. I'm going to go this way. You go ahead and knock him out the game. I ain't never seen nothing like it, man. They were playing like they don't like dude, man. I was going to say, like, you know, maybe Marcus and Jacoby Brissett were best friends there for him. And he's like, hey, man.

I can't be talking bad about my guy, Jacoby. But, Mike, I wouldn't be surprised if the offensive line does look a lot better. Like, listen, Jacoby is a fine backup quarterback, but he cannot move, right? You get a quarterback in there that is willing to escape a little bit, that will stand tall in the pocket. Watch how that offensive line looks better. I actually think this is a game that the Patriots can win because Nico Collins is going to be out with a hamstring injury.

This offense is just not the same without Nico. Tank Dell does not look like the same player that we saw last year. He's just not the same athlete. This Patriots defense, if they can keep this game around 17, 20 points, you just never know. And with this being Drake Mays' first game, this is probably a good time to catch a team like the Texans before there's more tape on them.

That's a good point. Don't forget, though, that Stephon Diggs knows this team very well, knows that defense very well. This is a guy that tortures them on a regular basis when he played for the Buffalo Bills. So that's still a concern. I understand that definitely not having Nico in the lineup is going to hurt that Texans offense,

but there are other circumstances and other factors to consider. But I do think you're absolutely right when it comes to the masking of the problems on the offensive line drake may much better equipped to do that than jacoby brissett without question chris rush with four two yeah they paid daniel hunter a lot of money and will anderson they drafted him and used a lot of capital to go up and get him this is just not a good spot because I don't think they're going to blitz. That means they're going to cover. And when they cover, sideline to sideline in that D'Amico Ryan's defense,

that's going to give him more things he has to look at, and that's going to make him wait. And if you wait with the Neil Hunter and Will Anderson with a bad offensive line, that is a recipe for destruction. They should give the ball to Ramondre Stevenson 35 times to make it easy on their quarterback. Hopefully no fumbles there, by the way. Cody, can I give you another game that I think is going to be an upset?

Yeah. I was going to ask Chris if the bye week was going to get the Chiefs this week. That's the only time it doesn't get stopped at the Chiefs, right? I want your guys' thoughts on the Sunday night football game between the Bengals and the Giants. Everybody's talking about how good this Bengals team is, despite being one and four. And I think you look at this game against the Giants and you just pencil it

in on the road as a win for Cincinnati. I don't see that. I see a defense with the Giants that can get pressure with the front four drop seven in coverage. And then you look at this Giants offense the last two weeks, like they've just been dominating the time of possession. The Bengals can't get off the field. I think this is a dangerous, dangerous spot for this Bengals team.

I agree. Anytime you're one and four, it's a dangerous spot. Yes. Because, you know, your season is like getting away from you. And they've had some games where it looked like they probably should have won some shootouts. They're real close to not being – they're real close to being just like Baltimore. Let me explain. Baltimore is a team of smiles and cries. Think about this. The throw Lamar made,

he got criticized in Kansas City. Like, you know, the one he missed and then the one he made, well, you're never going to, it's not sustainable. you can't win like that right and then they have a lead against dallas and then that that goes away right and then the other day if they could hold the ball on a field goal ain't nobody talking about lamar and all of those dudes being all happy that's two or three games that could have just flipped the other way but that just shows you how close things are in the nfl the bingles the flip side have been the victims of it the the jinx and kc that they have all the time they always get the bit every single week it's like something else you see them just hold their head down like we lost again they got three games this year they could have won each and every one of them on the last play and they'd be the the Ravens, and the Ravens could be the Bengals. They're not, though.

The crazy thing to me is you look at the Cincinnati team, and Zach Taylor has made some mistakes this year, and I think that's really what's cost him. And you get in a situation where you get gifted a fumble. Sorry, Kevin, but that's really what that was. They got gifted the ball in overtime, and you hand the ball off. You take the ball out of your best player's hands, and don't let him even throw the ball when he's been playing lights out the entire game. It was a horrible decision on Zach Taylor's part, and this Bengals team, I agree with you,

Marcus. This could be a trap game for them, and they could be overlooking the Giants, but right now the bangles defense can't stop anybody so who knows what's going to happen in that game and daniel jones has played well like he played pretty well in the cowboy game on thursday he was awesome against the seahawks in seattle in that game without malik neighbors without malik davis we'll be back in this game if daniel jones plays an average game they're going to put up 27 points. And I think there's Joe Burrow has been awesome. Like he's probably been the best quarterback in the league through, through five games.

