NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 2016 Week 5 review

Episode Date: October 10, 2016

A room filled with heroes – Marc Sessler, Chris Wesseling, Gregg Rosenthal and Colleen Wolfe – recap all of Sunday’s action with a game-by-game breakdown of Week 5 which saw the return of Tom Brady, and included a 31-13 victory for the Vikings as they improved to 5-0 on the year, and became the only undefeated team left in the league.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Hey, everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6th, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.

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Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. The Around the NFL podcast has multiple practice squad offers. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Colleen Wolfe, and I'm joined by a room filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal. It's up, boys.

Hey, Colleen. This is so weird that Dan's not here, not doing this. I know. Everybody, Dan is off, so I'm sitting in. It's great to have you back. It's unfortunate. It happens on a day, you know, Dan can't be here, but this happens once a year, actually. He's got a great Hansis family reunion, and we're going to be hearing from them a little later in the show.

and we're happy he can be with his family, and we're happy you can be here to replace him. And it's possible that the whole Hanzas family has gathered around to watch this on Periscope as we speak. So, you know, Wes, keep your negative comments to yourself. So we'll say hello to them. Wes, I like your shirt. Oh, yeah, thank you.

I've got to support Tabby Island and Huckapoo's after they survived the hurricane. And it looks like a hurricane hit the island. There's a lot of damage, but, you know, you have to hand it to the mayor who got everyone prepared. prepared, had fought for, like, the sand re-nourishment and got the beaches, like, after Hurricane Katrina, he really fought to get Tybee ready for it.

Your former roommate, Jason Biltriman. Tybee survived. Huckapoo's was the place to be on Saturday, free pizza for all the people who stayed on the island. Wow, that's great. And, Mark, your parents were evacuated? Yeah, well, my parents lived just up the coast and they evacuated last Tuesday, I think, thinking it would just be, you know, a couple, day or two away, you know, in the middle of Georgia in a hotel. They have not been back since.

You can't get on Hilton Head Island at the point where they live. And they brought about two days worth of clothing. So it's been slightly chaotic, but hopefully back to normal soon enough. I'm glad they're okay. We're thinking about everybody who's been affected by Hurricane Matthew. And hopefully maybe football helps in times like this when you're going through it. So this is the- It's a good thing your parents aren't Browns fans.

Yes. Well, they're wise enough not to have ever gone down that road. I'm sorry. This is going to be rough. All right, it is the Sunday edition of the Around the NFL podcast brought to you by Mr. Flames economics class. Mr. F, we got you. All right. Mr. F.

Seamless, Colleen. So let's start with the game that everybody's been talking about, basically, since the season began. Tom Brady, he's back. And he returned throwing for 400 yards, three touchdowns. Three of them to Martellus Bennett, no less, as the Patriots beat the Browns 33 to 13 in Cleveland. Lynn. So, Rosie, Brady said that there was plenty of rust. Did you see it? No, I did not see a lot of rust. This looked like mid-season form, Tom Brady, right off the bat. You go down the field, score a touchdown. Score a touchdown on your first three drives.

Basically perfect for the first half until they got stuffed on the goal line. And Mark made a smart move over the week, weekend really, deciding he didn't want to cover this game because he thought it wasn't going to go well for the Browns. And it would have been a tough one to watch for Browns fans. And I think it's got to get a lot of other teams in the AFC thinking, how do we match up with this team? That was my takeaway. Not so much Brady, but the return of the gronk.

Because when you got gronk and Martellus Bennett out there as your base package, Chris Hogan making noise on the outside, how do you match up with those guys? You don't. And they didn't today. Yeah, I mean, there was a lot of rust on the field, and it was in a team wearing rust-colored shirts, pants, and socks. I mean, they look completely unprepared from the first minute, because I was watching this on a side screen.

And Cleveland's, you know, they have a lot of Achilles heels, but one of their primary ones is their secondary. And you could tell within five minutes of this game opening that A, Tom Brady was absolutely scorching hot and on fire and ready to roll. And B, Cleveland secondary was still somewhere up in Bria on the practice field. Well, they don't have a pass rush and they don't have a secondary. It's a bad defense. Bad combination. That's done well. so far but to me watching the first drive of the game it's not so much brady's back it's

gronk is back because that seemed like a bigger question mark to me he is running over defenders you know frolicing through the open field kind of like he does in his best times he's making great physical catches he's blocking well uh he did that on a one of the touchdowns for le garrett blunt and to me that makes all the difference of the world having gronk back he's having fun he looks like he's having fun, unlike O'Dowell back home. Can't wait a month. Maybe they'll get Dionne Lewis back and then what a defense is going to do. Yeah.

Yet another element to this. I think they could average 35 to 40 points a game if that happens. Yeah, it was a reminder because after a while I've gotten used to watching Jacoby Brissette for, you know, two and a half games, like, wow, this team, it's not the same team that Brady left. The team that Brady left was not as explosive. They struggled to push the ball down the field last year. Today, I think he was four of six or five of seven on throws that went over 20 yards in the air.

So that's to Gronk, that's to Hogan, who had some deep plays down the field and Bennett with the three touchdowns. Bennett didn't even do that much. He was so wide open because I think the attention is going elsewhere. It almost seemed like New England took their foot off the gas, you know, midway through this game, because they could. And they didn't have to go all out. But we're finally seen, you know, when they had Gronk and Aaron Hernandez back in the day before Aaron Hernandez did a rather bad thing, The idea of a two tight-end set.

That's underselling it. Well, I am underselling it. It's pretty terrible, yeah. You know, I'm underselling it. But they have that two-tight-end situation now that is an impossible matchup for defenses. This is what Belichick's wanted for years. And the difference is these two tight ends, you both really have to respect as blockers. So you don't know if they're going out on a route on any given down.

And I think that just makes it so tough for the defense to figure out who to cover. Dan's a whole regression thing for. Tom Brady, not starting out very well. Tom Brady today joined Warren Moon as the only quarterback ever, age 39 or older, with three touchdowns and 400 yards in a game. Wow. Well, he was playing the Browns, and he was protected well, and that's all fine. But the Browns are an NFL team, and he had one of the best games I've seen from any quarterback this year.

According to you. That's fair to say. Well, he's also Tom Brady. I'm saying according to you, the Browns look like an NFL team right now. They have a ways to go in my book. Well, I feel bad for the Browns. Cody Kessler was injured. They just went through quarterbacks.

Cody Kessler, Charlie Whitehurst, and then they had to put Terrell Pryor in there. Well, it's the opposite. They're not protecting their quarterback the same way. No, and Kessler's injury came on a play where they blitzed Dante Hightower, who made some big plays early in the game. He didn't recognize he throws it backwards for a safety. It was a disastrous play. And I think Kessler's played well in the first few weeks.

So it's disappointing because the minute Charlie Whitehurst entered the game, it was kind of like, okay, you can't. can't run any sort of offense. Kessler had a touchdown drive to make the game 7-7 at one point, but I think they're kind of cooked in terms of watching them as a real NFL team if Whitehurst is started. Malcolm Brown had a great game today, too. He had two sacks, I think, in that game.

Yeah, I think what did you see out of Malcolm Brown, Greg? Well, he played well against the run. They decided to try to stop Isaiah Crowell. He had two sacks. Crowell and Duke Johnson entered this game as the leading, you know, rushers in the league in terms of yards per carry, and they combined for 17 rushes for 23 yards. So they needed it.

The Patriots defense has been, I wouldn't say up and down, but they got good performances out of Brown and High Tower today. I thought one of the most interesting tweets I saw today was from NFL Network's Courtney Fallon who said she had a brown source who told her that Terrell Pryor is the only untouchable player on the roster, and that's who they're building around. They'll trade all pros like Joe Thomas, but they won't trade Terrell Pryor. Well, they were willing to trade Thomas last year, and I think that they didn't want to do that going into this year without an acceptable backup to him, but he's been on the market for the right price for a long time. And if you're going to, if you're willing to part with Joe Thomas, they talk about other all pro.

What other, who else are we talking about here? Joe Hayden, in theory. So, yeah, you're willing to trade anyone probably about your rookie class. It's not that much of a shock to me. That Terrell prior has gone from a guy? A turnaround from prior, from the prior angle, yes. But the rest of the roster. That's the only angle I found interesting.

