NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 2016 Week 9 review

Episode Date: November 7, 2016

A room filled with heroes – Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, Chris Wesseling, and Gregg Rosenthal – go game-by-game breaking down each Week 9 matchup which included the Colts coming up with a big win at Lambeau over the Packers, and another disappointing showing from the Team of ATL.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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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 is concerned about hot butts. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis. and I am joined by a room filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal.

What is up, boys? Hey, Dan. Woo! Welcome to everybody watching live right now. I call it the scope. I'm not a millennial, but I'm trying to skew younger. Isn't that mouthwash? No, that's just regular scope.

Oh, okay. The scope is what I call it. I think you're on to something. People on Periscope watching live. Everyone can do that every Sunday. That's how we do this. and for everyone else, thank you for joining another edition

of the Round of the NFL podcast, sponsored by Mr. Flames' economics class in the Hague, the Netherlands. Mr. F. A Sunday of football, a little fun fact, guys, and I didn't even need the NFL media research group for this. If the playoffs start today,

six of the 12 playoff spots come from two divisions. Name them, Mark. NFC East and NFC and AFC West. Correct. How about that? How about that? It would be unfair, I feel like, if the season started today, you know, teams have played a different amount of games. That seems, you know, pertinent.

We haven't even gotten to Monday night football this week. It would be like a strike season. The whole season, the whole premise, a little faulty. A lot of people seem, that's like kind of a well-worn, and this isn't a shot against you, Greg. Yeah. A well-worn bit on Twitter and the like is whenever someone makes the reference if the season ended today. But it's stupid to do it. In the middle of the actual day and the actual week.

That's why. Just calm down. I'm just saying. When this week is over, that will be the situation, six of 12. By the way, it speaks to the fact that what we would do is eliminate whatever division you're in, a heap of trash NFL teams. And there are. It's a pile. Mark and I root for two of them.

The Cowboys would be considered a heavy Super Bowl favorite right now. Is that okay to talk about? No, I don't think that's true even. the old contrarian the old contrarian because the Seattle Seahawks are in the NFC You're talking about the team that hasn't moved the office You're talking about a mid-season, Greg? Are you watching the Cowboys?

Yeah, they're great. I'm saying I would not put them over a heavy NFC favorite No matter what happens the rest of the way against Seattle. And that wretched, that wretched FS1 show undisputed One of the ads that's running over and over again during Sunday football is Skip Bayless saying something like or Sean Sharp being like, there's no way that the Cowboys are the favorite to go to the Super Bowl

and then skips like, over my dead body. And that's like their hook. So we're not that far off what we're doing right now. We've got to be careful. Just because the Cowboys are the hot team, we don't want to pander to the large audience. Long season. I'm with you.

That commercial seemed massively out of places. They were romping over Cleveland like playing. They were playing a Pop Warner team. All right. A lot of games to get to. Well, not too many games. this is for the this is uh along with week eight the most teams that will be on by uh six teams did not play this week but still a lot of games to get to and uh i say let's get to it let's have

some fun boys let's do it and let's start oh you know i like to start here west inner conference match up at lambo field luck looking to throw drops back to pass middle of the field t y hilton's wide open at the 25 up green bay and he's taken down at the 20 yard line it's a game it's a game of 27 with 209 to play here in the fourth quarter. Oh, the clinching reception there by T.Y. Hilton, that was Tom McCarthy of Westwood won sports. The Colts started their day with a 99-yard Jordan Todman kickoff return, sealed it with that big fourth quarter hookup from Andrew Luck to T.Y. Hilton when it ended, the Colts had a 3126 win and Chris Wessling. The Packers once again were facing questions about

who and what the hell they are. They were. We found out that the Colts outplayed the Packers in all three phases and looked like the better team today. The Packers, last couple of weeks went with that quick, short passing attack, getting all their wide receivers involved to replace the running game, and they didn't do that today. The Colts play man coverage, and the Packers went with their Mike McCarthy trademark isolation routes. None of the receivers were getting open against the Colts quartet of cornerbacks.

They did score 26 points, and when push came to shove, it wasn't garbage time either. They had a chance to get back in this game. They went right down the field a couple times in the fourth quarter. I love the play that we listened to the play call, that the Colts did not run the ball heavily in that situation that they went for, that they gave the ball to their best player, Andrew Luck, and let him win the game. I believe that was a third and two,

but the play that I was really impressed by was the previous set of downs where Andrew Luck facing a third and long. Oh, yeah. A blitzer coming off the edge straight for him. He hangs in there a little, and this is where you have to have that special sense in the pocket. A little sidestep to avoid the pass rush and then drops a perfect dime to Jack Doyle mark.

And that was the – the Packers looked like they were coming back. They had scored twice rather easily. Once they did that, the Packers are on the ropes, and then they got finished off. We're coming off the two best games we've seen Aaron Rogers play in probably two seasons. And I know on Thursday when we talked about this game, critical of the cults for being an incomplete team

that is based around one player and too many ways. looking at your write-up, they outplayed the Green Bay in all three phases. But do you, you know, these teams are combined, what, eight and nine right now? Do you buy Indianapolis as a week-to-week proposition after this? I buy them as a team that can absolutely win the AFC South. They have the best player in the division. And we saw that with the game on the line today. Andrew Luck was a hoss.

