NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 2016 Week 6 review

Episode Date: October 17, 2016

A room filled with heroes – Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, Chris Wesseling, and Gregg Rosenthal – go game-by-game breaking down all of the Week 6 action which included a thrilling down-to-the-wire battle between the Seahawks and Falcons, plus a huge upset in Miami as the Dolphins took down the Steelers.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 doesn't understand the catch rule either. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hanzas, and I am joined by. a room filled with heroes Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling

and Greg Rosethal. What's up, boys? Hey, Dan. Sunday Flagship program where we're going to break down all of the week six action. The pod brought to you, of course, by Mr. Flames' economics class

in the Hague, the Netherlands. Mr. F. And I'm very excited about today's show. And by the way, everyone watching on Periscope right now. How you doing? Are you doing? That's a little Joey Tribiani callback for you.

It's natural. That's what people look for. It's not just the results. It's a little bit of personality. Sure, sure. That's what we do. And I'm excited about today's show because we got a saucy Mark Sessler downstairs today.

And I think we're going to get a big performance out of Mark. Not to put too much pressure on it. No, I mean, I might have completely run out of gas. It's been a long day. Wes, you had a front row seat for Mark today. A very fired up kind of a saucy Sessler. This started last week. The mark really has only three or four teams in the NFL he wants to watch right now.

And everyone else can go take a dirt nap. Well, there are a lot of, you know what? I know we're not supposed to say this, but there are a lot of crappy, junky, incomplete teams. And so when I see one or two dominate the way I saw today and we'll get to that, I enjoy it. You've just reached a point where, like, you think you can read a game now and five minutes into the game, you want the other team to go away.

Yeah, they need to get off my radar. And this was... Get out of my life. So, yeah, well, maybe this hopefully will pop up organically some of this passionate Mark's thoughts about the NFL. But again, another week as we're going to about to jump into all the games and then cap it off with the Sunday night game between the Colts and Texans. Some of these games, I just can't make sense of some of this stuff.

No wonder a lot of our locks of the week are going awry. The NFL is hard to figure out right now. let's get into some of these games Let's do it Let's start with a team that maybe There's a lot of, you know, hard to figure out for a lot of people Maybe not now, but entering the season Nobody saw this coming, the Atlanta Falcons

Who fresh off defeating the Denver Broncos in Denver Travel to Seattle And they put themselves in a tough spot The Seattle Seahawks jumped out to a comfortable early lead But then the Falcons roll off 21 straight points In the second half But an Earl Thomas fourth quarter interception right at the point where the Falcons had a chance to potentially salt the game away with the one-point lead.

That led to a go-ahead field goal, a 26-24 win at the clink for the Seahawks. And Chris Wessling, the Falcons, they let this one get away. And you know what? The rest didn't help him any. Seahawks first let it get away, then the Falcons let it get away. You're right, the rest didn't help. Part of it was Julio Jones, his first target of the game that did not result in a catch, was an interception off his fingertips that led,

to the go-ahead field goal for the Seahawks. Falcons had a chance to come back and take the lead on fourth down, Matt Ryan, desperation heave into double coverage, Earl Thomas and Richard Sherman, with Richard Sherman hanging on Julio Jones's arm, an egregious missed call on a pass interference penalty. Officials often let jump balls go on the last play of the game. This one should have been called.

It should have, and it takes a lot for Dan Quinn to go as nuts. Oh, he went crazy. On the sideline, but he knew that it's a game-changing play. Now, you don't just hand the win to the Falcons at that point. They'd have the ball at midfield with not a ton of time and still needed to hit a field goal in a road environment. They're on the other side of midfield. Yeah, the other side, but they would have had to get some more yards.

They would have to count on a long kick. You never know. It's crazy in this game how dominant Seattle was for three of the quarters, and Atlanta went up and down the field for the third quarter. I mean, they had three long touchdown drives in Seattle right down their throats, It's a couple coverage bus, but they had 250 yards in one quarter. They only had about 100 yards the whole rest of the game. Yeah, the Seahawks dominated in every sense of the word, the offensive line of the Falcons in the first half.

Blitz calls, and then Cliff Averill and Michael Bennett just wrecking the pocket. Matt Ryan had 17 dropbacks in the first half. It was hit on 11 of those. Wow. And Michael Bennett, five quarterback hits and didn't play the last one and a half quarters of the game. his absence in the third quarter was directly related to those three drives by the Falcons, not to mention blown coverage, which I believe probably resulted from Richard Sherman going from zone defense, which he usually plays, to man-to-man,

and the confusion therein following Julio Jones around. Can't we say, oh, sorry, didn't go ahead. I was just saying Michael Bennett suffered an apparent knee injury. We don't know how serious it is right now. He expects to play next week. He said that's a good sign. It is a brutal loss for the Falcons based on the final. couple of seconds and Dan Quinn who you know he keeps a lid on his emotions more than some coaches

had every right to be furious with what he saw on the field and it's a tough loss to swallow but I also think that it for the Falcons they've passed the test on some level where this isn't some fluky team that's going to wither up and vanish a couple weeks from now their offense is legit and part of maybe the third quarter dynamics was that they adjusted well to what they were seen from Seattle absolutely you have to give Kyle Shanan and Matt Ryan credit for that. Matt Ryan was dealing, as Greg said, while he was watching him in a third quarter.

He was in rhythm. And Kyle Shanahan's halftime adjustments were superb. He's been great all year. I think you said it right. They have faced this test where it was Panthers, Broncos, Seahawks, and we said this team, they've been beaten up on cupcakes. Now they look like the real deal right now. I got to give their defense a lot of credit too.

You look on the road here. Russell Wilson was almost invisible in this game. You didn't really see much from him at all. Well, he played well. He did. His stats aren't going to look great, but he played really well. Okay. And Kristen Michael held under four yards of carry. Nothing really jumps out when you look at the box score is something that Seattle was able to impose their will on offense against Atlanta's defense. So that's a good sign for a team. We know they have a great offense. Yeah, I think their defense is still mediocre. It might be a little bit better than we thought at the beginning of the year,

but it all depends on their pass rush, and they didn't have much of that today. Were you concerned that the Devonta Freeman, Tavin Coleman duo that, was so effective a week ago. I mean, looking at the numbers, you saw it live, like that they seem to be taken out of this one. I think the burgeoning Ezekiel Elliott aside, this is still the best backfield, the best complementary backfield in the league. And this was just Michael Bennett and that defensive line owning the line of screen. And for them to win a game where they don't have Frank Clark, they don't have Bennett for much of the second half, they don't have Cam Chancellor and his replacement, Kelsey McCray, seemed to be directly leading to those two

coverage buster, at least was part of those two plays. You know, You know, Seattle, playing Seattle straight up at home where they look even. That's a great result, but it's still a great result for Seattle to go four and one to get a bigger lead in this division. I hate how this game ended, though. I got to say. I do, too. It was such a great game to watch, you know, in the last half is when I was really, like, closely watching the game. And to come down to a obvious blown call where Richard Serban grabbed Julio Jones's arm, kind of pulled it away, took away his center of gravity, made it an impossible catch.

and to miss that call, to me, it kind of marred the end of the game. Well, it felt like a pro wrestling lever to pull. Like, you know, this is a tough situation for the visiting team, the opponent, and we're not going to give them the call and they'll deal with it. But it's like, hold on here. Mr. Fuji salt to the eyes. Sure. You can't take away the third quarter because it happened,

but Seattle was dominant, like Greg said, for three or four quarters. And if you're a Seahawks fan, you got the win and you look dominant for 75%. Well, and there is three plays before that fourth and ten, incomplete, incomplete, incomplete. And I kind of thought, well, this isn't a bad spot for Atlanta. And I know they're in Seattle, but you only got to get 40, you know, 45 yards to set up a game when in field go plenty of time. They couldn't do it. Let's move on.

First down, 31 seconds left, no timeouts. Snap to deck, looking right, fade, right side of the end zone. Touchdown! It's a touchdown. It's Bryce Butler. It's a touchdown. That's one of the most unbelievable drives they have run in years. The Dallas Cowboys are bad men.