He's due to have an average game. And if he has an average game, there's no way the Bengals can win. And I agree about Zach Taylor, Chris, I was shocked that the Bengals decided to run a three straight times from what was the Ravens 38 or something. I mean, Joe Burrow would torch them, but the Bengals were coaching scared the entire game, especially on that sequence at the end of the first half. They didn't want to get the ball back. They wanted to bleed that clock down to

halftime. John Harbaugh was the one that called the timeout for some reason to give the ball back to the Bengals. And Zach Therrell was like, oh, all right, I'll take this. All right. Okay. If you're going to give it to me, I'll take it. And then they capitalized on it. So the Bengals offense has been awesome. Joe Burrell has been awesome. Jamar chase, et cetera. But also that defense is just so bad. I mean, it adds up to when you're losing games like that and it's close and it's one or two

plays that define it. Like at what point, like the, the mental energy and like, do you have to exhaust to climb yourself out of that hole is crazy. Denver somehow did it last year at 1-5, were able to get to 5-5. That right there, though, you ask players, that probably drained the most energy out of them, especially when it impacted them later on down the stretch of the season. It's a challenge. Denver didn't probably expect to get to 5-5 or have a good season last year.

They weren't expected to have a good year. Cincinnati was looked at as a team that could be a contender this year. Yep. If Joe, and Tony made this point earlier, the amount of pressure that they're going to be on the rest of the season, just to have a chance to win and just to have a chance to get into the playoffs is going to be huge.

And that could play a factor, especially this week or in any game going forward for Cincinnati. Speaking of playoffs, one thing we are going to talk about here on the debut episode of Locked On NFL AFC Squad, which team at the bottom of their division, as it stands here after week five, has the best chance to make the playoffs? We'll break it down.

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As we jump in the fourth quarter of today's Locked On NFL AFC Squad, the debut episode on YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. We appreciate you all so much. We're going to break down what we think in terms of the teams right now in the afc north afc east afc south and afc west which teams at the bottom of their division right now have the best chance to make the postseason i think that this could go a multitude of ways i look at the the afc standings right now i mean on paper there's some ugly performances from some of these teams but everyone's within one or two games right now. I mean, on paper, there's some ugly performances from some of these teams,

but everyone's within one or two games right now of that third spot inside the conference in terms of seeding if the playoffs were to begin today. But right now, the teams are at the bottom of their divisions. You got the Patriots. You got the Bengals, surprisingly. The Jags and the Raiders. Which team of this group has the best chance

of making the playoffs? We'll start with anybody. Anyone that wants to. Okay. Tony, Tony, take it, take it, take it away. What do you got? It's us. It's the Jaguars. And I'm being real with this. Outside of the Buffalo game. And that was the one that was on national TV in primetime, which was, it was like the bad news bears, right? 34, seven at halftime.

All of the other games have been real real close and they should have won all of them and they were not playing well and now they go to london for two straight weeks i know there's a joke in there somewhere but now we got a new stadium being built so shut up we ain't moving to london but they're going over there for two straight weeks and they got caleb williams a rookie, and Drake May now. They could be three and four in two weeks easily if they play the way that they played outside of the Bills game. And remember, they've done this before. They were two and seven, and they ended up making the playoffs.

And then last year, they did it the other way. They were eight and three, and they missed the playoffs. So they have been the biggest ebb and flow team and team of streaks over the last two seasons. And I think they have a little bit of a favorable schedule. They already beat the Colts once. Just imagine they can do it again. And I think they'll beat the Titans twice. So now you talk about a four, four wins in a division, even if they lose their next game against the Texans, who they were beating with a minute to play two weeks ago. So I do think that they have the best chance of those teams that you mentioned. And I would say the Bengals,

but the problem with the Bengals is they play in too tough of a division. Tony, I want to, I want to mention really quickly on your team, your schedule is pretty easy over the next couple of weeks, but you look at the end of that schedule and the quarterbacks they play, Will Levis, the corpse of Aaron Rodgers, Gardner Minshew slash Aiden O'Connell, Will Levis, and then probably Joe Flacco at that point for the Colts. Like if they can just survive for the next month, get closer to 500, they could easily go 5-0 to finish out the season.