Your latest reminder, any jackals out there that come after Andrew Luck because the cults aren't great, the guy is such a stud. as somebody who again watched suffer through bad quarterback play for my favorite team today, seeing some of the plays he makes, this guy is a monster if they ever put the right team. And overcame two early mistakes, too. Yes, the first multi-interception first quarter of his career. But he bounced right back from that and led some really impressive scoring drives. And you mentioned Greg that the Packer scored 26 points, but after 50 minutes of this game,

they were set up to have their worst home loss in almost 10 years. And in this, even though they only lose by five, it has to be up there. I mean, how many worse losses did they have in Lambo just looking at the opponent? Because I was wrong. I thought we were getting to the point with this Colts team that they have no chance to win against a quality team on the road. Maybe the Packers are in a quality team. I would put the-in-4-4-I mean, they're four-and-four. The Chicago Bears loss on Thanksgiving night on Brett Farb night last year.

That was up there at Lambeau Field. That's a worse loss than this. That's a pretty bad. year's season losses. But, yeah, they're four and four of the Packers, and this is their worst record at the halfway point since 2009. And just when you think you could trust them, they deliver a stink bomb like this. So they're back where they started.

I totally agree. I mean, I had Indianapolis rolled into Green Bay, and right now we were talking about them losing 41 to 10, I would not have been that surprised. This has to be one of the most surprising results of the day. All right. Let's move on, gentlemen, to another NFC North team. Stafford, Texas protection, he'll work out of the gun, play clock at three.

Matthew's got it back, sets, looks, throws. He's got Golden Tate who makes the catch. Inside the 15, inside the 10, and he's breaking away. He's into the end zone. Pack the bags, start the plane. This game is over. What a comeback by the Lions. Love it, Danny Miller, 760 WJR, facing near certain defeat in the final minute.

The Lions got a 58-yard field goal from Matt. Prater at the final play of regulation before. Yes, Golden Tate, which you just served, flipped into the end zone on a 28-yard touchdown catch and run in overtime, the first possession in overtime by either team, lifting the Lions to a 22-16 win over the Vikings in Minnesota. A terrible loss. Mark Sessler, the lines committed larceny on Sunday, stealing this game, and the team of ATL suddenly can't buy a win. Well, we need to... On Tuesday, we're going to need to have a chat about the team of ATL because this is...

That's called a tease in the industry. What does that mean? That's a tease. You find out Tuesday. That's when you find out what it means. Wait, look in the camera. That gives another element of it. Another element, a little tease there, helping the audio listeners at home.

Tuesday. This is a fantastic win for Detroit. This is what they've been all year. They come down to this last possession, and they were largely shut out in the second half. half of this game by what is still a good Minnesota defense until Matthew Stafford pulled off the late game heroics, making them a much more interesting and fun watchable team than Minnesota is right now. And the Vikings have to be kicking themselves right now. This game would not have gone into overtime had Blair Walsh not, A, missed a field goal, B, missed a critical extra point.

You've got to be kidding me on that. And there was a possession where Chad Green Greenway picks off Matthew Stafford at what, I believe, was the 18-yard line of the Lions, and the drive ends with the Vikings punting the ball. That is something that has not happened to a team. From what low is the yard-line? They started at the Vikings, at the Detroit Lions 18-yard line. But they end up? Farther back, punting the ball.

It's something that's not happened since October 2011, and the quarterback in that game, who had the same issue, Sam Bradford. So look, this Vikings team is crumbling inside of itself based off of this offense. The defense could not have done more to put them into a position to win once again. But the defense choked. I mean, it's 23 seconds. The ball, they have 23 seconds. You're a defensive team.

For everything that went into that game before that, right? Blair Walsh misses, the offense struggles. They put up a touchdown to go ahead with 23 seconds left. At that point, you're a defensive thing you got to win the game. point they choked but how often are you going to ask how often are you going to ask the defense to save you but that's not saving that's something you do 99 times i hear you i hear you but come on i mean minnesota did everything they could up leading up to that charge here stafford comes on the field 23 seconds ago at the 25 23 seconds left no timeouts and we got to give matt prater a ton of credit

yeah uh even though he wore that earing the super bowl media day and blew me off which was weird because bro you're a kicker but at the same time you bang home a 58 yarder, which would have been good for 65, by the way. You've got to give the guy credit. But you cannot let that happen. Stafford was able to spike the ball with two seconds to play. It cannot happen. Well, you give up a touchdown and overtime, too, right off the bat.

So I'm just saying it's a complete team loss. It is a complete team loss, and the defense has been an issue for a couple weeks. Let's not act like they're a top three defense right now. I'm just saying when your offense fails to deliver drive after drive after drive, the result will also be defensive collapse. We see this with other teams that are that one-sided. When your personnel dictates and your organizational philosophy is playing close games, you can't have a kicker like this on your roster.

Got to make a move eventually. And Walsh, who handled it well when he missed that kick last January, some of the reporters in Minnesota after this game said he was now melting in the gaze of the clean cameras. Basically, he got upset with the reporters. It's going to happen. He said you asked the same question every week. did you make it? Why did it not go in? If I had the answer, I would tell you,

and then he muttered some other words that weren't fit for print. Wes, you made a good point downstairs earlier today that once upon a time the Green Bay Packers had a similar issue with a kicker they quite liked in Mason Crosby, who could not find any consistency, and they hung with him, and now he's returned to being one of the better kickers in the league. That's the only way Minnesota still has this guy employed

because they think that highly of him. The Buccaneers have a similar situation with Roberto Aguile, So the Buccaneers are not a playoff team. The Vikings are, and they play close games. The Packers used to blow everyone out and could afford for Mason Crawley. Are they a playoff team? They're in first place. I don't know.