That Torel Pryor has gone from a guy that nobody in the league wanted to a guy Hugh Jackson brought in personally and made a centerpiece of their office. Well, he was here last year. He was in Cleveland last year, to be honest. But Hugh Jackson knows him and he's developed him. How's week five now of the all raw foods diet until the Browns win a game? How are you feeling, Mark? And now that they're 0.5 and Kessler's hurt now.

How are you feeling? I feel okay, which is, you know, comfort. because this is going to go on deep into the winter potentially, so. Wow, it's going to be a long winter. Yes, it is. But we're right here with you. All right, let's move on. Has your raw foods diet taking you to weird places mentally?

Because sometimes when you change your diet or, you know, most religious gurus go through some weird phase where they're deprived of food for a while. Well, I'm not a religious guru, so let's start there. But no, I feel fine. I mean, I've dabbled in this in the past, so. Well, I thought maybe it would send you down the religious guru route. No, it will not. Okay.

Thank you for asking. Okay. Well, that's settled. How about Cincinnati and Dallas? Ezekiel Elliott fever. It's spreading the Cowboys rookie running back ran for 134 yards and two touchdowns. That's an 8.9 yards per carry average in the 28 to 14 win over the Bengals to move to four and one. So, Mark, there's two rookies here that look electric still.

Absolutely. I mean, Ezekiel Elliott and rookie quarterback, Dak Prescott have been, today I think, was an absolutely sensational. performance by both. And minutes into the game, first drive for the Cowboys, they march right down the field, rip about five plus minutes off the clock. And Elliot has 42 yards in an excellent touchdown run, and you knew right there that the tone was set. Finishes with 134 yards on the day. And it's the same thing we talked about last week. Elliot gets stronger as the game goes on. He's much more decisive than he was in week one. And he's running behind one of the best lines in football, if not the best line. and it showed this was the worst Bengals game we've seen in years.

I did not expect it to come out this way. I did not see it coming this way either, but they got down early, and there was no way for them to get back in. The Bengals are missing, you know, the players that they let go in, free agency. And with this second half run, when Ezekiel Elliott blasted for this touchdown, this was the end of this game, play at Sydney. Prescott's under center, feed Elliott. Coming right, 50-yard line and sprinting.

He's going 20 and 10. Zeke Elliott walked all the dogs, 60 yards, touchdown Cowboys. Rocked all the dogs. That's great. That is our friend Brad Sham at KRLD in Dallas and Big D. And here's the thing with Elliot and the Cowboys. They right now lead the league in drives of five plus minutes, and they lead the league in drives of 10 plus plays.

So there's nothing fluky happening here. The Cowboys team, that West, that you talked about in the offseason, and where they wanted to be like they were in 2014. It took a little bit of time for that to develop, but it is happening and it came into full bloom today. We got West out of his seat three or four times to come watch as Ezekiel Elliott. Is that kind of a player?

Look, he's on pace for 1,750 rushing yards, which is the second most of all time. Better than Earl Campbell, better than Adrian Peterson as a rookie. This is rare territory that he's going through. They dictate at the start of each and every game. It's crazy that they've been. been able to do that five straight weeks with rookies at quarterback and running back.

In the first 20 minutes of every game, the first 20 minutes of game time, they say, this is what we're going to do, and they do it. And I know the Tony Romo discussion seems crazy. But every game like this. But the way that Dak Prescott's playing, at least they can just wait and see and be careful about bringing Roma back because Doc Prescott is playing at a level. You just don't see rookies play at it. Well, he has 150 plus passes without a pick.

He did have his first turnover of the whole year today with a lost fumble. But really, honestly, the fact that this game was 2814 does not do service in terms of explaining how poor the Bengals, you know, dealt with this early lead, the early deficit they fell into. They had no way out. And Green was shut down. Absolutely. Green was essentially erased, had one catch for nine yards in the first half. Mo Claiborne had a couple penalties in this game, but he is playing the best football of his entire career.

that secondary wanted this more than the Bengals' offense wanted it. I wrote about Mo Claiborne last week about guys coming back from Patelot tendon tears. He and Jimmy Graham and Victor Cruz, but Moe Claiborne has the lowest completion percentage against of any quarterback in the NFL. I guess it goes to show that some of these cornerbacks that are drafted high that we expect to shine right away. I mean, he went through a lot of off-field stuff and on-field stuff, and it took a long, long time.

Injuries, bad play, four or five years of it. They're getting it now. It's not the timeline they thought. But this, I mean, the Bengals, the Bengals, listen, they have to go play New England next. They are two and three. And this is not a team that looks to me to have any of the chemistry of last year. And you have lost Marvin Jones. You've lost Mos Sunu.

You've lost Hugh Jackson calling plays. At some point, these losses start to add up. Yeah, and it's got to be tough for Andy Dalton right now, trying to make this work and thinking that he was going to be able to do that coming into this year. And just not having those guys there, not having Hugh there. it's so it's just really affecting them and it's really sad kind of because last year I feel like that was their window to go far yeah yeah I think west of us could be in jeopardy this year oh west of us of course for new listeners your annual holiday where you

celebrate the Bengals first round defeat well it is an annual thing where the Bengals lose on the first weekend of the playoffs that's true it's a great holiday well maybe we can replace it with something else. Like maybe you can put your hoop earring back in. Oh my gosh. I forgot about that. Before the show even started, the biggest breaking news of the day, not injury related, no upsets.

It was that Wes once had an earring, a hoop earring. A hoop earring. Had an earring from about 1993 to 97. I went to an interview at a law firm in Cincinnati. And the lady hired me and said, I'm going to hire you, but let me give you some advice. never, ever wear that earring to an interview. Probably the best advice that you've ever received as a human. It was good.

I was a much different person at that point in my life. But they never really close up, so you could still probably break the hoop out. I still have a little hole there. I just can't even about Wesleyan of all people who is not one to, I don't know, put on airs or be too, you know, concerned about like, you know, looking cool or whatever, just rocking the hoop area. I love it. I was rocking a lot of stuff back then.

Wow. Wow. This is a whole new west. It's almost as embarrassing. I should have seen me in my mailman days with my backwards hat and the earring and the Mike Tyson boots and shirt sleeves rolled up to my shoulder. Stop. Oh, my God. We're going to get some Photoshop work from a couple of listeners. Please do that.

All right. Let's move on to Denver and Atlanta. The high-flying Falcons went into Denver to face the toughest defense they've seen thus far and handed the Broncos their first loss of the year. Wes, is it time to buy the Falcons for real? Oh, I think it was time to buy the Falcons before this game, but if you needed convincing that they would beat a good defense, finally, they just beat the best defense in the NFL. And they did it by using Taven Coleman and Devante Freeman in space

with mismatches against Broncos inside linebackers. And let's listen to West Durham of WZGC the game on this one. Ryan empties the backfield, three to the left, tight in and a receiver to the right. That takes a snap. Denver brings four. Ryan going to get in the middle of the game. field there is coleman in the end zone touchdown atlanta i mean number two stepped up and just slung that jesse in there jessie i like that slung that jessie in there we don't pre-listened

to these so that was a surprise to us wow jesse yeah ryan was throwing the jessie around to his running backs tevin colman is that how you use that i guess that's what we're going to have to start using it that way tevin coleman is too fast for linebackers you cannot cover him. And last year when you took Julio Jones out of the game, the whole offense sputtered. This year is a different story. They have the best complimentary backfield in the NFL right now. Over

a thousand yards from scrimmage between the two of them this year already in five games. Freeman is one of the best, if not the best running backs in the league, I think on early downs. He's been so good this year. And then to have Tevin Coleman, this is the second game like this where Coleman

makes all of his bones as a receiver. If you think about it, everyone's talked about, well, they've added weapons, and now they're spreading the ball around. I mean, the biggest weapon they added, Muhammad Sanoo, is on pace for about 500 yards. They have really taken some guys other people didn't want, and they've taken the guys that are there mostly, and made them an explosive offense, even in Denver. Well, I think they go hand in hand.

The Sanoo acquisition and picking up Taylor Gabriel and Aldjik Robinson and Austin Hooper, you can't concentrate on Tevin. You have to use a linebacker on them. You can't use a safety or a cornerback, because they have all these other weapons. Julio Jones, after the game, said he was doubled the whole game, and he said he's fine with that because that means guys are going to get their numbers. He's still going to have those games where he explodes, too, no matter what.