And we're right back to nine wins like we've been over the last couple years. And I think nine wins is probably going to get you the sixth or seventh seed in the afc you mean russell wilson's not going to be the raiders quarterback by the trade deadline at this point come on somebody i mean i hope we never see russell wilson again this year it's setting up for it i mean i mean like if you're davante adams do you actually want to go to new york now knowing that that organization's just a little bit more dysfunctional? Look, of course, you're going to have Aaron Rodgers, your boy. You're going to have Nathaniel Hackett.

That team stinks. That's one of the – like, watching that team operate – I mean, for them to do Robert Sala the way that he did with the whole report about potential security stuff, I just think the fact that everyone sees that Aaron Rodgers, Nathaniel Hackett are doing terrible and going to keep their jobs. And Robert Sala, look, he's the head coach granted that responsibility, but he's the guy who's getting the sword dug into his back in this situation. You want to go like Devante. He's

going to go there. If I'm the Raiders, I'm saying I'm going to send him somewhere else. I think, I think for example, Steelers might be able to give them better capital and better overall return. If they give them Russ, not saying it's going to make a difference for the Raiders, but man, at this point, that run's going to potentially play itself out here. The crazy thing about the Jets' potential trade for Devonta Adams to me is you look at that situation, and I agree with you, it's a horrible situation. I don't think that I'd want to be going into that situation. Who wants to go coach here?

Especially with, look at what he's doing with Garrett Wilson right now. Garrett Wilson looked like he was one of the best young wide receivers in the NFL and he can't do anything right in for the Jets that is a bad situation and the other situation that he was looking at trying to get go to was the Saints do you really want to go to a Saints led team that doesn't have Derek Carr probably for the next two weeks and is probably going to drop the next two games because of it I mean there's not a good situation for the for the next two weeks and is probably going to drop the next two games because of it. I mean, there's not a good situation for the Raiders. And you started talking about Pittsburgh. That's going to be a big question mark because I don't know that they have a number one wide receiver on their team with the way George Pickens was playing

this past week. Adams for Pickens. There you go. Yeah, that's a perfect place for him. There's a perfect place for him, and nobody has mentioned it. I haven't seen anybody nationally mention it. But if y'all saw what Kirk Cousins did the other night, even with Darnell Mooney's drops, can you imagine him in Atlanta,

in that dome? In that dome with Kirk doing the swag surf and all those people doing the dirty bird and them being willing to throw it 40 times. And, you know, Kirk will spread it around now. And Atlanta is Atlanta, you know, for a young man like Devontae Adams. I have too much invested in Kyle Pitts for that to happen, man. I can't have any targets taken away from Kyle Pitts.

I've been hurt one too many times. I have to keep the targets from Kyle Pitts. Yeah, I got it. But still, you see what I'm saying? I don't know about their cap space, and I don't know about all of that stuff. I just can't imagine him and B. John and Pitts and Drake London and Kirk Cousins, who it would be crazy. It's so much fun to watch all those guys.

Even the Washington. Yeah, Washington. Oh, geez. That's the one that I keep thinking about. Sorry. I was going to say, I think it would be awesome to have Adams in London and Bijan and then just see Ray-Ray McLeod get 13 targets in a game. That sounds amazing.

Can't wait for that. Social media will explode. Yeah. I mean, Mike, how do you feel about this too? I mean, the Patriots, obviously that division right now with everything that's going on with the Miami Dolphins, I still look at Miami and it's crazy to me they flipped from last year at this point being the number one offense now being dead last 32nd Denver having one of the top defenses that you know now after

giving up 70 points to them last season this the narratives and the storylines that kind of played out I think the Patriots will finish in my opinion I feel like they'll finish second in the division I think that the Jets are going to free fall a little bit. I don't have them beating the Bills on Monday night football. Are you kidding me? Like, oh, Aaron Rodgers is going to come out because he got rid of Robert Sala. Well, guess what? You still have Nathaniel Hackett on the sideline.