That's a good question. It feels like a lingering scenario that they're in first place. They are, I would say right now, they look like the third best team in the NFC North. Right. I mean, the thing I think that kills them in this one is they made the offensive clutch drive. they made it a 13 play 80 yard touchdown drive to win the game and so you felt like okay now it's kind of this if if they had an incomplete pass instead of that completion we'd be talking about what great mojo and everything they have but to to blow it after that also at home as well the last bastion for them almost was they had this new home field advantage that seemed to carry them and in a way that you know five and oh what's that well nothing go ahead oh five and oh maybe they weren't quite a five and o team they get they caught some breaks and weren't scoring a ton of points playing great defense. Five and three, maybe that's kind of who they were anyway.

They're a nine or ten win team. We'll see. They got to win a football game, though. I do want to mention that we should give Golden Tate some credit on that last play. To win a game in overtime with a somersault where you land on your opponent is the biggest, like, stuff in someone's face that you can possibly do. I mean, it would annoy me if you're a minute and you broke tackles from Xavier Rhodes and Harrison Smith.

That is a ridiculous way to win a game. When on the real world Road Rules Challenge where CT picked up Johnny Bananas and on his back carried him to the out-of-bound sector and then dropped him off. Anybody behind the glass know what I'm talking about? Is anybody following?

That is the exact parallel. That is the exact parallel. Well, you took that from Mark's write-up. That was in the right-up, right? By the way, Sidney. Yeah. Hey. One thing, if we could take note,

can we note that Dan Miller call at the end of the season, I want to do like a top 10 calls of the year. Danny Boy makes the cut. Danny Boy right now makes the cut. He's in there with Jesse. Let's move on and take a look at a big AFC North matchup. And now Jordan Barry to punt. David Hester nestled at his own 20.

High snap. Right for the kick is blocked. The Ravens block and it's loose and wobbling at the 14. Scooped up and streak back for a score. A block punt touchdown. Jerry Sandusky, W-B-A-L. Ben Rathesberger returned to the Steelers lineup on Sunday, but it did not have the intended effect for a team that couldn't do anything right,

including that block punt for a score you just heard. The final 21-14, the loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. Greg Rosenthal, that's now three certified stinkers, I count, for Pittsburgh this season. This is a cause for major concern, right? Absolutely, because it's not because of Rathosberger's injury. They lost 34-3 when Rathesberger was healthy. They were getting outplayed by Miami when Rathesberger was healthy.

He looked healthy to me today. I mean, I don't know. I can't get inside how he was feeling, but he threw some dimes and some beautiful throws in the final eight minutes of garbage time. So it didn't look like he was. Getting his Blake Bortles on? A little bit. They got a little back into this game.

But before that, it was the worst performance by any team on offense in the NFL this season. I don't think it was that close. Nine in their first 12 possessions, which is usually an entire game. game nine three and outs and two turnovers and then the block punt is that even their worst performance on the road this season both of the games you mentioned before miami they moved they moved the ball at least miami and philadelphia they all came on the road this one came on the road this is a problem for the steelers and we have this image of big ben riding on a white horse to save this team whenever he's injured

in his career now the first game back from injury he's two and six with a 72 passer rating that almost speaks to, and we don't know how he's feeling, but in this race for him to be the heroic guy that always comes back and beats expectations, maybe it's time for maybe to take that extra week if they're going to play like butt every time. Well, and we're used to Pittsburgh, four or five years we've been doing this. Every year they're going to have that game where you say, that's not the Steelers, not today. And this is the third time they've done that. And there's going to be a fourth and a fifth because this looks like a nine and seven, eight and a team. And we're going to get one of those teams that wins this very average division, barring one of them rising up.

The Ravens who just snapped a four-game losing streak in the first week of November are now in first place. Yeah, tied. And they play Cleveland in four days. And I wouldn't be surprised if Pittsburgh gets it going and lights it up by the end of the year because they have these mid-season lulls and then they do that, but they blow their chance to get a buy with games like this. Don't you think that this low, I mean, because we talk about Big Ben riding in on the White Horse because he's done this before. Maybe it's not just post-injury, but in general, when he's on the field,

they've been the most explosive offensive. I mean, the AFC, and you trust them to get hot and maybe go to the Super Bowl if that's what it leads to. This doesn't feel like that team to me. I don't trust them right now. Is it Big Ben more like a ride-in on an ATV without a helmet on type of guy? Whitehorse seems a little too classy for him. Yeah, I don't see a lot of it. He's not riding animals.

Prince Charming. It's covered in mud. You know, obviously some of his buddies are trailing behind. There's beer cans on the ground. Nobody wants to talk about what's going on potentially. I don't know. It's troubling. We should give some credit to the Ravens' defense.