Absolutely. Matt Ryan missed two downfield throws to him when Julio was open, and Chris Harris was kind of tugging on his jersey most of the game, too. Yeah, they can use him now as a decoy because they have all these other guys. But I think, too, year two, in Kyle Shanahan's system, we are kind of seeing them gel a little bit more, plus with all of the new weapons. It's just, it works so well for them. On the defensive side of things, Vic Beasley. That was a tie sombrillo issue for the Broncos. Yeah. Their starting right tackle Donald Stevenson was out. Sombrillo, who may or may not have been injured in trying to

fight through an injury, look like he went to crawl inside of his helmet in the third quarter when Beasley beat him for the third time. And two of those were forced fumbles. And then they pull Cimbrillo, send Michael Schofield out. And it was the same result, another sack for beating. I mean, do you feel, like, obviously Atlanta in what we've seen, four and one, totally fine, reasonable record for them. They are one of the most exciting offenses, you know, of any team in one we've seen in a while. But they did face Paxton Lynch, who had sounded like talking to the game. He was not, this was the guy who was not ready for action today.

Everything we had seen out of him in the preseason suggested that his physical tools might be able to overcome whatever he was missing fundamentally. Today was a pretty dispiriting game for anybody who, who wanted him to unseat Trevor Simeon at some point this season. He was inaccurate early. It was high. And then what I think the most disturbing part was that with Vic Beasley crashing that pocket, you started to see him.

He was seeing ghosts in the pocket. He was taking off a little too early to run. And I think that was a little disturbing. But this is Trevor Simeon's offense. Well, I read something about Simeon's injury, and he said after the game he felt like he was pretty close to playing. There was some thought in Denver. They have a Thursday night game in San Diego.

Maybe if Simeon's going to play one of those games, certainly you would wait for the second one. Maybe let's see how Paxton Lynch does. Let's not push the issue. And we have Simeon there. We don't want him starting twice in five days. I would not be surprised if he's back starting in San Diego as they try to bounce back on Thursday night.

The Broncos have much higher expectations for Paxton Lynch against a bad Atlanta Falcons defense. And before the game, Gary Kubiak told their. broadcast crew. We're going to have the full playbook. We're not going to throw anything out of our offense. We're going to run our offense with Paxton Lynch, and it just didn't work out well. It seems like they also had higher hopes going into the game for C.J. Anderson and Devante Booker, and it seems like they had a very equal workload. I wonder if things are changing in that backfield a little bit. They wanted to run the ball. That was their goal to establish the run because

they had struggled in the previous two games. They got behind so early that they kind of had to abandon it in the running game, but they wanted to get Devante Booker more involved. Kubiak told the broadcast crew that they thought he had fresh legs and could inject life into the running game. So you might see a little bit more of him on Thursday night. Yeah, and Matt Ryan, I guess he's still in the MVP discussion.

Well, we don't need a weekly update, do we? It's week five. This is the week five update on Matt Ryan and the MVP discussion. People are asking for this. Everybody wants to know. Thank you. Yes, for everybody on Periscope. That's for you. All right. If not for his last pass attempt of the game, he would have

been the first quarterback with a 100 passer rating on that Broncos defense in 30 games. It's been around. There you have it. When was the last time they lost? What it was against the Bengals late last season? I mean, this has been on, it's been a while since anyone's made any noise against this defense.

Yeah. Impressive. Kyle Shanahan out, Shanahan, Gary Kubiak. I was really surprised. Assistant coach of the year. Kyle Shanahan. Still some candidates. A little too early for me to decide.

We saw what the Falcons did early last year. I want to see them do it all season long. But yes, he's got to be up there. Rod Marinelli for the Cowboys. Yes. as a candidate. For the second time in three years. How about Mike?

Who is Mike Shanahan rooting for in this game? You know, he lives in Denver, he's got the ties there. Covey. I would imagine his son. You would think so. The person that is his family, his child. Came from his points. I mean, as my mom always says, you can't trust anybody, not even your own mother.

So maybe not. Maybe it's not a family thing. Mike Shanahan seems super trustworthy to me. I like that you share the same information with us that you do with your therapist. Yes. Well, this is basically a therapy. session for me. So thank you guys. Let's move on to Pittsburgh and the Jets of Steelers carried over their dominant performance from last week to crush the Jets in a 31 to 13 route at Hinesfield.

Sammy Coates had a career high six catches for 139 yards, two scores to help send the Jets to one and four. So usually Dan has his dad call and leave him a voicemail about his analysis of the game. But since Dan is not here, Dan's dad called me and left. Yeah, me and Keith, we kind of, we've been talking a little bit. I'm just trying to pick his brain about Dan and, you know, learn a little bit more about where Dan came from. Yeah, sure. So now we have. Going in an unexpected direction.

Yes, the analysis of Keith Hanses on the Jets. His name is Keith. He's Dan's dad. No doubt about it. He's a big Jets fan. What is he going? to say about the game today what is he going to say about the game today week five another terrible defensive effort by the jet's defense the front floor put absolutely no pressure on big ben

and he torched the jet defense uh where the backfield once again mysteriously when it was not covering anybody that were wide open big play i thought in the game which is still a mystery to me is with 7.32 left and fourth and one. Bulls decide to punt. I have to question that. Here's Dan. The Jets aren't bad enough to be embarrassing. Not good enough to be interesting. It just exists. I'll see you next year. I'm going to go get drunk. A little worried about Dan. Yeah. His dad, Keith. I think that their tone appropriately sums up, you know, the game that I was watching out of the corner of my eye as well, and they nailed it,

that punt, that decision to go for, the punt there was certainly maddening to Jets fans. And just as much so was the fact that New York has to so overcompensate for its, you know, tendency to get burnt deep that big pockets of space were open underneath. And Big Ben, you know, when you give that to Big Ben, we know what's going to happen. He used Levy on Bell, he used other receivers just to kind of, you know, throw some shorter and intermediate passes that picked up big real estate. And when that wasn't happening, Sammy Coates, who had some bad drops in this game, also had some huge plays, including a big touchdown out of the gate,

that, you know, the Jets were in this thing, and it got away from them towards the end because I think they just couldn't hang. This is not the Jets' offensive last season. The loss of Eric Decker stings. Well, they've had no-shows in three straight second halves, where they've just been blown out of the water, and they basically haven't scored on offense. And you have a defensive coach who wants to coach to a defense.

that's better in his head, I think, than it really is on paper. I mean, they punted, it wasn't just that one punt in the fourth quarter. They punted five different times on fourth and short during this game. Now, some of those are situations where it would be very surprising if you go for it. But it's just, they don't have confidence, I don't think, in their offensive line, you know, or their offense in general to go for in those situations. The Jets defense is the Bizarro Broncos. They've allowed a 100-passer rating in every game this year.

Well, no, they did, as advertised, you know, they clamped down on the run to some degree, but that short passing game was the run. I mean, Levion Bell had nine catches for 88 yards. It was just easy to kind of figure out how to move the ball on New York as the game went on. What Sammy Coach said after the game that his drops were, he had his hand was numb because he had a cut in a cut. Yeah, he was wearing big gloves. So he was able to have this monster day because. With that.

The Steelers deep threat opposite Antonio Brown with Levon Bell. underneath has to be one of the cushiest jobs in the world as Martavis Bryant found out last year with Big Ben throwing accurate downfield strikes all the time. But those guys have, those two guys have special speed. I mean, Sammy Coates, when he is flying up the sideline,

maybe he's a one-trick pony, like Torrey Smith used to, but who cares? That's what they need is one trick to be. When he flew past Marcus Peters, for instance, last week, it's like, bam! I mean, he makes Peters look slow and Peter's a fast guy. They even get big plays out of Darius Hayward Bay. Yes. That's

one of the most surprising things about it. It's a cushy job being the deep threat to the Steelers. Connor or in the rankings, he said that the Steelers are the best team in the league after this performance. Does it move them at all for you guys? Sure. I mean, they're right in the best. I don't think

that's crazy. They were like my third or four team to begin with. I don't think they're a better football team than the New England Patriots because we'll still see them implode occasionally. But peak Steelers when they're playing as well as they can, we've all read that said this over and over. If the Steelers got hot in the playoffs, they could beat anyone.

They nearly beat Denver last year without Antonio Brown. Connor thinks they have a higher ceiling than the Patriots because of their star power. I would argue the other way. The Patriots have a higher ceiling because of their own star power. But they're right there and the Seahawks are right there for me too so far this season. But why not? What about the Broncos with Simian? And I think the Broncos are right there too.