Like, that right there is not going to change anything. I think really it's between, if we're looking at these four teams, I think you make a great point about Cincinnati. Being in the tough division that they're in, I have a hard time believing it's going to be them that can claw their way out. However, they are probably out of these four teams, probably the most dangerous one and four team or like, you know, bottom of the barrel team in their division right now. Yeah, without question.

Absolutely. And I think right now with the talent they have from top to bottom, they are going to be the toughest. I do agree with Tony. I think it's the Jags that do have the best chance of being able to make the playoffs because of the road ahead and because of the talent they have on both sides of the ball. Look, I'd love to say that the New England Patriots have a chance to sneak in and really surprise some people, go on a run with Drake May and make this happen for the Pats and get into a playoff race. But the thing that makes me a little squeamish on that

is not so much what Drake is going to do for for this offense which will look better under drake may it's the defensive problems that the patriots have been having it's the discipline problems they were whistled for a half dozen penalties six of which were totally avoidable last week they have got to do a better job of coaching this team getting them disciplined one of the things that they did the last couple of years under bill belichick and that regime was play undisciplined football. We were promised that was going to be not the case this year. It continues to be. And again, I think the loss of guys like Christian Barmore, Juwan Bentley are so great on that defense.

It puts such a strain now on the offense to score points. Yeah, that's one of the reasons why I'm thinking the Patriots are going to have a tough road to do it, even though right now the division around them is imploding with the exception of the Buffalo Bills. Okay. So let's get into maybe as we get ready to wrap up our first installment here, the Locked On NFL AFC squad here today, wherever you get your podcasts or on YouTube. I want everyone to go through and give a prediction for the week. It doesn't have to be for the team that you cover. It can be a widespread NFL prediction on a player you think is going to break out this week or a team performance let's start off with

you Chris Clark since your Chiefs are on a bye week man uh to me I think that this is going to be a situation where you look at what the Jets do in this game or in this week and I think that they absolutely have to come out and they have to beat the Bills. I just don't see it happening. I cannot see them playing against Josh Allen and Josh Allen having a second game as bad as he had this past week. And quite honestly, that's probably the only way the Jets could beat him. They're going to get a boost for maybe a coaching change if they've really lost the locker room. But at this point, I don't think that's going to matter enough.

The Bills are a better team team and it's not even close. And Josh Allen, I think, is probably the number two quarterback in the NFL right now, or at least has been in the league for several years now. Joe Burrow probably has a case too, but I think that Bills team is going to beat the Jets. And it's going to be really interesting to see what happens after that, because after firing the coach, are they going to lose even more than just the locker room to the extent that they already have? Tony, you want to share your prediction of the week? Because everybody's sitting there all quiet, like, you know,

like we're the child support office or something. So I'll go. No, Trayvon Walker is going to continue to bust out. And this is not me being a homer. This is about me stating facts. Hutchinson's great. He's great. Got the pen on his face.

Teams winning, leading the league in pressures. But there's this thing that Trayvon is a bust. I'm going to give you some numbers. The Jaguars are one and four. They play five games. Trayvon has five sacks. He had 10 sacks last year in his second year. In his last 10 games, he has nine sacks.

That is not a bust and if you any and every coach seems to mention him as being violent he sets the edge he's a power pass rusher he got three sacks last week and a forced fumble and caused another sack and there was nothing on social media about it. No big man award on ESPN, no breakout mention or nothing like that. Those numbers I just gave you are real. He is a victim of not being the road warrior. He's a victim of not being Hutchinson. If you really pay attention to it, verify those numbers. He has five sacks in five games. He has nine sacks in his last 10 games, and nobody's saying anything about it. And, Tony, I'll point out, last week the Colts played the Steelers, and Braden Smith shut out T.J. Watt.