They were out there playing, shutting them down. This is a defensive team. They're a good defense. They came out of the byweek, stuffing Levion Bell. They doubled and tripled teamed Antonio Brown, and he called out the rest of his team, basically. If they're double and tripled, triple team and me, people got to step up. But I think today that person should have been Braden Rothesberger. I mean, he missed throws.

I mean, it was like accuracy problems more than anything. Well, Marcus Wheaton was a healthy scratch. And Darius Hayward Bay, who was having a really good year, must have had a major injury. He had a serious foot ankle injury that did not look good. Sammy Coates, if he caught a pass with four minutes left here, they were within a score. They started moving the ball. The second it was 21, nothing, but he dropped it. It's his move.

He's going to use it. That's what Sammy Coates does. But the Ravens' offense has not look any better. I mean, they really looked barely better than the season. I mean, there's another offensive coordinator switch that, you know, sometimes these things go well. This has not going well at all for them. They've not fixed anything.

Their running game was a disaster on Sunday. Isn't it always at best the 50-50 proposition to do a battlefield promotion in this spot? Last time the Ravens did it, they won the Super Bowl, and Jim Caldwell got a job out of it. Right. I mean, to expect it to happen again. 50-50, you're right. We banged on them for not running the ball. And today they came out.

They tried to run the ball the entire game, the first half, the whole thing. Terrence West, Kenneth Dixon, 24 carries for 34 yards between the two of them. And we want to give. We want to give credit on balance of the Ravens for today's effort. We should not give credit to the kicker, the Pittsburgh Steelers, Chris Boswell, who the Steelers closed within a touchdown. They needed to recover an onside kick and score again. So things were really stacked up against them.

but Chris Boswell got cute and the kick only goes a half yard a second attempt of the kick by Boswell further downfield a flag is out Steelers tumbled and dive on the football at the 36 but it's moot as the Charlie Brown-like whiff only set the ball perhaps six inches that's Bill Hillgrove of WDVE

this would be I didn't know what this was I'm not a soccer fan but when you do the move where you swing your dominant leg behind your other leg and then kick the ball in soccer is a Robana. Robona? Try to kick it behind your leg. Like it behind the back.

I can come up with another name for it. Yeah, a boner. You could call it a boner as well. That's where you went with it. I mean, there are multiple other names. This shouldn't be complimentary. Anyway, it went six inches humiliating. And I wrote in the end around that poor Chris Boswell should probably stay off the internet.

I would say 12 years, just to play it safe. Anyway, let's move on. One nice thing. One more point. Chris Wesley. John Harbaugh has Mike Tomlin's number. That's four straight wins for the Ravens over the Steelers and six out of the last seven.

Wow. Yummy. Let's move on to the NFC East. Play fake. Quick slant. Odell's got it at the 20. Puts at the 15. He's to the 10 to the 5.

Touchdown Giants. Bam, just like that. 26 yards. Odell celebrates his 24th birthday yesterday with a touchdown on Sunday against the Eagles. It's Bob Popper, right? I got Greg Papa here, Sid. Oh, it is, Bob. My bad.

My bad. We're going to have to look. Well, at least you went out of your way to throw her under the bus. Well, because I'm getting a lot of Bob Papa heat on Twitter. Yeah. Been misidentifying whoever the Giants guys. Anyway, this is Bob Papa. Sid, you're still on Rushmore.

It doesn't matter. They can't take you off. They're not going to sand you off Rush. Well, it's too much work to take you off. So let's just, you know, keep her there. Anyway, Bob Papa with the call. Odell Beckham put his team ahead early in the giant stayed in front for the rest of the afternoon, eventually heading home with a 28,

23 win over the Eagles in a game. Oh, that's right. Old Danny boy, the old Zeus, locked it up, Chris Wessling. That's three in a row. Count them. Patrick. Are we up to 50% on locks of the week yet?

Hatrick, baby. 28, 23 win over the Eagles in a game that ended with a big fourth down stop in the red zone, Chris Wessling. The Eagles gave away points in this game, and it cost them dearly. Yeah, it was a mistake-filled game for the Eagles. Starting with Carson Wentz,

first two possessions ended in intercepts. that really set the Giants up for touchdowns on both of those. So they were already down 14 to nothing to start. And then two different situations where it was fourth and short in easy field goal range. Doug Peterson opted to go for the fourth down instead of field goals. Giants sniffed out both of them. They lost six points there. They lost another three points on a blocked field goal from Caleb Sturgis.

And then with the game on the line, Connor Barwin and Jordan Hicks combined for a spectacular play. Barwin batted the ball down. Hicks intercepted. diving interception, gave the ball to the Eagles in the red zone with a chance to win the game. Fourth and ten Carson Wentz and Jordan Matthews couldn't

get on the same page on an end zone fade which was fitting considering the red zone troubles all day. Eagles are in last place in the NFC East. Four and four. They've had their chances. This game's the story of their season really where it feels like they kind of look like the better

team in some ways in terms of their in position to score more often than the other team and they just don't finish it out. Well, part of this was, it started with Odell Beckham's brilliance. The 26-yard slant touchdown is not a touchdown. Definitely no other receivers on the Giants is taking that more than seven or eight yards. And most other receivers in the league aren't taking that for a first down. He takes it for a touchdown. Mike Wallace might be the only one. He had a 95-yard. I don't think Mike Wallace is beating the angle that Odell Beckham beat on that play. And that's why Odell Beckham is

the highest receiving touchdowns per game rate in NFL history. Greg, Odell Beckham is a Special, special player. Well, he's a lot better than Mike Wallace, that's for sure. What are you getting at? I was kind of just, you know. This Eagles team is. A little football talk, football head stuff. They are one and four over their last five games and now play the Falcons, Seahawks,

Packers, Bengals, and Redskins, and then the Ravens, Giants, and Cowboys. It doesn't really ease up for them. This was the team after they were started out 3 and 0, and Carson Wentz to play he was playing early. Still think there's a lot to like about Carson Wentz. but this is an incomplete offense that is struggling with their wide receiver problem. It sounds like someone stepped up today, though, a newcomer. Bryce Treggs.