I think the Steelers, we'll see, I want to see the Steelers. shut down a good offense, that Eagles game, maybe it was just an anomaly, but they don't have a great pass rush this year, but they certainly have clamped down the last two weeks and have some things working for them. They're a little healthier now. Their best defensive player get a hamstring injury, Cameron Hayward. And Ryan Shazir's been battling an knee injury too, so those injuries could be huge for them. Yeah, it's brutal, though, for the Jets. When you look at Chan Gale and what he had last year and how all the pieces really seem to fit together and then all off season, everybody, all they wanted was Ryan Fitzpatrick, and now he's here,

and it's just not adding with Decker out. 100% and one of the reasons that I think, you know, Dan is also upset about the Jets is that you needed to get that win in week one at home against the Bengals, and you needed to just knock off, you know, a couple of these other teams. Now you've lost to the Seahawks and Steelers. You have the Cardinals and Ravens next, and it doesn't really ease up at the back end of the schedule either, so I don't know how they climb on. you're in a hole and I think it's he he said we're not that interesting I think part of it is like you have

Ryan Fitzpatrick as your quarterback Matt Forties as you're running back you know your stars on the defensive line Leonard Williams is exciting but Mo Wilkerson and he isn't making a huge impact this year I think it's just like what can we get excited about this isn't a fun team to watch right now this might be the end of Revis with the Jets and we saw what they could be that Thursday night game they that offense was so much fun to watch with Decker's going to And we don't know when we'll see him again. Did you guys think that was one of the weirdest post-game quotes of the year, Brandon Marshall? The boat one?

Yes. This is the perfect position for us, he says. It's weird because we're one and four. The media will get all over us, but this is the perfect position for us. It's a weird quote, but I think that he's like part media person, part athlete, but athletes have to think this way when you get down. You have to think about this is an opportunity to climb out. And you're not going to get the most realistic chat for me.

almost too choreographed. Like, hey, I'm going to be the guy that's positive after a loss. I mean, there literally is a moment if you see the video when he says, we're going to turn this thing around and he goes, woo, and he starts clapping and stuff. And it's like, oh, no. All right, all right. Yeah, I think his teammates probably think that way, too. Like, this is a little bit of false bravado here.

And that guy's worked his way out of how many locker rooms around the league? Well, I mean, 23. Maybe he's trying to be like, okay, we're going to be the underdogs here. and we're going to be the comeback kids that everybody roots for and I don't know, whatever. A little scripted. We'll see what happens there. Colleen sounds like she's buying it. I am buying in.

Let's move to the Eagles. The Eagles and Carson, rookie Carson Wentz tried to stay perfect as they traveled to Detroit for the Jim Schwartz revenge game. Jerry Slay, though, had other plans forcing two pivotal turnovers in a one point come from behind win for the Lions. West, that was a crushing interception that Carson Wentz through at the end of that. game. Not least of which because it was a perfect throw. It was a great pinpoint throw. His receiver should have made the play instead of allowing the defensive back

to make the play. It was an awesome throw. And Darius Slake deserves credit for making the play because Nelson Aguilore just let him have it. Yeah, this game, when I was watching it, Carson Wentz, I kept thinking the interception is going to come. It has to come at some

point. So in a way, I'm glad that he threw it and it's awful. It's sort of like a Brandon Marshall thing like maybe this was the best thing that could have happened for them like it came at a really bad time they lost the game because of it but now he's ripped off the bandaid and you know he can move on i think i mean it's this had this is cars went through that pick but he also is the reason that they've been in all these games he's been a nearly perfect quarterback for what you'd expect from a rookie he was dynamite again you know the pick aside he was dynamite on sunday so

every time i looked up they were driving yeah he is not high on that list No, they lost in spite of him. And we have not had a chance to talk to you about this, but this is the quarterback that in my, you know, when I wanted enter into a darker place, this should be Cleveland's quarterback. I know. But he's yours and also that's a roughed up fan base.

So I'm not unhappy that it happened to the Eagles of any team. But Howard, you've got to be feeling a little bit less doom and gloom now that this, you know, big ball of sunshine's come into your life to save the city of brotherly love. It's a little weird and I'm not sure I can even. You don't trust it. I don't trust it.

I don't trust a lot of things. The other shoe will drop, you feel? Do you trust any one of us? I trust you guys. You guys, I trust. But it's so hard to be like, okay, yeah, look, he's the guy. It's hard to be a positive person probably in general, but it's definitely hard to buy in completely with him.

But he looks really good. All the signs are there. It's true. And after the first two games, I couldn't really buy in just because of the opponents. but after the Pittsburgh game was like, okay, this is not bad. This is pretty good. But, yeah, it's good. On the other side of things, though, Darius Slay,

he had such a great game for the Lions. He basically, he forced the fumble that Ryan Matthews had, and then he had that game-changing interception. So a huge game for him. He came up big when the Lions' offense went in the tank. I believe they had 17 first downs in the first half, and only two in the second half. And you could tell that Jim Bob Cooter had a good game plan.

He had a lot of misdirection plays that he was fooling Eagles defense. But when those plays ran out, the Eagles defense came back and had a big second half. But credit Stafford for the game-winning field goal drive. And Theo Riddick was huge in this game as receiving ability. I mean, this is why they gave Slay a huge contract. He's a veteran. And he's a veteran on a defense that has lost their veteran, Ziggianza and DeAndre Levy. And the Lions, they're two and three.

That's about what they should be. To me, they haven't been a terrible team this year, especially considering the bad injury luck. And it's a guy with a monster deal. It's great to see, like stepping up and go win a game, buddy. And I was really surprised how the Lions came right out and marched right down the field for that first. I mean, I think it was his first three drives.

They scored touchdowns with Matt Stafford. So I was surprised that the Eagles defense wasn't able to hold them more. I thought that Jim Schwartz would have a couple more tricks up his sleeve, but it turned out it was a complete. Cooter's sleep. Opposite, exactly. So that's, yes, he's got all the tricks up his sleeve. No one should be surprised though. Stafford. Up the old cooters sleeve. Stafford has been very good this year. I know he didn't have a great week last week, but he was not as bad as I expected after I watched that game. To me, he is there with the, he's not in the top, you know, four or five quarterbacks in the league right now,

but he's right after that in terms of expecting him to play well every week. Only took like, you know, seven plus years, but that he's, now it's half. It was back, yeah. Exciting. Golden Tate, too. He showed up today. Did he? Wow.

Yeah, I know. Did he three for 39? I mean, let's not get too carried away. Well, he had the game-winning score. Well, he did that. No, he set up the game winning score. He had a huge catch to set it up. So, look, I've been waiting for him to come out and to stop being invisible in these games.

So maybe this is the start of that. You've been waiting for that? Like, Mark's been waiting for Zach Zener to show back up for a few years. And here he was. It only took a few eight years. What, seven carries for nine years? Well, he's on the field. He's playing.

It's not exactly what I was envisioning two summers ago. Got a couple of passes. Got a couple passes. All right, let's go to San Diego. The Chargers game giveaway, it continues. It happened again. I can't believe this one. This week, it wasn't just in the fourth quarter, though.

San Diego had a 24-19 lead with four minutes left in the third quarter, and then Melvin Gordon fumbled. And the Raiders converted to the points leading to a 34-31-11. loss for the Chargers. They moved to one and four. They're winless in the division. Greg, the Chargers had four turnovers in this game. Once again, they are the best you could possibly be as a one and four team, but they also know how to lose in any situation. And one of the indelible moments, really of this entire season for me, is them dropping the holder dropped the, the holder dropped the field goal snap that would have tied the game with just a few minutes left he can't handle it

he tries to pick it up it's rolling away and they cut to the sideline and it's to philip rivers and i'm not a professional lip reader but plenty of other people read it the same way and he said we're the bad news bears man no i saw him freaking out any such that was at one of his at one of his receivers i mean philip rivers was awesome in this game they were they had been delivered what had looked like a knockout punch. They were up nine midway through the third. Suddenly they were down 10 and they were driving there to try to win the game. It looked like they

had really fought back and then for that to happen is unbelievable. Yeah. And we were on the couch, the couch show, which you came on today. It was great. But we were watching this game and when it happened in the third quarter, I was like, I can't believe the Chargers are going to lose this game. And everybody was

saying, oh, come on, there's so much time left, da, da, da. I'm like, no, this is this is what they do now. And I feel like it's sort of affecting them mentally. I was just going to say the same thing that it's, you get to a tipping point where when you lose this many games this way, it's not a permanent identity, but it's like, wait a minute, if it starts to creep in game after game,

you're almost, there's got to be certain aspects of the roster expecting it to happen. Exactly. I mean, these are just young kids, they're human beings. And even if you're the coaching staff, it's like how it's on the coaching staff too to find ways to stop this from happening. but it's a total organizational implosion, four out of five games. Yeah, and just like last year, I mean, there weren't any key guys that went down in this game, but the injuries this season, it's the same narrative as last year with the injuries.