Bad men. In a good way? Oh, in a good way. Very good way. If you're a fan of the Cowboys, if you're a fan of an NFC team, you're getting nervous because Dak, Zeeke and company rolled into Lambo Field on Sunday and dominated four quarters cruising to a 30 to 16 win on another day where the Packers' offense looked stuck in mud.

Mark Sessler, who this was the game where Mark was really almost in a rage. You know the part in the Seahawks game where they showed Earl Thomas's eyes west? Yes, he looked like Mike Singletary with that focus. Right, in that last drive of the game and it was like, oh, that laser focus. That was Mark, wild-eyed watching this game, rooting hard against the Packers, not even so much for the Cowboys, Mark. It was like, Mark was Dan Quinn and the Packers were that rat, was that ref? Yeah, I mean, I can explain it if you'd like.

Why don't we get into the game a little bit? Let's get into the game first. So the Cowboys have a formula here, and nobody seems to know how to stop it, Mark. They don't. This is a fun team to watch. one thing that I tweeted was that everyone goes into every season expecting the Green Bay Packers to put up 800 points and just roll right into the NFC title game. And they're at home today and got absolutely physically dominated by a Cowboys team that has a fairly simple script, but is a violent script. It is we're going to run right through you.

You try to deal with us. We're going to set the tone with Ezekiel Elliott. And it was an embarrassing game for the Green Bay Packers to get handled this way at Lambo. field. They're going to have to go look at this tape and figure out what's wrong with their team on both sides of the ball. Ezekiel Elliott, you know, I was going, I think you have two potential rookie of the candidate, rookie of the year candidates, and give it to both of them. Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott could be co-ro rookie of the year on offense.

I'd have no problem with that. And I understand that we're supposed to say that Tony Roma's going to come right back and just he's going to take this starting job. I no longer believe that. This game changes that narrow. entirely. I thought that, I mean, I got almost thrown out of the studio and I questioned that that could be a possibility a couple weeks ago. But he keeps on making plays week after week. And if they roll into week eight or nine and they have one loss, there's no way that they're going to take them out. It just doesn't make any sense. You're waiting about a month in on a promising rookie quarterback for teams to catch up

and start to slice and dice the guy. And we have not seen that. Yes, he threw his first pick today, but he also shattered an NFL record for going 163 completions to start. his career without a pick, taking down Tom Brady's record. And after fumbling the ball, the play after he set that record, Dak Prescott, you know, a few drives later, put on a show with a one-minute drive right before the half. We're in about 33 seconds and four plays and 77 yards, went right down the field on Green Bay's defense and absolutely put up a beautiful

touchdown pass to Bryce McCain. And this game, I think, was out of hand very early in the third quarter because Green Bay could not set the tone. Well, the Cowboys are the same every week. They come out of the gates, setting the tone with these long drives on offense. They're great in the two-minute drill every single week, and Dak Prescott did it again before halftime. And it's at the point where you have to say this Cowboys' defense isn't just overachieving

and their average, which is great for them, and we kind of think they're going to fall apart. We have to say this is a pretty solid defense, a team that can contend to be a title type of team. It's a good secondary. a great front seven. They're making plays. But they have Sean Lee, and like you said, it's kind of a simple defense where they fly around. But the secondary is legitimately good. Barry Chort, Barry Church, Maurice Claiborne, Boris Claiborne, Byron Jones is playing very well this year. I mean, they have players in the back end. Well, and they compliment the offense, which says we want to go out and do seven and eight minute drives and put the opponent on their

heels. And that keeps your defense fresh. Well, it work every game, no. But it worked in a game that if you don't want to believe in Dallas, you're in a tough road, you're in a tough place after this game. And on the Green Bay side, and, you know, when we did our go get my lunch props last month, I stuck my neck out a little bit for the Packers. I said 530 points. I got crazy. That's how many points their offense would score.

But you know what? I was not alone in the thought that this offense would pick up where they left off in 2014 once they got healthy and with Aaron Rogers involved. But now, and Bob McGintin wrote about this, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, this morning. about how Aaron Rogers has not been a superstar for a full season now. Wes, this is a team with serious problems on the offensive side of the ball, and there are no obvious solutions. Well, serious problems start with Aaron Rogers now.

Last year we talked about the wide receivers, the pass protection, the running game. And now we have to accept that starting with the middle of last year, and I wrote about this a couple of times last year, he got into bad habits because he had to improvise when plays break down so much. But now he's only comfortable when the play very. breaks down, and he wants to throw without setting his feet. He's always been good at throwing without setting his feet, but now he wants to do it most of the time.

Well, it's almost like the Packers' offensive line is playing too well for Rogers, because he's not facing any pressure, and he's looked more lost, I believe, last week than he's ever looked when he faced no pressure at all. There's a stat from pro football focus today. Only face pressure on six of 46 dropbacks today against the Cowboys. That's a very low amount. on plays with no pressure, 6.2 yards per attempt. He's playing worse when he has time to throw,

which is just a strange thing. Yeah, and it totally played out today. There were plays where seconds would pass, and he'd just be dancing back in the pocket. But who do you blame when he fumbles the ball inside the five close to a touchdown against Dallas? And who do you blame when he completely overthrows Randall Cobb in the end zone on a key drive? That airmail was on a free play in the third quarter would have brought Green Bay

within a touchdown and it's a whole it's a different game at that point instead he air mails what would have been a gimmee touchdown by the old aaron rogers so yeah it's just it's a thing that now it's no longer a trend it's just it's like the new normal in green bay i think everybody's trying to make sense of it it's an extended slump brought upon by elapsin fundamentals that doesn't mean that he's broken beyond repair or this is the beginning of a decline it means it has to get fixed well i i think it's also coaching though i think other coaches get you know scheme to get the receiver open better than Green Bay does, who kind of trots out the same guys and expects them to win. And I know it's really early in the season, and there are two games back of the fucking.

I do think if the offense doesn't get better by the end of the season, I think you're going to wonder if Mike McCarthy keeps his job. I mean, because he's an offensive guy, and it's been a long, long time. And I think Ted Thompson, who's obviously been very hesitant to think about a change, I think if the offense is low to poor, they might make a change. Yeah, and one final note, like, this team is boring to watch. You don't think that's going to be the case when you have what we thought was a Hall of Fame top five quarterback, and I still do ultimately running the show.

It's a capsized attack that is hard on the eyes. And is 2016 Aaron Rogers coachable? We don't really know that. And one of the, in that McGinn piece, Greg, that you and I both liked. It was really good. He did. There was a little La Raville, Magnifico, in that post about an exit. he was asked about his exhibition game struggles, he completely dismissed it.

What was the – Well, they said what do you expect, I think even before the game to get out of this preseason game? He said nothing. Right. And the inference was that he's a guy that, you know, shouldn't be looking at things that way. He made some comments that Rogers does not face a lot of criticism from coaches, players, fans, or anything. I think people are a little afraid, afraid to be honest with them. Let's move on.

This will be a 52-yard attempt. he has hit from 57 against Atlanta left hash mark 52 yards away will what's the walk on from georgia state drills it forward and drills it through will lutz has hit it with 11 seconds left and the saints have taken a three-point lead how about that as a 30 rock fan i love that there's a lutz in the nfl right now curtains for carolina will lutz's 52-yard field goal in the final section lifted the Saints to a 41-38 win over the Panthers at the Superdome. The Panthers rallied back from a huge deficit in this one. Greg, how much was it at its biggest?

21-0-0. 21-0, but their defense couldn't make the stop to let them steal the game. Instead, the Panthers are 1 in 5, and on the edge of the abyss in the NFC playoff picture, just like we all predicted, right, Greg? No one saw this coming. We did wonder how will they handle adversity? That was something we talked about in the preview. How will this team handle some things going poorly?

Because it never happened last year. This is a team that every time they lose the game, they fall apart. They went 1, 8, and 1 a couple years ago before that made that run. Then they've gone 22 and 2 for a stretch. Now they're 1 in 5, and it's all on the defense. No one should be shocked that the Saints put up a lot of points in the Superdome in a division matchup because that's what the Saints do. But look, the Panthers offense did enough to win this game.

and Ron Rivera's defense, especially the secondary, Zach Sanchez and Kurt Coleman and Trey Boston, and that whole group got shredded when it counted. Drew Brees throws for 465 yards, two weeks after Matt Ryan throws for 500 something. I mean, it sounds, when Dave Gedderman decides that I'm not going to pay a cover two corner, $15 million, it sounds good on paper in the offseason.