Tregg bomb? Tregbom. Yeah, nice, bro. They use him apparently as their go-rout specialist. Carson Wentz hit him on a 58-yard play-action pass, and they tried another deep pass down the sideline. After failing to trade for Tori Smith, he stepped up a bit. But they aren't getting much out of Nelson Aguilar

and getting nothing out of Dorial Green Beckham. Oh, they're terrible. And yeah, it's probably a personnel issue But Mark, some solace for you And what's been a tough season, of course, with the Browns that Carson Wentz Is not going to have some 13 and 3 glory boy season Where he wins offensive rookie in the air

You're not rooting against the kid But a little bit of solace That he's not going to have a special season Maybe a little bit You can sell it as solace I mean, it's barely on my radar It sounds honestly Oh, it's on your radar

Because when they're losing these games I understand that Carson Wentz has made You know a few more mistakes in the last couple He was turnover. He was not a turnover guy early on that's happening, but I see it as an issue with the whole scheme, not just him. I don't think Wentz is at fault for this. But more of my point that no glory board.

There is, if you, listen. He's not lifting the Lombardy. Where we are with this NFL season, where my personal interest lie, there is zero solace on any front. I believe you when you say. Zero. What is your feelings about, you know,

Paul Perkins getting more carries this week? Or, you know, they mixed up the tight end rotation, get Will Tyb in the mix, a little less of Larry than now. McAdoo making some move. I mean, you're running for 2.3 yards for carry. Wesleyan fried the Giants' ground game on Thursday. Nothing has changed on that front.

Well, let me make a point about this giant. He got Wested. They scored, they passed, Eli passed for as many touchdowns today as he had in his last four games combined. Don't think that means the offense is fixed. After Sterling Shepard's 32-yard touchdown to open the third quarter,

they have less than 50 yards the rest of the way combined. And this offense is averaging 68, 3.3 rushing yards per game, which would be the Giants' worst rushing attack in 75 years. Wow. They had 7.30 point games last season when they were

a bad team. They have zero 30 point games. People forget how bad the Giants were for how long in these 70s, too. That is a crazy... At least they're trying to change something. Like they didn't have crews in there quite as much. I think makes sense. He got injured. No, but before that

he didn't start the game. He was in and out of the game. You know, they're at least trying to mix in some of the younger players. All right. So the Giants are now five and three, alone in second place in the NFC East. Hey, guys, you think they made up ground? Well, let's find out. Nailed it.

Second down and six at the 26th. Breast got deep out to the right. No one covered Witten at the 10, and he walks it in. Touchdown Witten. He's a touchdown machine, I tell you. All right, calm down, Brad Sham of KRLD. By the way, one more point, Sid. you have here Greg Papa.

You had two Gs at the end. I just looked it up on Google. Greg Papa is one G. Well, here's, I just, that was an homage to our Greg. Yeah, I know. Everyone should spell their name. Way to drop homage in a big spot. Yeah.

Good homage in a big spot, but I just want to say. Sidney, I can forward you the human resources, direct email, if you want to clean up some of this behavior that we're seeing. It's outrageous. I just feel like accuracy is what we're looking for here. Well, no one would have known. Only you. I mean, it's, yeah, it's hand.

Written notes. Could have addressed it after the show. I felt some coaches would handle it in that way. Thank you. You know, take it outside of the public and just take her aside after the show. I don't think it's a thank you. You're more of the John Gruden style. Let's burn my bridges with all my players.

You know, recently Chad Johnson shared a story that when the Patriots came back from their 2010 season when the Jets beat the Pats at home, the first thing Bill Parcells did in the first, or Bill Belichick did in the team meeting, was Barry Tom Brady in front of everyone. Why? Because he doesn't like Tom Brady? No, because he knows that Tom Brady is a franchise stud like Sidney, and sometimes when you send a message to the stud in front of the whole room and the audience, then people... What are you saying about Mark Gregg and I, that we're so bad that you have to send a message to Sydney?

You guys are role players. Sydney is an absolute stud. Here's what Bill Belichick should have said. Get out of the room, Chad Johnson. You're going to cost us a championship. I mean, yeah, talk about a guy that was not exactly the missing piece for that Patriots team. I do like whenever Chad Johnson, you always, Greg, have a shot about it in the Super Bowl.

Well, it's true. It's a fair shot. If they had spent their $5 million elsewhere, or just not on him, they would have won the Super Bowl. Or maybe better gloves for Wes Welker. But anyway. You had Albert Hainsworth, too. So that was Bill Belichick's bizarre year.