They're out there playing without Jason Verrett and Brandon Flowers in this game, not to mention, you know, everyone else they've lost this year, like Keenan Allen and Mansell too. Philip Rivers deserves much better than this. They have, last year it was the offensive linemen who would go down won a game. This year you take away Malcolm Floyd to begin the year, Stevie Johnson, Danny Woodhead, Keenan Allen. He's throwing to Tyrell Williams, Travis, Benjamin, Hunter, Henry, none of whom was on the team last year. And they're one of four teams this year that have scored 20 points in every game. I mean, they've led with two minutes left in every game until this one, which they easily should have tied.

It was a chip shot field goal. And they had a second. The thing is the Chargers, they set up these mistakes because they had a second and one before that field goal. and they didn't convert a second and one to keep the game going and try to win it, and then you kick the field going, it all goes wrong. I mean, they did. I cannot stand because this happens on this podcast and it happens in write-ups. Hey, I know your team is like a hot mess circling towards Earth,

but there is a bright spot for you to cling to in mid-October as everything is burning up. But they got Joey Bosa back, and he looked good. You had a sack today, I think, right? Yeah. Two. Yeah. Yeah, two sacks, a couple pressures, three tackles for losses, total, a few run stops, he only played 27 snaps.

He, out of 81, so they were bringing him in slowly. He made an incredible impact for those 27 snaps. If he keeps that up, the pace up for those 27 snaps, he will be the greatest defensive player in NFL. It goes to my O'Dell Beckham rookie year theory, where if you skip a big bunch of work early in the year, everyone wins in the end and all of us should probably take multiple weeks off. Yeah, that would be great.

I think we can get behind that. I'm with that. We'll skip July, August. August is brutal. You know, September and parts of October is what I'm lobbying for. Before we move on, we should give some credit to the four-and-one team of ATL nominee. Team of ATL. Here's what the Raiders do well.

They make pretty plays, which should be considered. I mean, every week there's something that gets you out of your seat, and this week, for me, It was a third down conversion by Michael Crabtree. Just the incredible show of hands. Oh, yeah, he like just grabbed it right out of the air. And his feet on the sideline. And the very next play, they hit a 64-yard touchdown to Amari Cooper. And that to me is that team, you know, those two are so tough to stop.

That Crabtree catch won't make all the watch every touchdown from week five highlight reels. But it was probably the best catch of the day in many ways for what it's set up too. Yeah. Their defense is getting a little more fun. fun to watch, too, with Carl Joseph at safety, who's already one of the most fun safeties to watch in the lead. Yeah, I'm glad that's finally getting together because that was brutal the first couple of weeks.

Amari Cooper, that touchdown, can't believe that was his first of the year. Although Philip Rivers, you know, did average 12 yards of throw today against that secondary. True. All right. Details. They got some things to work. Details. Okay.

Let's move on. But before we get to the next game, I want to talk to you about Mr. Flames. economics class. All right. Do you like markets? Me too. I go to markets all the time. But there's only one place in the world to learn everything you need to know about global markets and supply and demand of what's inside of them.

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There was a video, Mr. Flame, sent out a video from the Hague, the Netherlands, of, you know, it's explaining to the ATN crew that we had an inelastic supply model, I believe it was, but also turning the camera to show an absolute influx of new students, too many for him to handle. That's probably what he was trying to see economically. Secondly, though, we've interacted with him on email, and I'll say this. This guy is a mensch. I love this guy.

He gets it. Mr. F is just, he's the man. I could go on and on, but I won't. Yeah, and that's why he's the presenting sponsor here. So it's... Shame on all these other sponsors that couldn't get this kind of, you know, these ads, these promos, this contact, this interaction with all of us. Good on Mr. F.

All right. How about the Ravens? They jumped out to an early, lead, but they were attacked by all sorts of injuries in this game. Breschard Perryman almost got them the win, but his 23-yard touchdown was reversed, with 30 seconds left in the game, saving a 16-10 win for the Redskins. Wes, you did this game. What happened to Joe Flacco's offense?

The Ravens blew this game in so many different ways, and I'm sure anybody who was reading my game recap and was a Redskins fan was like, why didn't you give us any credit? Because the Ravens blew the game in every way possible, and the Redskins, there wasn't that much noteworthy. They tried to give it away. Even late in the game, Kirk Cousins, who had been playing pretty well in the second half, throws an interception deep in his own territory.

C.J. Mosley, Ravens linebacker, makes an athletic play on it, brings it all the way back, just as he's reaching for the pylon, fumbles it out the back of the end zone, and because it's a bizarre, weird NFL rule, the Redskins immediately get the ball on a touchback. The Ravens don't get the ball anywhere near the end zone. Let's change that rule. We'll talk about this game a lot more in a minute.

Let's change that rule. That's the worst rule. It's awful. They got them to raise the uprights eventually. We can change that rule. Wouldn't it make more sense to give the ball to the fumbling team at the 20 yards? Exactly. Yeah.

Like, how do you even come up with that rule? It seems bizarre. Like, someone came up with it 70 years ago and nobody thought about it since then. It seems like they didn't make up any rule. And then that one's happened in a game. And they just made that up at the time. Yeah. Somebody must have made a mistake.

Less likely, Greg. You don't know that. That seems credible. The 1940s. This is how it happened. The Ravens jumped out with a touchdown on their opening drive. They looked like they were in control of the game. Steve Smith went down with an ankle injury in the first quarter.

And then their offensive line, which is already decimated by injuries. Marshall Yanda had to kick out the tackle. And the inside, the guards were getting worked over. I don't think Mark Trussman trusted his offensive line to block for downfield throws. So the man coverage was sitting on all the short routes. And the offense just went in the tank. the rest of the way. On the same week that Joe Flacko basically complained that they don't throw the ball deep enough,

their longest play was 15 yards. They... What? Their longest passing play. You had the 23-yard would have been touchdown to Paramond. But there was also another deep ball to Paramount, which he just barely missed it. And that would have been good to set them up on like the two-foot line right in front of the end zone. But all these plays that they could have made and didn't, they had.

had a fake field goal that backfired on them, and the wind was a factor. It pushed Dustin Hopkins extra point off, and it affected field goal decisions throughout. Right, they went for a fake field goal, which they probably, the Ravens, that is. Because Justin Tucker is the most reliable kicker in the league. They would have gone for the kick instead of the fake, if not for the wind factor. Are you concerned about the Ravens getting into games where I understand what happened today, where if they get into shootouts, do they have the kind of attack that can hang with teams in that situation. Is Steve Smith healthy? Does Mark Trussman bury his nose in the playbook and

refuse to see that Terrence West is reeling off? Eight or nine yards of carry every Mark Tristan was the Ravens. That's an actual issue then. Wow. He was their worst enemy today. Terrence West is going. Second straight week. He's going off in the first half. In the first quarter, he's got 60 yards on five carries. The second quarter, eight of the ten plays are passes. This sounds like a repeat from Mark Trussman complaints when he was the coach of the Bears. Yes, it's a legit, valid complaint. Even in the second half, it was a close game, and you're still ignoring Terrence West while he's averaging five or six yards per carry instead of eight or nine.

Against a Redskins defense that he probably could have run for twice as much yardage on. Hot garbage Redskins run defense. And Terrence West is blowing right through it. It was bizarre. Poor Redskins. Little fantasy advice here. Don't worry about Kenneth Dixon. Not going to be an issue.

I would say not for the moment. month of October. He looks slow and he looked hesitant and Terrence West looked streamlined. Well, they said he had a huge brace on or something too, Dixon. He only had three carries for minus one yards. So maybe he had the knee brace. I didn't notice it, but he did look slow and he looked hesitant. He didn't look like he trusted the knee quite yet. We should give the Redskins some credit, maybe not just for this week, but they were 0 and 2. They're, you know, 2 and 0 on the road now. They've won three straight games. They've had a lot of injuries. I'm not saying don't give them any credit. No, I'm just saying

I didn't expect them to be back here. A few teams that we quickly didn't feel too good about, like the Bills and the Redskins are right back about where you'd expect them to be. Yeah, that's true. In the interest of full disclosure here, I've had a lot of Red Bull since I was on the couch all day. I don't even drink Red Bull. Are you crashing right now?