Look at the discipline of this good general manager. but you got a Super Bowl window and you're blowing a season of that window because your secondary is not good enough. I think Josh Norman has shown in Washington what a great cornerback he is. I think he's having a Pro Bowl season and for him to do it for another team

shows that it's not just the Carolina system. So it is the defense. I don't think you can put it all on that decision. It's part of it. I don't think Thomas Davis has been quite the same. Kwan Shorts definitely not been the same. They haven't had any pass rush. Tony Ely hasn't done what he did in the Super Bowl,

not even close to it. That said, the game is 21-0. I follow a lot of Saints, reporters, fans. You sure do. Everyone that's a Saints fan expected them to blow this lead. Once it was 21-10 at half-time, they were just assuming that this game is going to come down to last possession. It's amazing.

Yep, that's exactly how it happens. It comes down the top three scoring games in terms of most points in a game, all NFC South games. Falcons, Panthers, Saints. When those two teams have played, that's the three highest scoring games of the year. Well, the Saints do not matter. in this NFL season. They're two and three, though.

I hear you, that's fine. And they're going to be about five and eleven. Mark's Iire. Well, I find this is before the season. This is a formula for every Saints game ever since they won the Super Bowl. Drew Breeze throws for 400 plus yards. You can't really run the ball consistently. You give up about 1,000 yards on defense.

And it goes down to the wire. It's 41 to 38 and we're all excited about the Saints. This is a... No one's excited about the Saints. Listen, Mickey Loomis, how about this? You're not running the NBA Pelicans over here. You don't give up 38 points on defense or 41 points week after week and act like you're fundamentally getting anything done here.

It's been the same problems for half a decade. Solve them. This is unwatchable football. To me, I don't like this. Maybe this is the product that other people want to see. I don't think so. This is boring football when you're giving up this kind of real estate and points week after week.

You've had half a decade to fix it. You haven't done it. Imagine they lost today. Right. It's a meaningless hollow win. I'm with you. Mark is saying like I think he's, He's saying everything the Saints fans,

and we've talked about it last year when they gave Peyton that extension that, like, he has shown he cannot fix a defense. That said, you know, they won this game at home. They've won two in a row now. They're not out of it by any means at two and three. All four of their games, four of their five games have come down to the last second. Well, out of what? What do we want them to achieve?

Would we be, would anyone who cares about NFL football and the quality of NFL football be excited to see this, version of an NFL team make the playoffs. They are out of it. Wasn't there some comment about Sean Payton in a briefcase? Oh, yeah. Well, listen, good for him, but he's walking around the owner's meetings with his contract extension in his briefcase.

This is, Sean Peyton knows how to coach football as well as anyone on offense, but the fundamental lingering issues on the other side of the ball are completely unacceptable. Tons of other coaches would have been dealt with by now. We've been through their defensive struggle at nauseam. And they're down five cornerbacks. The Saints won today. Yeah. So let's talk about the Panthers here who, uh, there, are they done?

Are they done at one in five? Because I, I want to say they won what, like 14 in a row last year, but this isn't last year anymore. And like the Packers with Aaron Rogers, it's at the point now where it's like, is this a slump or is this the new normal? Are the Panthers just not good, West? Is that where we're at now? They're not a good team right now.

The offense, just by reading the box score, looks like they're. they bounced back and we're fine today. But they also started. They also didn't do anything early. They punted the ball, which against New Orleans, it's like an arena league team. You can't punt. The signs are there. Cam Newton passed well. Jonathan Stewart ran well.

Kelvin Benjamin and Greg Olson caught well. Those things happened, but the defense just gave up too many points in yards. And we're getting, you know, I'm sure you guys have got some as well. I got a bunch of tweets about forking the Panthers. I'm not ready to do it yet. I think that the, would I be surprised, even in the least bit, if come to December 1st, they're in the middle of the race for a playoff spot. Maybe not the division.

But a playoffs, I would not be surprised. Because they've done this before. They've gotten off to horrible starts. They've shown that they can be incredibly streaky. It is. You know, barring an absolute injury-riddled collapse by Atlanta, this division is not going to be won by Carolina. But I don't think that I have a problem with them sticking around for a couple more.

Yeah, I agree. They're another team. Three games have come down to the last second field goal. They've only been outscored by 15 points. But they're not good. I mean, it's amazing. in this spot that Cam Newton and the rest of the crew couldn't do it. By the way, Jim Henderson of WWL with that call.

Let's move on. Wentz on third down. Drop down back at the 38-yard line, the fifth Washington sack. It's been fitting because all day long they have been all over, Carson Wentz. Kenny Albert of Fox, the Redskins' fifth sack of the game was the final nail in the coffin for Carson Wentz and the Eagles on Sunday as the Redskins held on for a 27 to 20 win at FedEx Field. The Redskins have now won four straight. Go figure after that ugly 0-and-2 start. On Sunday, the Redskins decision to go after Carson Wentz paid off,

didn't it, Mark? This was a fascinating game, and I was telling you guys during it that I'll be interested to see what you think when you watch us on Game Pass because something remarkable happened out of the gates, something I didn't expect. And it was the way that Washington played excellent keepaway football from the Eagles. They got enough from the running game early and made key passes through the air. Kirk Cousins had one of the best games he's had in a while. At one point, they had run 38 straight plays

with none for Philadelphia except for a kneel down to end the first half. Carson Wentz did not see the field for roughly 20 minutes at one point of game time, and this score, 20 to 27, you just want to go look at the box score, good for you. It's not as close as it was. The touchdowns for Philly came off of pick six, the only really bad play by Kirk Cousins through the air, and off of a kick return.

And so this was otherwise an absolutely smothering defensive effort by Washington. Not a team I would have seen it coming from. They were in Carson Wentz's face from the first second. They sacked him twice on the first drive, and they got him twice on the last. And this was a punishing. This was Carson Wentz facing a defense that put him number one. They were going to go after him, and they got it done.

haven't seen him face this heat all year. All of his previous touchdowns came against teams that were not pressuring him. So this was an interesting turn of events for the Eagles. I don't think that I think there's still a good team. Washington commanded this one from the start. Four in a row. This surprises. I mean, Washington, I mean, wherever there were, you know, the bills and the Redskins

were the two talks of the league in terms of worst case situations playing out in their respective conferences. First of all, neither team has lost since. But on the Redskins side of it, Wes, I mean, Kirk Cousin was playing terribly, getting killed in his locker room. It had leaked out to the press. And now they're beating everybody.

Is this surprise you how well they're playing right now? It does. And I think what we've been asking for is what do they hang their hat on? What do the Redskins do well? And this game from Mark's recap, you can see, is the blueprint that Scott McLuhan had in mind when he decided to draft Brandon Sheriff over Leonard Williams. We want to play keepaway football,

dominate in the ground game. And they haven't dominated in the ground. ground game, really, except for two or three games over the last two years. But this is what they want to do because you don't have Kirk Cousins as the focal point of your offense. You have him as a guy who is doing well because he's buoyed by his surrounding talent. Yeah, I mean, he threw his touchdowns. He got two of them today, but it was a balanced attack down the stretch where you're right. The running game's been so up and down. Greg's been a big Matt Jones guy. You'll like this game. 135 yards at 8.4 per carry today. And what it was was

down the stretch when they needed to get it got close wents nearly brought the eagles back with all the stuff that happened and i kept thinking this is going to go to overtime but a couple possessions later matt jones cut ran off a couple big runs and put this thing out of reach robert kelly the rookie looked great too 59 yards from two lane that's the a story line here a two lane player so many running backs from two lanes it's just it's just running back you uh that's three out of four weeks where they've closed out games on the ground so they're starting to build up something there where they really run the ball well in the second half close out games i've picked on this redskins team for not having anything exciting especially on defense looks like trent murphy

ryan carrigan got after it today murphy is putting together a good season carrigan solid i mean those are the guys you got to build around doesn't get you going in the morning but the nfccc east is good i was just about i mean we got the eagles we got the eagles and cowboys on sunday night football it deserves to be there next week that's a nice matchup if the redskins are finding identity and they're going to be winning games this season and you put them in the mix you got the redskins the giants the cowboys the eagles there's not a bad team of the bunch well the redskins would be in the playoffs if the season if the season ended now so they're doing pretty well i want to know mark what's the state of uh carson wince after this game i'm not worried about carson wens because i still see i think

listen they the game plan took him out he was off the field for 20 plus minutes at one point this was a total team win for the redskins carson wence you know you didn't get to see a lot from today. I have no problem with him going forward. He's still a very talented young quarterback that's showing just as much as Dak Prescott in many ways, but this game, when your whole offense gets handed this kind of deal today, good luck. Let's move on. It's a second and 18 for the bangle. Snap to Dalton, late Blitzer coming. High Tower. Has him in the end zone. Throws him down for a safety. A sack for New England.