And yet we digress. Anyway, the Cowboys keep rolling. 1G and Greg Papa. Dak Prescott threw three touchdowns, including the one you just heard. Well, several minutes ago to Jason Witten and Zeke Elliott continued to enhance his rookie of the year bonafides in a 35-10 win over the hapless Browns in Cleveland. Mark Sessler, so much for the talk of a trap game for Big D. Well, you know, it's funny that even bubbled up on the broadcast early.

Could this be a trap game? And I'm sure we'll hear the same thing when Cleveland plays Baltimore on Thursday night. Enough. Because we talked about in the preview for this that Cleveland's defense and secondary is such an issue that you'd have to literally be injury beset or completely stumble over yourselves or show up potentially not sober to the game to not pile up yardage and points against this Brown's defense. And they went right at them with the number one weakness that Cleveland's dealt with all year long,

and that is not the inability to deal with playmaking tight ends. Jason Witten had 100 plus yards, 31 minutes into this game, but the game was over much sooner than that. You knew that Dallas on their first two drives right down the field, clock chewing effective touchdown drives that this thing was over. Cleveland was moving the ball to some degree on offense. It didn't matter. Their defense is an open barn door that you can roll through Ezekiel Elliott continue to look. You know, they'll say, oh, Ezekiel Elliott, 92 yards. Why not the heights of previous weeks? Didn't need him to. The guy was yanked midway through the fourth

quarter. Every little part of Dallas's offense was used in this game and Cleveland's defense was fully exposed from minute one. This was another game with more than 400, yards of total offense for the Cowboys. I think the streak now is up something about six weeks in that range. And they are for real. They are for real. You want to go mess with the chemistry and change the quarterback and do all that? Have a nice time with it.

This Dallas team couldn't agree more with what Chris said. This is the team in the NFC barring something strange that has to be dealt with. They are streaking towards the Super Bowl. Whoa. Hot, hot, hot, hot. They're that good. They are, but they also last week, we're a very lucky couple of bounces away from losing at home to the Eagles,

and that's what happens. It's NFL games against division rivals. I don't think they're an unbeatable team. I'm not saying they're unbeatable, but they win games in different ways. They're not a one-trick pony. They get into a tight situation. They got themselves out of it today against a lesser team. They dropped a hammer right away. They deserve to be considered the favorites in the NFC,

and if you think differently, you're making excuses for other teams instead of giving the Cowboys. Well, no, it's looking ahead. It's not, it's assuming that what? What we've seen to this point isn't what we're going to see. So you're looking at heading, you see the Seahawks offensive line is no problem and their lack of a ground game is no problem. I have faith in them, you know, this is off topic, but I have faith in them figuring things out later in the season.

I agree that Dallas is not just going to roll in there. But Dallas, Dallas right now, there's not, you want to pick on their defense? That's how the NFL season goes. It's not like this is going to be the team we see in week 13. All right. Let's do the week 13 recap right now. Considering their lack of experience, they could continue to grow and get better throughout the season. Their defense could get better.

It's been unbelievable. Two of the most promising aspects of their team are guys in their first season. They're only going to get better and learn. I think Dallas certainly earns it. I think if we see a Seattle-DalS playoff game, knowing how Seattle plays in the postseason, I think it's a very good game. I would love to see that. Sure. Or an Atlanta Dallas game.

That would be fun to watch. Let's move on. Check in on the defending NFC champions. Newton brings him up, sets them down with a three-by-one set, three receivers spaced out to the left. The third down play to throw. Newton, end zone, middle of the end zone, caught a wide open, Greg Olson. It's Carolina leading six to nothing. It wasn't pretty, but the Carolina Panthers got the job done on Sunday at the Coliseum leaning on their defense

and the offensive dysfunction of their opposition and a 13-10 win over the Rams. Mark Sessler. Uh-oh, who locked it up? That'd be Greg with two Gs. I locked it up. Oh, double G. What do you think about this, Wes? We're starting to lock things up on the reg.

I mean, I'd like to see it sustained for more than two weeks. Lock game on Fleek. Almost like Greg's shoes. Oh, yeah. Greg's got some white sneakers. Put them up there for everyone to see, Greg. Lot of, on up. Oh, the smokers.

Look at those babies. Oh, they're so white, just like us. You walked into a store and purchased those for yourself. Oh, yeah. I love them. What's wrong with those shoes? They're fine. What was that?

I've got a lot of heat. You don't like them? They're a little squeaky. Whoa, shrieky. They're a little. Kind of like somebody that works at a sanitarium. They have to wear the white shoes. They're nice.

They're good. All right. Let's break this down a little later. I mean, I'm not taking shoe criticism from Sessler over there. Nor do I put myself out there as someone that should be dishing that out. But I, you know, they stand out to me. Mark, the Rams. They got a late score to make it respectable.