No, I think I'm like... Jittery? Yes. Empty inside? Yeah, I have no soul inside. I've kind of like just a shell of a person at this point. It's been replaced by an energy drink. Only one time in my life if I had Red Bull without alcohol in it.

And it was before a softball tournament. And I was so jittery at shortstop that I couldn't even field the ball. My heart was like a hummingbird right now. I never drank Red Bull again after that. I don't like not being in control of my nerves. How many times have you had it with alcohol? Give me an over under of 50. I mean, Yeager bombs were the go-to drink at Huckapoo's on some Saturday night.

So roughly six or seven hundred times. I mean. Just the smell of Yale. I never bought one. It was like someone, one of the locals would buy you a drink and he kind of felt bad so you had to drink it. I'm more of a hard drugs guy. Cold medicine, triminic.

Benadryl. Yeah, me too. Okay. How about the Vikings, Mark Sessler? This team, they're perfect now through five games, a 31, 13 beat up on the Texans here. What did you see in this game? That defense looks so good. Yeah, I saw a team.

and it reminds me a little bit of what happened in Dallas. From the very first minute, Minnesota came out and completely imposed the will on a Houston Texans team that somehow has shown no ability to play against Premier competition. Again, it was an absolute flattening. Forget the final score of 13 points for the Texans. It came in deep garbage time. Two straight drives for the Vikings offense right out of the gate. Two eight play touchdown marches.

It got started with this, Lassid. Second and 11 from the Texans 30. Bradford passing right, and it's caught by Al Thielen at the five touchdown. Whoa. A 36-yard touchdown strike. Hunkins to legendly the best pass defense in the NFL. Oh. Field lead.

That's my boy. Paul Allen from K-Fan in Minnesota, not the Seattle Seahawks owner, but a capable play-by-play telecaster, who took it home right there. I'll tell you something else. This Adam Thielen, who I was crowing about in the office, I know people don't, uh, he's not Randy Moss. It's like, I get it. You know what?

You don't have, wait, you don't have, I'm just saying. You don't have Stefan Diggs, and you're in an offense that doesn't have the quarterback and the running back. You went into the season. Who has ever said anything bad about Adam Thieling? People have strong opinions on Thielen. That's the biggest. Adam Thieland.

Many people think. All you can ask for is a player when people are out to step in and fill the gap the best you can. Seven catches, 127 yards. He found a way to get into spaces between Houston's secondary. Houston's defense got absolutely outmanned and outpowered, and we haven't even gotten to the best part of this game. Minnesota's defense is a Super Bowl defense. We've been talking about this since the summer. They have a Super Bowl level head coach and Mike Zimmer, and they took Brock Osweiler the $72 million, $37 million in guarantee his quarterback, and made him look like the 28th, 29th, best quarterback in the league today. They shredded them. I would be very concerned for Texans fans who are

watching Brock Osweiler go out and look absolutely lost at sea while four or five rookie quarterbacks look more capable and ready for game action than he does in this offense. Will Fuller and DeAndre Hopkins were shut out in the first half and anything you see in a box score that they have it happened late in the game when nothing mattered. This game was over by the second, by the third quarter. Fire in your eyes. Well, listen, I don't want to hear any garbage about where are we with the Vikings. I don't care where we are as a group.

This team cares where they are, and they said it from the minute that they lost Teddy Bridgewater, we're not giving up, and they haven't shown any hint of that. I always know that it's going to be good when Sessler starts with his hand. Oh, oh. Well, it's like, you know what? Thielen's not Randy Moore. Right. Well, it's just that it is that kind of a team where it doesn't matter what happens.

Someone else comes in and Phil does the job. I'd say three quarters of the league don't have that dynamic on any level. They lose someone. That position is a absolute weakened issue for the rest of the season. How about Sam Bradford doing this today without Stefan Diggs? Look great. And so, I mean, even Cordero Patterson. They haven't had a running game.

And without a running game. It still got a running game. If tackles haven't played well, it's incredible. I mean, it gets Mark excited. It gets Paul Allen so excited. He made some fake argument about people calling the Texans the best secondary in the league. Who calls the Texans that? No one.

They were number one statistically in past defense. But every game, it's a different guy who Sam Bradford is making look like a star. Stefan Diggs really is a good receiver. Adam Thielen's a special teamer. Charles Johnson last week had disappeared until he catches two deep balls. Kyle Rudolph is having the best year of his career. Sam Bradford's an upgrade on Teddy Bridger. You know, Corderole Patterson finally looks like he's back in action.

I can't believe those words, too. I mean, this is an amazing time. The fact that Sam Bradford, when paired with Norv Turner, looks better than Teddy Bridgewater, is making this offense work. Sometimes it's best not to think too deeply about it. And he's also just never had this kind of a team around him. Because the Eagles team, no matter what they are on defense this year, we're in mess around Sam Bradford the last two seasons.

And I mean, it's, I'm not saying any quarterback could do this. that's not the case, but this defense sets the table up for you very nicely. People always talk about weapons. Having the best defense in the league. That's a weapon. It's going to get people off your back. It's going to get you the ball back. It's going to make you look good.

On a day they had 350 yards, you can dominate because he's making the plays when it counts. And that's the opposite of Osweiler, who. One of 13 on third downs, the Texans today. We're only five games. One of 13? Their offense looks so dysfunction. We're only five games in. But they're worse than they were with Brian Hoyer,

and it's not particularly close. They've been disjointed all year. They have a couple big plays every game, and he makes some impressive throws, but they're not moving the ball. They're a team that it's a boomer bust offense, and for eight, nine, ten drives a game, they're going three, four, five, and out.

And Lamar Miller. Who got paid? Rock Osweir and Lamar Miller. Yeah. Lamar Miller has been one of the least effective start. running backs in the NFL this year. And Brock Osweiler, like Greg said, not even an upgrade on Brian Hoyer. No, and I think that they, Brock Osweller is still young enough where he doesn't have

the resume and the hundreds of starts to look back on and say, I know I can dig myself out of this. They got in his head. It's not the first quarterback that Minnesota's done that too. They made Aaron Rogers look bad. They made everyone look bad. This isn't the first defense to get in Brock Osweller's head either. No, but this is not, this is the best defense right now that he will face all season.

Is it the best defense in the NFL? Have they... To me, they are. I don't care what the stats say, just watching them. The stats say they are. But quite a bit. And the stats are smart. Yeah, I think they are.

Now you care what they say. I think, listen, this could change in a couple weeks. But Denver has shown consistency that we have not seen Minnesota do this, you know, as long as Denver has. For these five weeks. No, but, well, actually, you know, they've won eight straight regular season games. That's the most in the league. And go ahead. Go find your weaknesses, but they're not there in my book.

This is a team. Well, and the Texans are in a similar spot where I think. They need their defense to be truly dominant to be a real contender. I mean, they're going to be in the mix in the AFC South. It's a bad division. And I don't know. I have to watch this one closer. Last week, they certainly weren't a dominant-looking defense, you know, in that game for the Texans in their win.

Clowny hasn't really shown up this year. It looks like by the box score, he had a nice day today, but he's been very quiet after, you know. They put pressure on Bradford. They hit Bradford, but a lot of it just seemed, you know, when you're down early, a lot of it just came when it didn't really change the game. We're going almost a full 16 game season on Sam Bradford now. Since November 1st of last season, he's completed 69% of his passes, 16 to 4 touchdown to interception ratio, and a 101.1.2 passer rating. Wow.

We'll have to talk more on Tuesday about the team of ATO. We move to, where are we going here? L.A. All right. Let's go to the bills. the Rams. I think this was Dan's lock of the week. Was it that the bills are going to lose? Oh, because

he's a certified Rexpert. I think that's right. I think Dan picked Buffalo to win this. That did not happen. And Rex Ryan, he now led his team to a win. LaShawn McCoy looked good. And they pulled out a 30 to 19 win over the Rams after a fake punt

misfired. So let's talk about this game. I had that incorrect. I said Dan chose the bills to win. that he chose them to lose is that what was was that he saying it was a it was a bounce back as in backward rex type of game i believe his yeah lock of the week i just wait for it see if we would get it or not i don't i'm getting a no signal from it was the rain that the that the bills would fall apart and jeff fisher to defend that block punt and for some context it's just a few minute i think four minutes left in that game maybe even less fourth and five deep in their own

territory and they go for the fake punt there the problem is is they've done so many fake punts over the years. The bills were expecting it. How is that defending Jeff Fisher? I'm not defending Jeff Fisher at all. How about the fact that he... He said, I was playing to win. How about have you played a win?