That's the Andy Dalton we know. Wow. Now you guys know why I'm such a jerk. I thought everyone was like this. That is Bob Sochi and that sounded like Scott Zolak. Zolak is the guy who's always a bit of a loose canon. The sports hub. That is some loose canon color work by Fulac.

I like the exclamation right, right what did it happen. He didn't even say a word. He just goes, ugh. What is so excited. Jeez, what does he have against Andy? Don't. Anyway, here on the throne of ease. A locked in Tom Brady and a healthy Rob Grunkowski,

an impossible hassle for teams, something the Bengals were reminded of on Sunday and the Patriots 35-17 win in Foxborough. Chris Wessing, the Bengals, did their best to hang around in this game, but the Pats, they're just too much to handle. If you look at the box score, you would think Brady was locked in all game.

That was not true. Hashtag slight regression? No, not a regression, but for the first quarter and a half, the Bengals secondary was stingy, did not let anybody get open, and they got a pass rush. Brady was pushed out of the pocket, pushed off his sweet spot,

and couldn't get any rhythm going until Drake, Kirkpatrick's. Illegal contact penalty on a third and 18 gave them new life, and they went down the field, James White touchdown. Then starting the second half, Andy Dalton has a great touchdown drive. Bengals take the lead. Patriots go. Deal with that, Zolak. Patriots go three and out.

Looks like Bengals are taking control of the game, and then a Cedric, a Bouyei penalty, puts them in position for that safety. Dante Hyatt Tower, second straight week. with a safety. After that, Patriots scored 24 points on their next four possessions, and the onslaught was on. Bengals couldn't keep up. That's the tricky part of playing a keep-away type of strategy is if a team as explosive as the Patriots can put up points quickly, you don't have time to come back. They had nine drives in this game, the Patriots. I'm pretty sure that's the fewest drives by any

team in any game this season, and they put up 35 points in nine drives. It's hard to do. Bengals dominated time of possession in this first half. And then the second half, the Patriots are just too much gronk. The gronk is all the way back health-wise now. Four plays of 25 or more yards in this game. And things got feisty, Vante Burfect. He got some of his dirty tactics on low hits after Adam Jones went low on Gronk on a play.

Gronk let Jones know about it. Perfect got angry about that. And then on the next play, Gronk had another big first down. which led to a little, a little bit of a shimmy, a drop ball shimmy by Gronk toward the Cincinnati sideline that drew a flag, but totally understandable for a guy that got his knee blown out on a low hit. Not to mention right before then, Vontes Berfict went low on Martell's Bennett's knees on a play when Bennett didn't even have the ball. That was nasty. Well, this, it's to be expected from that player, the dirtiest player I've ever seen.

But what about the, wow. Wow. What about that three-game suspension? Was that supposed to clear his mind of this type of film? That's not always how this works. expect when an entire city makes excuses for him, week after week and day after day, Vontes Burfect can do whatever he wants and Cincinnati will back him. Their coaching staff will back him. He's a renegade. You have to sit Vontes Burvick down if he doesn't get the message.

I'd be real concerned about this Bengals team at this point. You're going to get a win next week in Cleveland. But the schedule after that is it's rough right up until the end. And everything that we thought about the Bengals, you're going to be a hard-nosed running team. that beats people up. I'm looking at what the two main running backs, Bernard and Jeremy Hill, produced today, and is it unimpressive in real life as it looks on paper? It is.

And I think if you say the Bengals deserve benefit of the doubt because they've been there for five straight years, they'll turn their season around. You have to believe they're going to turn their running game around if you believe that because they don't have anything but AJ Green going on offense right now, and he's having an all-pro year. But I think it's telling when you have three out of four,

A goal line stand stuffed first and one from the goal line. Three Gio Bernard runs. I don't know where Jeremy Hill is during that series. But three Gio Bernard runs, and he can't get in the end zone. I think that tells you a lot. Hill vanished for stretches of time in the previous game, too. I mean, they were manhandled by Dallas. And, you know, I'm not shocked they lost today,

but there's a string of bad games here for the Bengals. They need Tyler Eifert. Right. That is such a huge missing piece. Their schedule's been front-loaded on the road. Four of their six games have been on the road. They've been against great. teams, Pittsburgh, Dallas, New England, but there's not a lot to be excited about.

Let's move on, gentlemen, and talk about another AFC East team that keeps on winning. The Buffalo Bills are rolling. A revitalized Lashon McCoy ran for 140 yards and three scores. And Colin Kaepernick's return to the starting lineup did little to spark the Niners in Buffalo's 45-16 win at Orchard Park. Greg, we have to consider the opponent here, Greg. I guess. I like that. Why are you rubbing my shoulders?

For everyone not on Paris. Gretting Greg's left shoulder. It never felt less comfortable. Setting it up here. I'm about to call HR. We have to consider the opponent here, but Rex and the bills have some swag. They do. They put it on the 49ers defense in a way that Rex Ryan could not have dreamed of any better,

30012 yards on the ground. Oh, Rex loves the 300 yards. rushing day, more than anything in the world. That's the most rushing yards given up by the San Francisco 49ers since 1958. The only thing that gets... Good team. Good team that 58.

The only thing that gets Rex more excited than 300-yard rushing days from his team are feet. That's true. 58-49ers? No, I don't know if they were really that good. I looked up there who their coach was, but I totally forget now. Trying to get a reaction out of Sessler today. I can't get it. What?

What do you want me to say? The feet thing. Well, you know what? I'm going to respond to that. To bring it back around. Well, he's got two guys with the two best feet at their position in the entire league, Tyrod Taylor and Lashon McCoy. I don't think anyone's harder to tackle than Lashon McCoy right now.

His feet transition. And I think that Tyrod Taylor, with all due respect to Russell Wilson, is the best running quarterback in the NFL. Totally disagree. He's an unbelievable scrambler. It doesn't mean you can make your whole offense around that, but it's just a fact. On days like this, they were getting some free rushers at him.

He's getting away from them. He's buying time. He's throwing passes. mostly he's just running. I mean, he had 68 yards on the ground, but so many on third and long where they could not get off the field because he can't tackle this guy. Well, Anthony Lynn needs to get some more love because what the bills have done

in the last four weeks is one of the best, most effective four-game stretches of running in the early season in the history of the NFL. Whoa. And the stats back that up. It is one of the most productive four-game stretch you've seen before mid-season in the history of the NFL. I would tend to give most of the credit for this bill's resurgence to Zach Brown and Lorenzo Alexander. We both had good games and Rex Ryan for the most part. But in this game, and really, if you look at the way they've set the tempo in the other games,

it's been about the offense too. The difference in this game was really that the 49ers, after a while, just caved in. The bills have kind of had been good for a half, but then quiet like they were against the Patriots and Rams. In this game, they ran away with it. It was only a one-score game right in the 30. Jack Brown didn't pile up 500 yards of offense. I like what's happening on that side of the ball. And, you know, listen, we just took the Saints to the cleaners,

and if they turn their defense around, I'll admit I'm wrong. And I'm willing to admit that I had Rex Ryan probably out of a job by week eight. And I couldn't be more wrong. Rex Ryan has shown some fight here, and the bills have been fun to watch, and they are winning in a way if they can keep this up. It doesn't feel like a smoke and mirrors operation when you can run the ball this way. What about on the San Francisco side, Colin Kaepernick, a lot of talk, about it. It's pretty kind of an ugly scene, according to if you followed Robert

Klemko's timeline outside the bill stating, which maybe shouldn't be a surprise with people not being Kaepernick fans. How did he play? He was better than Blaine Gabbert, but that's a really low bar. He avoided making the big mistake. It was a one-score game late in the third quarter. He's definitely a better runner than Gabber. I thought he showed really good vision, really good job as a runner and as a scrambler. That was the best part of their offense again. I I think he's got a little more back as an athlete than people give him credit. But he missed a bunch of throws still. I mean, you know, the one touchdown they had, it was a very windy game, was a deeply

underthrown ball. You know, he didn't look like he's going to solve this team. He can't play defense for them. He can't play wide receiver. He's not good enough to save this team. This is a depressing team. Records aside, is this the worst club in the NFL right now? Yes.