I believe T.J. Watt had one pressure in that game. Braden Smith in this game, one of the most technically sound right tackles in the league, had no chance because of the lack of power. He was fighting for his life. Was literally fighting for his life. Yeah, so I'm glad that you mentioned that one i've got an afc prediction that i want to i want to give out here this is going to be our last week to watch deshaun watson as the starting quarterback for the cleveland browns a little over there man it's going to be over the browns play the eagles this week they are eight and a half point underdogs in

that game and philadelphia is a disaster and they're eight and a half point underdogs in that game. And Philadelphia is a disaster. And they're eight and a half point under, or sorry, favorites in that one. I think if the Browns go one in five, they're going to have to make a change or else they are going to lose a locker room. If they haven't already. I think this is the last week we see Watson before it's,

I think it's going to be Jamis, but don't rule out Dorian Thompson Robinson as being the starter moving forward. Yeah. Marcus, you stole mine. That was going to be like, I was, I was predicting like the biggest Browns loss where the noise gets so loud.

They can't, they can't justify it anymore. I know it's kind of like the sunken cost fallacy with them right now. There's this playing them when everybody knows it shouldn't be him, but I'll go Ravens. I'll talk about Baltimore and I'll say, cause everybody's picking the commanders to upset Baltimore, and that's been the whole thing this week. I'm going to back the Ravens because of the fact that if you are a rookie quarterback,

if you are a second-year quarterback, even if you're a third-year quarterback, play in this Ravens defense, whatever iteration it is, Don Martindale, Mike McDonald, or we haven't really seen it with Zach Ward yet. But generally, the style of defense the Ravens play can be a struggle for rookie quarterbacks and younger players who have not seen that defense before. And with the way Lamar Jackson's playing, I'm not saying Jaden Daniels is going to not do anything in this game. I expect it to be a pretty high-scoring game.

But I'm going to say the Ravens win that game by at least two possessions, if not three. That'll be my bull. Okay, man. Mike, what about you? What do you got?

Yeah, I'm going to, I'll continue the Homer trend. I'll stick with the Patriots and I'll say, you know what I did say earlier that I do believe that they're going to have difficulty beating the Houston Texans on Sunday, but they will get their first plus 200-yard passing game from a quarterback. And yes, you did hear that correctly.

It's been that dismal in New England. They have not had a 200-yard passer all season. They will have that in Drake May, and I think most of those yards will go to Demario Douglas, who's been criminally underused so far for the New England Patriots. That connection between May and Douglas is going to be, I think, a springboard to watch guys like Jalen Polk and Javon Baker get more looks. And maybe you can start to see some budding talent in that wide receiver room for the New England Patriots. I'm going to go with maybe, yeah. I was just going to say, just so I can go on top of what Marcus said,

that means that Amari Cooper is going to get traded to the Chiefs right after this week or during this week. So I appreciate that, Marcus. I'm a big believer that teams should not trade within the same conference. Send them to the other conference. Just do that. We'll stick with that. My prediction for the week is not necessarily going to be, I think,

one that's shocking. I think that the Buffalo Bills are going to molly-wop the New York Jets on Monday night football. I think that it's going to be a runaway. And I also think as well, Josh Allen, even on smelling salts, is better than what Aaron Rodgers and Nathaniel Hackett are going to bring to the table for them. I think Buffalo's defense is going to fly around against Rodgers.

He doesn't look like the same guy anymore. The fact that they're willing to invest everything into giving him power over what they're doing. Like, Woody Johnson came out and said, hey, I talked to Aaron Rodgers last night. This is not the reason why I fired Robert Sala. Who are you fooling? You're not fooling us.

Buffalo Bills by at least three scores, I think, on Monday Night Football. That's my prediction. Love it. Tony, did the Gumby kick in yet? You're muted. No, I was waving because Marcus' screen froze for about two minutes, and I'm sitting there like, that joke ain't blinked his eyes in two minutes. What the hell he got going on?

An unofficial scaring contest. I was like, Marcus was sitting there like this the whole time. I was like, I was looking at an episode of Get Out or something. I started talking about Amari Cooper, and Marcus just went quiet. I just lost it. I tried to envision Amari with the cheese and just broke my brain. Well, you know,

folks, we appreciate you so much for rocking with us here on the debut episode of locked on AFC squad. You also want to check out after you listen to this and watch this, the locked on NFL NFC squad. It was fun conversation in our first week. Obviously we'll all be back next week to break down the state of the AFC after week six.

Make sure you get a beverage. Join us next time as well if you missed us this first time. We appreciate you so much. We'll be here next week. And on top of that, you can check out each of these respective shows wherever you get your podcasts or available on YouTube. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.