Put your quarterback and Todd Gurley and your receivers on the field and try to pick up five yards. If he was playing for the win, why when it's a seven-point game with only five or six minutes left does he go for the field goal? It was a four-point game for what it's worth, but yeah. No, earlier. When he went for the field goal, when a touch,

touchdown would have tied it. Right. And even if you go for the field goal, you still need a touchdown. It forces you to make these decisions like the fake punt when you do that. Yeah, I had problems with all of that. And yet when I watched, you know, the fourth quarter of that game, on all the key plays, the bills won the battle. I mean, the Rams were missing three of their four starting defensive linemen.

And the bills on all of these plays where Fisher made questionable decisions, they won those plays. They prevented them from scoring the touchdown. They forced the fourth down. You know, they made a nice play when he called the fake punt. They were the better team. Well, they're a good team right now. We talk about this Rams defense as being the, you know,

the core of their whole effort to try to get over the seven and nine hump. You just gave up 193 yards rushing at 7.1 yards per carry. I mean, give me a break. Well, I think Greg has talked about this. LaShawn McCoy is looking good the last few weeks. And Anthony Lynn just deserves the bulk of the credit. Yeah. He's steeped in the running game.

He's not a passing game guy. he has always been a running backs coach and they are getting it done on the ground well whatever Greg Roman was doing before wasn't working and when Lynn came in he took all of the players and asked them what they liked to do and what plays that they felt like they were good at and what they wanted to run and then he made a game plan based around that it's a novel idea he's crowdsourcing his job I mean wouldn't that work in any other place ask your employees what they like to do and what they're good at and watch them succeed. Of course coaches do that. They talk to their players, especially the quarterbacks about what players they, what plays

they like the best. Makes sense. But it's not a way, it's not a bad way to start off your role is to actually show that you're open to their ideas. Whether you use them all, that's a different story. Lashon McCoy is the best player on their offense, especially with Sammy Wach and hurt. And he's playing great. And the next best thing about their offense is their offensive line. And it's playing better. I mean, Tyrod Taylor hasn't, I wouldn't say his play has particularly changed the last three weeks. It's the defense in the running game. How would that work say with Odell Beckham?

You crowd towards him and he's like, throw it to me every time. Every time. That's how we win. Yeah. That's true. It wouldn't really work that way. I mean, this Bill's defense has Lorenzo Alexander as the NFL's leading sack artist.

The last time we were in the studio, we were talking about Marcus Golden as the surprising one. Now it's Lorenzo Alexander. It's another game where Preston Brown and Zach Brown, I mean, I mean, there was a five backers in the league. There was a playing this game where. Tyrod Taylor, second-year starter, lined up behind guard as the ball shotgun passed him for an issue.

That's an all-time. I have to give Rex Ryan. It was a little bit of a low point, but they dug themselves out. I mean, I've taken Rex Ryan to task a million times, as of others, on the show, and, you know, this is Rex Ryan saving his job over the last three weeks. Well, get used to it. They're hosting the 49ers next week, and then they're going to Miami. And if you're power ranking the teams, that might be the.

you know, two of the worst three teams in the league. And I know the bills aren't a guaranteed win any week, but the way they're playing, they got a real chance to be five and two and right in it. Well, and we're about 96 hours removed from taking Connor Orr to town for putting the bills up at his 12th best team ranking in our power poll. Maybe Connor Ores simply wrote this rankings from December while the rest of us were in October.

Wow. Well, he also ranked the 49ers really high. Never know what can happen. And maybe Conoror is just a seer going to win. He's a wild card. Total wild card. I know. You never know.

Has the Bills as a wild card. He puts the ore in Oracle. That is true. Let's move on to the Colts and the Bears. So Brian Hoyer, I mean, it looks like he's a better option than Jay Cutler. Well, they didn't win the game. But the Colts won 2923. But Hoyer, I feel like, is the better option in Chicago.

He is. and yet, what is it, I don't know. What does it matter? What do you mean? What does it matter? They had their most yards in a game since 1989. But they can't beat the Colts, you know, on the road. I mean, they're one and four.

They're a team going nowhere. To me, neither one of those guys is going to be their quarterback next year. Well, here's where it matters. To me, it mattered for them to win this game, and they managed to do it. It's basically last year's Texans, where if you're a Bears fan and you've been through the Jay Cutler experience and you're at this point just exhausted. and focusing on the Cubs, then you have a team

that's finally come to the conclusion that it's time to rebuild the quarterback position and Jay Cutler is no longer just going to be as presumed to be the starter. I will say one thing, the week Cutler goes out is the week that they finally got rid of the most boring backfield in sports

and found a real running back in Jordan Howard. I don't know what's going on with this team where they didn't see this earlier in the year. Maybe he wasn't showing it, but I mean, you got a guy. Why is it the year of teams playing their worst running back to start the season, only to realize a month into it, oh, hey, we have somebody better? We got this guy. Jordan Howard, the second straight week, he has a great game.

He had 118 yards on the ground, 45 yards receiving, and a touchdown. I mean, this guy, he looked great at the combine, but now they're finally using him and we're finally seeing it on the field. Yeah, he's a three-down. I mean, he's a guy who's good in the passing game and he's a good power back. He's not going to make you miss or anything on his 57-yard. run. A lot of, you know, running backs would have scored a touchdown on that because he's not going to have the long speed, but he's fun to watch. He's good. And he gives them a little life watching them. But the Colts, the Colts in this game were the more important team to me,

because I think they can still matter because Andrew Luck is on their team. And he played a really good game. Their offensive line gave up five sacks, though, to a team in the Bears that only had six all season going into this game. And the Colts got the ball back, needing, needing points, needing a touchdown late in this game with under five minutes to go. And I started thinking this is going to be an ugly week in Indianapolis if luck can't pull something out. And he goes right down the field, including a long touchdown on a beautiful throw to Ty Hilton and gets the job done when he needs to.

He's been sacked 20 times and hit 42 times. And the Colts are still third in the NFL and scoring behind the Steelers and Falcons. I think that speaks to him having a pretty good season, despite a. everything around him being pretty poor. And it does, and it speaks, even though they're in the mix in the F.C. South, I mean, it's hard for them to win games. You know, they've had to have last second touchdown drives just to win two home games against the Chargers and the Bears.

It's just, it's tough. He's playing uphill every week. I mean, this division, you know, we all kind of wasted some breath this offseason talking about the AFC South, turning the corner, how exciting they'd be. And, you know, things don't change as quickly as we want them to sometimes. This division still is probably going to be won by a 9-and-7 team that is completely disappointing and gets airmailed out of the playoffs one weekend. I think this is the team that's going to win it, too.

The Colts? I think their defense is getting a modicum of help, whereas to start the year, it was unreal how many starters and important players were injured on that defense. And you get their cornerbacks healthy. Henry Anderson's coming back, who was their best defensive lineman last year. So you're starting to get a little bit healthier. Maybe they can keep people down to 23 points a game instead of 30. T.I. Hilton's gone over 170 yards.

Frank Gore? The last three games. Frank Gore. Now number nine on the all-time list. Well, I-Brown. All the credit to Frank Gore, but there were like four guys that were separated by like 18 yards. So in one, in the London game, he shot past like three of them. He shot past another today.

I mean, you know, you saw it coming, barring like a car crash. Sure. Better and moved by him playing one last year just to move past all those guys. Yeah, it does. Good job by him. Next up, the Miami Dolphins at home. They were not able to stop DeMarco Murray and the Titans running game. Hard Rock Stadium, tough place to play these days.

They lost 30 to 17 in this game. So I don't even know what to say about the Dolphins and Ryan Tannahill and this offense, but I am encouraged by the run game in Tennessee. Yeah, I was ready to say, look, it looks like the Titans' offense got healthy, but their defense got healthy in this game. I think the dolphins only had 200 yards. So the dolphins are just bad in every area on the field. They're tough to watch.

I know there's other options, but I think they're the most disappointing team in the league or the most dispiriting to watch because there's just so little to feel good about. The Titans' offensive line is ranked this week, before this game even, by Pro Football Focus, as the number one offensive line in the league. The running game is working.