I think it's a strong argument for that. Now that the Dolphins had a nice day and. I would say you probably could put them. Not saying that there aren't other teams very close to them. They're the worst because they have so little on either side of the ball at this point. By the way, the coach of the 5849ers, Frankie Albert, and a nice little quarterback combination, Y.A. Tittle and John Brody, two guys who had great careers.

I think Leo Nommolini was on that defense. Nice. Good history. Wes was about eight years old when that season happened, which is unfair for me to say because I'm older than West. So let's move on. Manning out of the gun, single back left. He takes the snap.

He looks, he throws. O'Dow Beckham Jr. Catch Defender down. 40, 45, 50, 45, 40. Banks it out of 30, 25, 20. Down the left sideline, 10, 5. Touchdown. Odell Beckham Jr.

66 yards. The fallen Raven defender, writhing in pain on his back near the 40. Giants up 26, 23. That's Bob Papa, WFAN. Odell Beckham Jr. put the Giants on his back, setting a career high with 222 yards and two touchdowns, including the go-head score that you just heard with 124 to play. In Big Blue's 27-23 win over the Baltimore Ravens.

Beckham punctuated those two second half scores with various kicking net-related shenanigans and a potentially costly personal foul for removing his helmet on the field of play. But Wes, you know, all that stuff is annoying and it drives me crazy personally. but Beckham's greatness as a playmaker cannot be overstated. Every time I looked up, I watched the highlight package. He was running after the catch past the entire secondary. They just couldn't catch up to him after the catch. And I agree with you.

I'm not saying out of the four people in this room, I have the best handle on what constitutes humor. But if it's... Wes, you got a great sense of humor. That was pretty funny. I'll say this. If it's contrived, it's not comedy. And the whole neck kicking thing is tired and it's contrived.

That's a bit in his own. head that is just like taking off. I love it. I saw some people like, oh, it really was fun. No, it wasn't. Give me a break on fun. I just want to people to know if you, we might as well break down the bit a little bit here.

He gets whacked in the head by the kicking net in one of the losses a couple of weeks ago. He scores a touchdown in a losing effort last week and kisses the net. After his first touchdown today, he lays down on the ground and pulls the net over him to simulate, I think sexual intercourse. And then after the second touchdown, he gets down on one knee and proposes to the net, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, but, you know, he also won the game single-handedly. So, you know, I got Giants fans coming after me because, and it makes me like the dorky white uncle or something.

But the guy just drives me nuts with some of the behavior. And then he goes and has a performance like that on the field. I don't know. Like people lose their minds when you see a five-game stretch where he doesn't get in the end zone. and there are some games where he disappears and they decide that he's overrated. He's still one of the seminal talents in this league. Yep.

I'd have a bigger issue with him ripping his helmet off in a rule violation that everyone should know because that had things gone a little bit differently, we'd be talking about Old O'Dow Beckham in a completely different way right now. You just can't put your team in that position. There was 1-24 to play when he got that penalty and then the Ravens were unable to make that final drive down the field.

But, you know, the Ravens on their side, three-game winning streak to start the season. Now a three-game losing streak, and you really have to look at the injuries that are piling up. O'Dell Beckham and Eli Manning both struggled in the first half. Beckham lost the fumble early on. Eli looked a little discombobulated. But then once cornerback Jimmy Smith went out for Baltimore with a concussion,

things changed quickly. And, you know, Terrell Suggs left this game. Baltimore entered this game without three of their starting lineup, starting offensive linemen playing and Steve Smith out. So, I mean, that's a lot to be up against you. Elvis Dumerville hasn't played for this team. It seems like every week they take a commanding lead or at least seem like they're in control of the game

and then injuries happen and they have to adjust their playing stuff. Jimmy Smith, it sounds like it's a concussion. Who knows how long he'll be out for. Sometimes it's not just how great is the player. It's who's behind them and they are thin at cornerback. There is a steep drop off. I feel like they have been for like four years. Right, and steep drop up after Jimmy Smith.

And La Darius Webb, who's been playing pretty well this year, is involved in both of those Beckham plays. I mean, I think people that are Ravens fans are furious right now with Laderius Webb for giving up those plays as the deep safety. And a 400-yard three-touchdown passing day from Eli Manning should quiet people like Greg that say, oh, maybe he's too old now to be a good question. Well, I liked it in your post-in.

You didn't mention Greg, which is probably a good move from a coworker angle, but you called it a dumb narrative that age might explain the quarterback's recent slump, which I did find to be a shot of Greg. You brought that up as something people were saying. And I said, well, that's not that crazy. You, because sometimes you get yourself in trouble because you get on contrarian corner

even when you don't believe what you're saying. And in that case, you made the point. Well, it could be age. Right, but I didn't raise that point. Who knows? No, Greg, that he doesn't believe what he's saying. He hates that. I just like, you know, any chance that I have to get you and Dan

into a tight spot like that maybe would encourage more shoulder rubbering from Dan. Like I know that happened about 10 minutes ago. It wasn't personal. I thought that show that Robbie was that. Was that Eli Manning running through the secondary all game or was it Odell?

I get it. And I know that's your whole thing, but it's like then the quarterback doesn't get any credit for delivering the ball on time in a good spot and making the reads. Where was he the last few weeks, that quarterback? Where was Odell? I don't know.

Probably just like crying on the sideline. Throw it up for grabs. Let him make a play. That's how football works with. You read a lot of football books It's a team effort It's not just one guy And yet they're in last place

It's a tough thing This is 3 and 3. They're okay They're okay Giants are okay I think They are I think Quintessential 9 and 17 I don't know if I get it done

But I couldn't agree more And I They've got a lot to figure out in other areas Like this The fact that you just simply Can't run the ball That's your time is going to come up At some point

All right let's move on Gentlemen The Miami Dolphins who were just saying, this goes back to what I said, top of the show, you can't figure out football sometimes. Sometimes you can't figure it out

because they deliver the upset of week six. We were saying they were the worst team in football a couple days ago, but they took it to the Pittsburgh Steelers, a 30 to 15 win at Hard Rock Stadium. And the star here was Jay Ajai, who led the charge for Miami rushing for a career best, 200 and how many yards, four yards,

and two touchdowns, including a game icing 62-yard rush in the fourth. West, Big Ben got banged up in this game, and the Steelers authored their second stinker in a five-week stretch. Reason for concern? I think there's reason to concern because of Ben's knee. You could call this a one-game aberration, but I think with Ben's knee and the fact that guys like Dave Damashek, who is a Steelers fan, we're not surprised by this

because Mike Tomlin is under 500 in his career on the road, against teams with a 300 or worse winning percentage. That's a wild stat. The Steelers do not show up reliably on the road against awful teams. Happened against the Bucks two years ago, a disastrous loss. I don't know where. They have a habit of doing this, and then they have to play well late in the season because they give away too many games like this during the season.

And, you know, you look up, and I was tracking this game at the side of my eye, and the Steelers are not moving the ball on offense until Darius Hayward Bay breaks off one of the most impressive touchdown runs of the season, just physicality at the line of scrimmage and then the afterburners once he get into the second level. And that was their only offense. Big Ben was not moving the ball through the air, which we're used to seeing after he was raining bombs on everyone else

the last couple of weeks. He just didn't have it going today. I think the dolphins dominated the line of scrimmage. Well, they said, you know, he said he's going to get an MRI after the game. So who knows? This could be one of those injuries where it's worse. Well, he's going to act like it's worth no matter what. I'm just saying a guy...