Al Michaels would have liked it. But it sounds like we were getting closer to goff life in L.A. You know, about midway through the third quarter, I got up and walked outside just to sit down on this little ledge outside of workplace. And I barely nearly just got to my car and went home because this game was a hard watch. It really was. And I, you know, listen, I don't want to,

I don't have a million takeaways from this game. This was a pathetic showing of football on the offensive side for both teams. I will give St. Louis some. credit. They are a team that wants to score about 10 points a game. Check. You say St. Louis? Sorry, Los Angeles. Nothing's changed from that St. Louis team to this Rams team in Los Angeles. Let's start right there. They punished Cam Newton. Aaron Donald played a fantastic game and disrupted Carolina from the start. Carolina wants to run the ball. They could not do it today. 2.4 yards per carry. Jonathan Stewart never got off track. But you're playing

the Rams. So you put up 13 points. And if another team with a competent offense punished Carolina in this way, we'd be talking about a two and six Panthers team that is done. Instead, they're hanging around three and five. I'm not sure that there aren't a lot of concerns for the Carolina Panthers, but the Rams, they've got a bigger one. They want to live this lie that Case Keenham is a starting quarterback that you roll through the season with.

He misses a wide open Brian Quick deep down the sideline at one point, and he missed all sorts of throws, and he killed him with a turnover, an interception, a great catch by Thomas Davis in the second half. Set up points. Let's hear what Jeff Fisher had to say. Last week, of course, he was steadfast in his support for Case Keenham. A little bit more on the fence, Greg Rosenthal, after Sunday's game. Case wasn't the reason that we lost this game today.

You know, we just didn't make plays in all three phases. So, you know, we'll circle the wagons with the coaches and look at the tape. But I'm pleased with the way Case has fought. And also, as I say, consistently, repeatedly, week after week, I'm pleased with Jared's progress. I mean, it doesn't sound like any type of change is imminent by, but the words he chose, Greg, it's important to read through the, read the tea leaves. Well, when he said we have to go back and look at it,

and he also did an interview with the team, I believe, on the local station, where he said, you know, we'll consider everything. Usually when they start saying we'll consider everything, it's change time. I don't like him saying that they did, that they made mistakes in all three. phases. Well, that's going to happen to every team every week, but this defense did all it could to keep this team in the game. This is how they're built. The Panthers had 244 yards. I didn't watch this game closely or anything, but that's great. I mean, that's a tiny, tiny amount. It was a punt fest. Yeah, and they got a bunch of yardage on a late garbage touchdown, essentially. I would

think, and listen, Greg, football's a business. The NFL, it's a business. Odell Beckham, a great talent. Why are you telling me? I'm speaking in Trumpisms. Right on the eve of the election. But the fact that the Rams. That was your Trump? I don't know. It's terrible. I can't do.

I can't do it Trump. We won't have to worry about it in a couple days, so we're cool. The fact that there's 80,000 people at the Coliseum chanting for Jared Goff, ownership knows they're trying to build a fan base back in L.A. I would be very surprised if we don't see him in the next Los Angeles game. Wes, I know you've been very strong about this idea that Goff is not ready, so don't put him in when he's not ready. But you can't just send out a guy in Case Keenham every week.

You can't do it. I'm not saying we have to trust the Rams coaching staff because when it comes to quarterbacks, they're the least trustworthy coaching staff in the league, including Jeff Fisher who wants to play both sides of the fence and say Case isn't the reason we lost this game, although they spent all off season telling us Case Keenom went 4-0 down the stretch

as if Case Kees-keenom was the reason they were winning those games. You can't play both sides of the fence. I got a text this afternoon from somebody who was at the same. stadium and asked me, who's, who's golf? It was obviously somebody who's not a football fan, but he said, they keep yelling this guy's name the whole game. Can I say one thing before? Because Case Keenom, we're going to hear from some Rams fans. He is not to blame for a pass at the goal line to Lance Kendricks. Right on the numbers, Kendricks just allows it to bounce off him to the ground. That's a big misplay for the Rams. But they are a, they are going to give you 13 to 17 points

of game tops. In Lance Kendrick's defense, and the replay, it shows it. did not hit him center in the 88. It was maybe a little bit like three inches to where it eight was. You got to put it on the guy. I mean, if it's you or I, it needs to be put softly into our hands. We will not catch anything. But this guy needed to catch that. I think it's time.

Yeah. What? If you watched preseason, I think it was evident that Jared Koff wasn't close to being ready to play in the NFL. But I think it's time after you start giving him first team reps, which they did during the bye week. It's time. You know what Case Keenum is. See what the rookie hit. You're not a playoff team.

Let's stop pretending that we are. You're not, so now it is time. I couldn't agree more. And I think this Panthers team, they're going to be in prime time here coming up a little bit. I think they're going to matter in the second half. I know this isn't a pretty performance, but their defensive line came out looking like a different defense last week. They did it again. You're absolutely right about that.

Did it again today. They got a chance. The same way the Cam was punished, they punished Case Keenham. Their defensive line since the buy has come to life. And the wild card race in the NFC couldn't be more wide open. It's like the AFC South's entire division is the wildcard. It should be said at the same time, though. There's just not a lot of juice watching the Panthers right now.

They've got issues. There just seems to be something missing here. He was, Cam Newton, I think there were only two or three quarterbacks hit less than Cam Newton last year. It is the opposite right now, and they said it in the NBC pregame show before Sunday Night Football. I agree with this. He does not seem to trust his offensive line, and there's a good reason for that right now. Wes, I think the friend of yours that didn't know who golf was, after Keenham threw an interception in third quarter as Fox threw a break.

You could hear some guy by one of the parabolic mics hollering. Tebow, Tebow. It would have been the person who sent me the text? Maybe. Let's move to the AFC East. Nick Fulke with a high end-over-end kick to Kenyon Drake at the far side left five-year-old. He brings it out to the 20, gets to the 25, has a lane across the 30. He's loose, half the 40.