A lot of what Mike Malarkey wanted to do is working. The passing game is not, but they got healthy in this game. They look good. Who knows? They're only one game back now in a lousy division, and they have a few things coming together that at least you can feel good about.

One other promising sign for the Titans' offense, they busted out some zone replays today, which had been kind of missing from their attack this year. But it's what Marcus Marioita does well. I mean, the thing is with Tennessee because this is like the optimal spot where suddenly it's easy to feel hope about the Titans again and they play Cleveland next week.

And they're not Miami. At least they're not Miami. They're not Miami. No, 100%. They've got a much better situation, I think long-term at quarterback right now in other parts in place. But it just doesn't feel after what we've seen

the sample size that it's sustainable when you run into real opponents. Well, their next four games are the Browns, Colts, Jaguars, Chargers. So they're very much alive in this division. Very much so. And Adam Gay said after the game, he is not benching Ryan Tannahill

for the rest of the year so you can stop asking that question. I don't know if I've ever, and he looked very agitated. This was a point I made last show. When you watch him on the post game, just do it. You'll see what I mean. He is just being driven crazy by this Dolphins team, just like all the fans and pretty much everyone else. that's worked for the Dolphins for the last 15 years.

Well, it's brutal watching them this year. And when you look at the Titans offense and you see how Marietta did today, three touchdowns, you see the way that they're running the ball. Marioita rushed for 60 yards. This game, the offense was really good. And the Dolphins just can't get anything going. Wow, eight first downs for the dolphins and 200 yards.

Yeah. You just don't see that in the NFL. And this is the third game like that that they've been like that. 36 plus minutes of possession for Tennessee. This is a malarkey, you know, dream scape. This is what he wants. Even in the games where Tannahill has moved the ball,

it's not until they're out of the game. It's depressing. Yeah, Tanna Hill was sacked six times, Marietta, zero. Ooh, wow. All right. And that brings us to Sunday night football. All right, we had the Packers. Oh, wow.

Yeah. That's great. Good. I'm glad that's still happening. The Packers and the Giant – Oh, cool, it's still going on. Every Sunday night, we're treated to this soundbite. Thank you, Sydney.

Is it? Are we done? Perfect. All right, the Packers and the Giants. So the Giants all week long, all we heard about was Odell Beckham Jr. And he's not having fun anymore. And he's too emotional and blah, blah, blah, blah. They go in to the Packers in Lambeau Field.

Aaron Rogers throws two touchdowns, two interceptions. and the Packers still end up winning the game at 23-16. We've all been watching this game extensively all night here, me included. So what really stood out to you guys? I think Eli Manning struggling for the second straight week. Greg thought that Eli's game last week was bad when he watched the tape. I thought it was too. I'd say the last three weeks.

He really struggled in Wing 3 against the Saints too. Yeah, that seems like a trend. Only three for 199 yards. Yeah, I think what you said about the running game, West, like when you're the New York Giants and you're rushing for 2.9 yards of carry, like it puts Eli Manning into a tough spot. They're just not a balanced offense at all. They've been savage by injuries.

To me, you look at teams, what's their identity going to be? Now, they spent a lot of money on defense. I think they're better on defense. They're not getting the pass rush that they expected. But to me, they're a team that's going to be built on their passing game. They have to be a good passing game. And they're not right now. And that's why they hired Bob McAdoo.

Did I just call him Bob McAdoo? You did. Ben McAdoo. Maybe they should have hired Bob. And his offense that they wanted continuity for is really struggling. I mean, it is the part of the team that's struggling right now. And McAdoo is struggling. He had a terrible challenge in the fourth quarter burning one timeout on a play that wasn't likely to be overturned.

and then he decided not to use a challenge on the Randall Cobb catch at the very end of the game that I think could have been overturned and they would have gotten the ball back for a chance to win the game and he sat there, sat on it with a timeout in his pocket. Yeah. And not to mention Mike McCarthy in this game, the way that they started it, the Packers and all the different personnel packages that they started the game with, it was so, it was really interesting the way that they mixed it up. and then it kind of just went blah after that.

Yeah, I think they want to get Thai Montgomery involved, and then by the end of the game, it's still Adams, Nelson, Cobb for the last two quarters. Right. Yeah, it's a little interesting, I agree. These are two offenses, you know, that are mirror images in terms of the coaches, and they're both struggling right now,

and there's going to be some concern, I would guess, in Green Bay about, you know, Aaron Rogers throwing for 5.8 yards per 10, not having a great night. But they're a complimentary team. They've got one of the better Packers' defenses that we've seen in the Mike McCarthy era, even with some injuries at cornerback tonight. This is a team that can win games with an okay to good offense.

Maybe it doesn't need to be unbelievable. Nobody's close to them and run defense this year. I think they average less than two yards per carry. Yeah, and that played out tonight. And then when you look at how New York jumped out to its fast start this season, it was, you know, there was chatter that their three wide receivers might be the best trio in the league with Beckham. Cruz and Sterling Shepard tonight they're held to a combined 70 yards so it's you know when you're shutting that down you're the whole there really wasn't a way from New York to kind of get

into flow tonight and certainly not come back from the whole they dug two straight weeks the offense has been shut down speaking of McAdoo's issues and O'Dell Beckham I don't think has a hundred yard game this year wow that's not an O'Dell Beckham problem he he's established on film how good he is that's the coach showed it again on that late touchdown got to get him the ball. You know he's good. Yeah, and this is terrible. They really needed this win just in the division. They've lost three straight now. Now they're two and three last in the division. When you have the Cowboys, Four and One, the Eagles three and one, Redskins, even three and two.

When they got a tough stretch, they've got the Ravens next. Then the Rams, I know everyone likes to laugh at the Rams, but the Rams defense, you know, after what we saw tonight, that could be a concern. Then a buy week, then the Eagles and Bengals. I mean, they've got a tough month ahead. It's tough for the Giants. right now. Sorry Giants fans out there. Don't they always find a way to kind of like climb? When they have these up and down seasons,

we think we want to write them off and they climb their way back out and do something kind of magical and it's quite annoying or quite fascinating. They're always hanging around. That was Coughlin DNA, not McAduh. Oh, that's a good point. A lot of shared DNA, though. Yeah. A lot of the same.

Cofflin's like still hanging around the building, like using the bathroom and, you know, probably the team library. The team library? Yeah, I think teams have probably a nice library with every. Yeah, books. No, every team has a... Novels. Has a big library.

There's beanbag chairs in there and ladders. It'd be nice to let them stay. I was trying to think of the book that you were reading. I know a lot of players like to take out the awakening by Kate Schopen. That fell massively flat, but yeah, it was a book that I was reading on my off day. I'm quite enjoying it. Whatever happened to the book club that was going on here? That your husband, Gonzo, tried to start?

I wasn't thrilled with the book. Well, that was Mark's book. Yeah, my book got panned, and then I lost interest in every person involved in the group. That's basically what happened. I don't need to, like, enjoy a book and then have, like, all these text messages going back and forth. Whoa, your book really sucked. Like, A, didn't write it. B, don't care.

You care. Oh, you care. There were a lot of hot takes on that book, but. Spent, like, 900 pages setting up some alternative lifestyle for Lee Harvey Oswald. I couldn't get into that. yeah i'm not surprised this podcast has gone even more off the rail i know we gotta get out of here sid should we get another oh all right i was going to do sunday night but this one works too because we really should get the hell out of it out of here all right everybody dan is back you guys

are back next week and we'll see everybody on sunday monday monday People are looking at me like there's a problem. Well, yeah, just because I said I'll see you guys on Sunday and then Monday, but there's no podcast on Monday. It's actually on Tuesday. We could do this Sunday night bit now if you want to go back and redo it. Let's just redo it. Yeah. The whole thing.

No, no, no, no. No, just at the end. Or we could just include this as the end. Let's start at the beginning. She could be like, listen, let's try that all over again. Let's just include this. Everybody, sorry, I'm tired, and that's it. If we sit in the start at the beginning, Mark would be so bitter.

I wouldn't be. I'd be in my car. The three of you can. All right. From the top, everybody. I've learned, yeah. Let's just leave it. It's fine.

If you want to take 20 seconds. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We've done it plenty of time. This is fine as an Easter egg. Yeah. I'll do that. So we can all leave now. Okay.

All right. Goodbye now. Hey, everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters.

We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else. It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticker. podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast.

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