Because nobody plays up an injury like Ben Rathlisberg. Just because the guy returns to the game doesn't mean he's necessarily going to play next week. And you can't blame it all on the injury because Miami was controlling this game. Definitely not blaming it all. No, I know. No one here was...

I'm just saying they were controlling the game before the injury. How? After what we've seen from Miami, to Dan's point, none of this, it seems like teams are a complete week-to-week operation, 80% of these NFL teams. We all gave the Steelers a mulligan for that Eagles game. A, they're a great team that had a bad week. But then you lay a number.

other stinker. And then you just wonder what's going on with the DNA of the team a little bit. They can completely destroy multiple teams in a row, but then sandwich it with two like poop bombs. So you just can't trust them on the road. Okay. Well, then you know what it is because they're not, they don't seem like they're streaking towards home field advantage in the AFC when you keep this up.

And so for the many time in a row where they're going to get dropped in the division game and they're not going to probably get to the AFC championship. It's a very, I'm just going to say, Steelers fans, I don't think that they've had a hard road of it, but if you're living in that world of elite teams, it feels like a broken record for this to happen over and over to them. A 41 to 20 loss in New England in the divisional playoffs. Is that where we're headed on this? Something like that.

Or who knows? Maybe you lose a week 17 game to a team with a third string quarterback because you're on the road. Well, part of that DNA in the playoffs is that they have an important player injured. Well, that's true. That's happened two times. In this game, they play without Big Ben for a part of it. And then you also have their two best defensive players, Cameron Hayward and Ryan Shazir, are not even in the lineup. This is kind of who the Steelers have become.

I mean, I don't know how you give up 200 yards rushing to J.J.I. I mean, that's, this is, come on. And Antonio Brown gets shut down by Byron Maxwell. I think Adam Gase found the right amount of players to cut. It was 17 or whatever it's been so far. Like, that was what got the message across. That got the message across because they came out and they're playing well that he benched Mario Williams for the first two drives of this game. Mario Williams did not.

play a time? Do you think that has any staying power? What? The fact that you have to send this message in October is a huge warning sign and it might work for one week. I think they have the talent and it sounds like Tanna Hill played a very good game to be a respectable team, not to be the worst team in the league. We'll have to see if they can do it for more than a week. See what their effort is on the road. Well, one thing about the dolphins, like other teams did more of a house cleaning in the offseason under new coaches. The dolphins did not to the same degree. And so they went into the season with the same, you know, casket of players that they had last year, the flatlining operation.

Um, casket flatlining, I like that. I think, well, let me, come on. This is a crazy game. I have a, I have a Cessler here that we saw Mario Williams last game as a Miami Dolphin. Really? I think he's going to be cut. Time to send another message. After a win, he's going to be cut.

Yep. Send that message. Overmatch coach makes a wrong decision, a big spot. Interesting take. Let's move on. Yeah, that's probably wrong. That's a big underdog right there. Golden Tate lives.

The forgotten wide receiver blew up on Sunday at Ford Field, going off for 165 yards and a touchdown on eight catches in the Lions' 3128 win over the Rams in an entertaining game at Ford Field. L.A. lost this game despite Case Keenham delivering a spot-on Joe Montana impersonation. Whoa. It really was. You'll watch his tape. You'll be like, whoa, is this Case Keenum?

Or is this Joe Montana? Am I right? You're going to say the same exact thing. Unfortunately, the Rams running game continues to be abysmal. And I want to point out, because, Wes, I watch this game out of the side of my eye. Humble Brown. Yeah. Also just a work task.

Yeah. And the play that really accurately summarizes everything that fails the Rams because they want to be this tough, ground, and pound, badass team. but they can't do it because they don't have the hog mollies up front can you be a hog molly on the offensive line yes okay good um fourth and goal one yard line four seconds to play in the half and jeff fisher says let's go for it our our big tuffs against your big tuffs with our Lamborghini of a running back getting the ball he is swarmed under for a two yard loss half ends they end up losing the game by three points they can't be the team that they want to be

and Todd Gurley is trapped in hell. So even on a day when Case Keenham literally plays like Joe Montana, they still can't win against the mediocre team. Well, they want to be the Cowboys. They have the same blueprint as the Cowboys have, except they spent an entire draft trying to build an offensive line and flunked on almost all of those draft picks, while the Cowboys really do have the best tackle garden center in the NFL.

Right. They have Greg Robinson at Left Tackles, the number two overall pick of the draft. It's basically a disaster. And then you have the entire class that they took last year, which it isn't working. When you look at the box score, Todd Gurley and Zach Zner, both had the exact same line today. 14 for 58. And so when Zach Zenter starts for the Lions, Todd Gurley starts for the Rams, and that's a draw, you're not going to win that many games.

I know they were able to score 28 points and be close, but you're not going to win that many games that way. Don't take anything away from Zach Zena or Greg. That was a shot at Mark, wasn't it? What's that a shot? That was. The Kenny Britt Revival is real. He's now on pace for 80 catches and 1,300 yards with Case Keenham as his quarterback. That's pretty good.

And Tavon Austin, who is getting paid $6.3 billion over the next five years, three for 24. Is he going to be the first guy to sign a deal of that magnitude? Be a nice guy and not be a problem and still get cut. Got agents all over the place, furious that he got that money. He's made some plays this year. Not many, but they're not going to convince themselves that he's been a problem for them. They're going to defend that up and down. We should give the Lions credit.

I mean, this is a team that's had a lot of injuries. They were thin to begin with. And they've held up the last couple weeks, winning close games against the Eagles and the Rams. They're three and three. They've got reason to think, hey, we're not out of this mix at all. They're getting great play out of Matthew Stafford. They get Ansaback this week. They've been fun to watch for weeks in a row.

Theo Riddick, you survived that. No, Eric E. Braun, you survive that. They have plenty of excuses, and they haven't taken. And then on the other side, it's almost the, you know, the same situation, a fourth and goal for the Lions in this game, a huge play in the game. And Riverboat Caldwell says we're going for it. Cardiac Caldwell goes for it. Stafford buys time with Aaron Donald bearing down on him

and delivers a beautiful throw that Andre Roberts pulls in for the touchdown. So, you know, the lines are just a little. bit of a better team than the Rams, and the Rams are three and three, but I still think this is going to be some seven to nine bull, you know what. Well, you're not far away. Both of these teams. They've come back to the pack. Exactly. When I saw this result, I kind of thought, well, you know, the Lions deserve to be three and three. And the Rams deserved to be three and three. Like the luck evened out from the first month of the season. Let's move on. The Tennessee Titans are showing signs of life, gentlemen. Marcus Marriota had a second straight

productive game. And Richard Matthews had a career day in the Titans 28, 26 win over the now 0 and 6, Cleveland Browns. Mark, have the Titans solved their issues on offense? I wouldn't use this game as some sort of acid test on that front, but they, for the first time all season, showed pretty juicy stuff in terms of downfield passing. Kendall Wright had what I think might be the catch of the day and didn't happen more than once. I mean, 133 yards off eight grabs. And they also got, you know, Richard Matthews involved, too. It's an element that we haven't seen, but you're going against a battered Brown secondary

that had Joe Hayden on the sideline that lost their safety early on. I mean, there's just, Greg just talked about it's not just the player you lose. It's who behind them. And Cleveland's got a bunch of young players in the secondary with very little experience. So I don't know what to take away from this. Browns were very focused on trying to shut down to Marco Murray. And they did that to a large part. but what it seemed to do was completely free up Marriota to run at will on this defense.

They got the job done the Titans, and Cleveland made a furious comeback at the end, but it was the second week in a row that Cleveland could not run the ball at all. And so you look at Cleveland's schedule, not sure where a win is coming. This was the game that you looked at this a month ago. Maybe this is where it was happening. The Titans 3 and 3 in that horrid division, yes, you're still alive. I don't love this team, but we counted them out, you know, weeks ago, and they're three and three. The prophecy foretold by former Ravens head coach that escapes my mind, even though we're technically colleagues.

Brian Billick? What was the prophecy that he told? His tweet was, I don't know where you find a win on the Browns. How about home versus the Jets? No. It's a possibility. Have you, bro. I mean, sure, everything is a possibility that dolphins just waxed the Steelers.

If you're at home against a one-win team, you've been in every single game. That's a certain possibility. I'm just saying logically there isn't like, oh, that's the game where they're going to mop up. And you know what? They put themselves in this position. I understand you want to take the Browns with a grain of salt if you're analyzing this game from the Titans' perspective. But we pointed out last week that Kendall Wright is by far their best receiver and he hadn't been healthy. And Mark has said, let's give this some time so Marcus Mariotto can get used to the offense and used to the new players on his team.

and even if it's weak opponents the last two weeks, he has played so much better. And he's looked really good. And if you're going to try to shut down to Marco Murray, Mariotta's good enough to make you pay for it. Yeah, this was his best game of the year. They have made some significant changes. Mariotta's running more.

And then you look at the box score today. Andre Johnson didn't have a target. That's a good thing. Tadj Sharp didn't have a catch on three targets. And, you know, Sharp started out well. I think he's going to be an important. part of this team, but you're making the offense more about Kendall right now that he's healthy, Richard Matthews making plays. And those two weeks where Marriota looked the worst were the

weeks that Delaney Walker were out. And I know Walker didn't have a big game in this one, but he is such an important part of this team. They've had a really easy schedule. And so that has helped them get to three and three. But whatever, they have an offensive line and they have a decent defense. Well, I would mention the defense too. They sacked Cody Kessler six times today. We talked about it on Thursday that the matchup issue here, right, the matchup issue here was Cleveland's banged-up offensive line where Cam Irvin, your first round center from last season does not look ready for prime time on any level. And Kessler got sacks six times.

He got banged around a bunch from wire to wire in this thing, and you got to wonder how long he'll last. He played well otherwise. I was going to say Cody Kessler has shown some things if Josh McCown is ready next week. Do you stay with Kessler, the young kid? You're probably going to have to use them both at some point. I see no reason to sit Kessler down. What is this team about?

It's all about developing younger players. He's been a positive for them. Kessler's been good. Yeah. I mean, you're not going to build your team around him, but he's been good. Before we move on, we have to, Mark, I didn't see much of this game. Terrell Pryor is just phenomenal. Yeah, it's like, it's, I think it speaks to the fact that it's so hard to find athletes

that can make a position switch in football, probably the hardest sport to do that in. And what he's done is remarkable. nine catches, 75 yards, but also he's just a matchup. One thing you see week to week with Terrell Pryor is that he's big enough and strong enough and has the hand strength to go one-on-one with Premier cornerbacks and win matchups. I'm just so happy that your boy, Bill Belichick, butchered that personnel decision, Greg. It wasn't the only one.

So did the other 31 team. He worked out for a bunch of teams. He was on the Browns last year and the Browns cut him. There is a difference. He really thought the Patriots were going to sign him. I've taken my little victories where I can get him, Wes, all right? That's fair. The transformation with Terrell Pryor, if you followed him in the offseason,

it happened this off season, that he put the work in, and he couldn't have been more serious about it. It was the first time that he had embraced the move to wide receiver. Let's move on. The Oakland Raiders came down to Earth in a game that started with a downpour, Greg. Alex Smith outplayed Derek Carr, and the Chiefs moved to three and two with a 2610 win over the Raiders in the black hole on the road. Greg, this is a game where Kansas City's defense shined.

It did, and it's good for Andy Reid and Bob Sutton and that team to see that defense starting to come around. But the thing we got to talk about first is, you know, the seventh wonder of the world. Andy Reid after a bye week. It's a byeweek master! It's real. It's really amazing.

It's real and it's spectacular. Because this was by far their best game of the season. By far the Raiders' worst game of the season. This is the first game since Jackson. D'O's first game as Raiders coach where they weren't within one score at some point in the fourth quarter. It was a game that was for mutters. That was for the tougher team. Who was going to run the ball?

And that was the Kansas City Chiefs who really were the better team. I mean, everything about them was better today. It's fun to watch. Ball Charles back on the grid. He was. And yet it was interesting to see them stick with Spencer Ware as their primary running back. I think Charles showed something on a few plays. He had a 17-year-ard run that looked pretty good.

Well, you don't need to rush him back in. No, and Ware is so good right now. Why bother? You have a good one-to-punch. They were 23rd in the NFL and rushing entering this game. I don't know. Well, I don't think you can put that on Spencer Ware at all, though. I think he's played really well overall.

Hadn't he kind of hit a slump the last couple weeks before this game? Got hurt. I mean, I think the line, they've had seven, I think six different players start at guard for that team. So the line has been a problem. In general, Ware maybe isn't a spectacular. He's not going to wow you, but he seems like a good starting NFL running back to me. All you're saying is that Jamal Charles isn't going to make him vanish. Yeah.

Okay. They're going to share the work. Why not? This sounded like Derek Carr's most suspect start of the year. Yeah, well, he had his first fumble of the year, which is amazing. He made it to week six. This is a guy who's been in the top five in fumbles two straight years. And so that's to his credit.

He lost that. He threw an interception. He's very lucky that he didn't throw another. You know, when you watch the game pass, I think Carr has gotten away with a lot of throws where defenders drop passes this year. That's just how it is. And this game, he wasn't quite as lucky. The Chiefs had a good game plan for him.

The Chiefs have owned the Raiders for whatever reason. How about the idea of the Raiders, you know, learning this week that they weren't going to be the team of around the NFL? I thought about that. Knock them on, knock them their old ass a little bit. I think there may be a larger factor at work when you've got a building filled with hundreds of people. that live in the Bay Area and make their life there and have their families there and their kids there and you're finding out that you may be moving to Las Vegas,

which is not a place a lot of people would move to, you know, by choice necessarily. I like my theory better. Okay, probably team of ATL had a larger impact. But when you, look, they have the Jaguars and Bucks next, so the Raiders are probably going to get right here. But if that continues to be a reality that becomes the way it is, Lots of weird things happen to this. I always talk about the Browns, and I apologize,

but they were three and one, and they considered a Super Bowl contender when they announced the move to Baltimore, and the team ended up 5 and 11, it was an absolute train wreck. Things can go south when you find this stuff out. Jack Del Rio is a Bay Area guy who wants to, oh, well, I mean, I guess it is.

How different is it? I'm just saying... Cleveland was an entrenched franchise that the Raiders have been a little transient in general, and this has been stuff that's been floated around for decades. But, yeah, but the Raiders moving to Las Vegas is as close as you can come to like Madden-level science fiction that we can dream up.

The Raiders belong in California. Just say no to Vegas. That goes for all aspects of life. It's moving forward. It's moving forward. It sounds like. But Mark Davis did say they're going to be there for two more years. One last thing.

This division could have been very separated and with the Raiders and the Broncos, you know, kind of running away with that. A little bit of a condensing this week. Chargers take out the four-in-one Broncos. Chiefs take out the four-in-one. one Raiders. This is a good division. Look at you trying to tuck the Chargers back into the race.

The Chargers are in it. It's cute. They've outscored opponents this year. The Raiders haven't. I just like how much you love the Chargers. It's nice. Do we have to talk about the Jaguars and Bears? I guess we should.

You know what? Out of respect for the listeners and the people on Periscope that are fans of these teams. It's like I always say. When the Jets stunk when I was a kid, I always loved that inside the NFL with Len Dawson and Nick Bonacani, they would always give all the teams equal. on a Connie and I really and that's what we're going to do here that's what we're going to do people we're going to do it for those fans for this lady well it was a couple minutes from

jaguars they're in a don't lie about where the beach house is just be honest Greg is trying to greg attempting to you know talk right over that lady who had a very important note to drop about her beach house which wasn't quite on the beach Blake mortals led the jaguars back from the dead on Sunday wiping out a 16 point fourth quarter deficit in a 17-16 win at Soldier Field. The hero was Aurelius Ben, who's 51-yard touchdown reception gave Jacksonville its first lead of the game. Bordles needed a win like the Stinity, Greg.

This is a win that a Blake Bortles needed. That's what we thought about the last one. Then they came and stunk up the joke. But I mean down late and having to leave the team back. No. It's good for- No, I'm with you. I'm with you.

I think there's reasons for them to have hope if nothing else. They could be tied in the lost column in the division coming out of this game. They needed something to hang their hat around. Their defense has been better. At least the defense gave them a chance to win this. I never thought I'd hear that the hero of the game was a realist spin. Your 2016 Jacksonville Jaguars, ladies and gentlemen. Also, your 2016 Chicago Bears.

Upset after the game was Alshon Jeffrey, who had six catches for 90 yards in the first half and then finished with seven for 93. I didn't catch this, but I heard that he was, pretty charged up about the bear's lack of explosion, explosiveness on offense. Mark, you caught that, right? Yeah, I did. I think he's got an absolute point. I mean, we've talked about the bears. Yes, Hoyer is an uptick over Jay Cutler. I'm not sure what that means in the large scope of our earth. But give me a break. The bears are an identity-free offense outside the fact that I like their running back.

They've got, they finally, it's weird because in the last couple weeks, these players that if you're self-scouting were not even playing before, now you've got Jay Howard. on your in your backfield leading the way. And Cameron, Meredith, 11 catches 113 yards after blowing up last week. Now, maybe that's just what's happening in an offense that has nothing else going on, but it's an unpredictable cast of characters in week six here.

Ashon Jeffrey is the bear's franchise player and he entered this game with fewer targets on the season than Eddie Royal and Zach Miller. Wow. Which is damning. And if you're in a contract, you're damn right. That's probably where a lot of the angles. is coming from.

Which takes us to Sunday night. Oh, Sunday night. In front of Al, Chris, and the world, the Houston Texans wiped out a 14-point deficit with less than five minutes to play in regulation. And then after forcing a punt on defense in the overtime period, got a field goal from Nick Novak,

who atoned for an earlier PAT miss in the game. The clinching field goal wins the game. 26 to 23 over the Colts at Reliance Stadium. Guys, a game, Mark, that, and you were struggling, Mark, when this game went to O.T. If you want to check out Chris Wesleying's Twitter feed, you get the exact moment that we knew that the Texans were going to force overtime, Mark, in a dark place. Mark, your thoughts about this game and this collapsed by the cults? Well, it's... we are right there said i will start speaking and you will not play that again

i don't know what to say this is such a depressing ghastly loss for the cults and i i think it's fair we're seeing from some of their beat writers that cover the team for a long time saying that it is the worst loss of the pegano era and that is including all the losses to new england and it feels a little bit heavy-handed for a week six game considering the cults I mean, does anyone have much faith in this team? But this is an epic collapse. I laughed at Greg when he said that the Texans had a chance to win this thing with five or six minutes left.

And Greg was turned into a complete profit. By the way, the Texans have all sorts of garbage issues too. So I don't know who comes out of here smiling. These teams are both headed nowhere. Well, the Texans come out smiling. They played terrible. They were totally dominated for 55 minutes. and they get to be in first place at 4 and 2.

I'm not saying they're a good team, but it's a stirring victory for them. Most of their fans left the game. The odds on them winning when it's 23 to 9, and they haven't, you know, what, they had one touchdown in the second half. They had three points and six drives in the first half. Their quarterback was playing awful.

For them to go touchdown, touchdown field goal to win it, I mean, I don't think they're going to be a great team, but they're going to be pretty damn excited. There's no Super Bowl team involved. I can't believe it. What was that? Oh, no. I can't believe it.

I mean, Brock Osweller's going to have some great body language after this one. That was Greg's Brock Osweiler impression on Thursday show. Isolated audio. Wes, neither of these teams are going to be playing deep into January to Mark's point. But at the same time, can heads roll in Indianapolis off a loss like this? because it doesn't get much worse. First of all, nobody's smiling in Houston when Brock Osweiler is the quarterback. So I would say let's not overreact to the Colts blowing this game.

They had two great throws to win the game, though. That's just a fact. Should have never been there because he played so poorly to put his team in that position. The coaching to have Andrew Luck roll out in a must-run situation where you're trying to kill the clock, I didn't get that. How could you bungle that lead at that point in the game? and then we make excuses for Andrew Luck because he's a superstar talent

and he's surrounded by garbage by the end of this by the fourth quarter he's without Philip Dorset he's without Dante Moncrief he's out without Dwayne Allen so he's throwing the guys like Jack Doyle Chester Rogers but he misses the throw to T.Y. Hilton

that he has to make if we're going to consider him if we're going to consider him a superstar upper tier quarterback he's got to make that throw and this is after the game tying touchdown late in the fourth quarter. The Colts have a chance to move down the field with two timeouts. They get to around midfield, second and nine. And he has T.Y. Hilton, all alone down the right sideline,

would be probably about a 15 to 18-yard gain. He gets out of bounds. You're in business on the fringe of field goal range with Mr. Automatic Adam Vitieri. And luck can't make the throw. He short-arms it, and it's trapped on the ground, and they never get closer, and they never get a better chance than that to win the game. Well, it doesn't move the ball in overtime, has a really bad interception going into halftime where they had points on the board,

gave up points there, and it's in a game against the team that you can't just give points to, because you had this Texans team down and out. He made a lot of bad throws. They settled for a field goal to go up 23 to 9 when they could have scored a touchdown in that scenario. So a loss like this, everyone's going to get the blame. And on the Texan side, I see a team down the stretch that, you know,

to Chris's point, they don't trust their quarterback. Big night for Lamar Miller, and it might be more big afternoons for Lamar Miller because, but that said, you have to be able to throw the ball to get out of these games. And yes, Brock Osweiler had a couple nice tosses at the end, but what a disaster season so far for Brock Osweiler. And the amount of money you put into it, that's a whole front office and staff that needs to be questioned. Well, again, though, maybe this isn't the game to me to go off on the Brock Osweiler tangent

because this could be a game he builds off. I mean, that was possible, yeah. That was a big time throw to tie the game where he stuck in between the quarterback and the safety. and we don't think he's a stud but that is a game he can build off I think the Texans have to be extremely thrilled that he played such a key role in that comeback

because they needed him to do something like that I don't get that sense at all I got a little credit for that this is the danger you get in when you see guys like Zach Mettenberger make a throw or two and you start to say this guy's good they can build around him no he's the same kind of quarterback as Zach Mettenberger

he's got a long delivery he's got fundamental flaws and they go two and three quarters at a time without moving the offense. That isn't something to build upon. That's a problem. And then you have the ballad of Frank Gore, who you may have heard the Colts hadn't had a 100-yard rusher for three and a half years. Heard enough. Which covered 55 games,

and it was the new that Chiefs don't have a touchdown from a wide receiver stat, de jure. And it got wiped out. And this was almost a fitting way for subplot of this game, a representation of the entire game. On his 20th carry, he hits the 100-yard marker, 20 for 100. And then in slow motion, you see the way things are setting up late in the fourth quarter where Frank's going to get the ball with nine men in the box, and he gets stuff for a one-yard loss down to 99, so he loses it.

The Colts even sent out a tweet congratulating him for the 100-yard rushing performance. He gets in an overtime, though. But I thought that was a fitting, like, slop show for this type of game. Because you win the game if he doesn't break the 100, and now they get a hollow, meaningless number. which this Colts team has been all about. Last point, Wes. Go get my lunch.

Let's all guess when Chuck Picano and Ryan Grigsden are shown the door in Indianapolis. Both of them or one? They're both going at the same time. What's not how my lunch works? You've got to throw something out. No, that is how it goes. Just like what I'm going to, you know what? I'll go with Black Monday.

I think they'll last the season, but I think it's over. I would tend to agree with you because. this division is so milk toast, so bland, so winnable by any of them, right. And it doesn't mean because there's 12 teams that make the playoffs that 12 teams are deserving of the playoffs. We need playoff reallignment, number one, versus one of these AFC South teams squeaking in to get waxed in January, but we're going to get it.

All right. I think you nailed it, Black Monday. All right. That's it for Sunday show, our flagship program. Thank you to everyone for listening and making it. the most popular Sunday podcast that the NFL universe has to offer. I think just that the world has to offer. Okay.

Let's go. World. World. Universe. Next time you'll hear from us, it will be Tuesday, where we will recap the final game of week six, which is my New York Jets traveling to Arizona to face the Cardinals. And then we'll look ahead to week seven. So the wheel keeps spinning.

Let's get out of here, guys. all right mark you get to go home then hans is signing off for quiet storm the mailman the boss and la cede behind the glass till tuesday Sunday night's about to happen. 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.

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