Right side line, 50, half the Jet 40. He might go. 30. Let's go. Ten, go Kenyon. Oh, wait. Touchdown. Hard to believe.

The Jets give up a kickoff return for a touchdown with 515 to go in the fourth quarter. And now the Dolphins have the lead again. That's my boy, Bob W. Shuzin of W.E.P.N., an absolute killer for the Jets. Just what it looked like the Jets were about to steal one in Miami. Kenyon Drake took a Nick Falk kickoff to the house after a penalty, off-sides penalty on the Jets allowed for a re-kick. to rub it in the decisive blow and a 27-23 win

for the Miami Dolphins the Jets, wait, oh no, no, no, no, no. All right, bye-bye. Pull the plugs in. The Jets, in spite of themselves, it put themselves in position to win this game when Ryan Fitzpatrick connected with Jalen Marshall on an 18-yard touchdown

with five minutes to play. Jets D getting stops every single time in the second half, but then in true jet fashion, I say I'd been saying it for four years in this podcast. They find ways to really stick it to the fan base. They're very good at that. This time with the game all but one with one more stop, they give up a kickoff

for a touchdown that essentially leaves them without a pulse at the season's halfway point. And meanwhile, the Dolphins gentlemen have won three straight. Okay, so that's good. Good. We didn't fork them. Feeling good about themselves. But there were no playoff teams to be found in Hard Rock Stadium.

A fun entertaining game, but not one that you. you're going to, you know, send a canton, put it that way. Shouldn't we give Adam Gaye some credit? I mean, we suspected that he might have been a little overmatched, and Greg has said his performances at the mic have not been good. But he's rebuilt this team around J.Jai, and they have fit their scheme to his strengths, as Bucky Brooks wrote last week.

Last three games, he's had the most yards in a three-game span since Adrian Peterson's 2012 MVP. And it's interesting, because Connor, who wrote this up, watched this game close, called this because he had the two 200 yard performances today 111 yards called this the best performance of the three I'll have to watch that because last week was more I watched this game closely obviously he had a 30 yard touchdown run great blocking got around the corner and then got absolutely stuffed for the better part of three quarters and then probably gained about 40 yards in the last drive when the jets were basically done and they were running out the clock so this was

you give him credit well maybe he's making He named the opponent versus who they were playing before. Against the opponent. Yeah, that was great. I will mention also. Most teams don't even try. Last week's tackle-breaking performance against the bills was the best game I've seen by running back all year. And one more note.

He had a touchdown on a 30-yard run. Both. All right, so Jay Adjee, just a guy. Both Sheldon Richardson and Mo Wilkerson for disciplinary reasons, most likely, did not play in the first quarter. So you're going against, no, not the jet defense that's been stuffing people all season long. And Wes, you made the comment. And on Thursday show that the circus was back in town with the Jets. It's not as bad as the bad old days with Tebow and things of that nature.

But stuff like this, the one-quarter ban. That's supposed to be your leaders. Wilkerson, by the way, didn't speak to the media. I don't know about either of those guys. I got to be honest in terms of what kind of locker room guys those are. I know they gave Mo a lot of money. Throw in Revis for the leadership angle. And Brandon Marshall's your best locker room guy.

You got trouble. The Jets have a – it looks like to me they have a chemistry issue and also a talent issue. so it's kind of a lost season. But the Dolphins, they deserve credit. I think it's still a hard team to watch on offense. I know they have tried to change things from last year to make them a little more dynamic. But Handsome Hank, who I was in contact with all day on our instant messenger client, big Dolphins fan, says it's clear to him.

And I saw the same thing that Gace and Tannahill, that is not a match still. There's not a lot of trust from Gase to Tannahill, not giving him a lot of options. perfect example at the end of the first half in a 14-13 game Dolphins up he takes a sack Tanahill but they have two timeouts 30 seconds at their 40

you could still make a couple of plays to get into field goal range Gay says no let's get the hell out of here which I hate when coaches do that but if it's an issue where I don't trust my offense to make plays then execute maybe you do take the lead into the locker room but it just shows you something

they're trying to limit his exposure and it's working I mean, Ajahe, he is not a fluke, I don't think. I don't think he is either. The size and the lateral movement that he has is rare. The power, yeah. The ability to move his feet at that size is incredible. I mean, I think he might be in it for good here. Those second year running backs between him and Gordon think they're going to be around a while.

I'll go ahead, Wes. I was going to say Kenyon Drake, the guy with the kickoff return, moving up my Canyon rankings. Really? Where is he at now? He's third behind Canyon Martin and Canyon Marathon Runners. Yes. I had a feel you were going to go there, Wes. Thank you. And you did not disappoint me.

For Mark's disapproval. Your thoughts on that bit. That was a good bit. Hey, before we throw it to Keith, I just want to say, although I was getting a little bit excited about the prospect of a five and five into the bye week, I picked against the Jets this week. I was never really thinking they were a good team. My dad is a true jet fan, a true fan in the sense that no matter where they are in the standings, he's excited for the game, whether they're 10 in 3 or 3 in 10,

and the losses hit just as hard. Let's hear Keith after a killer Jets loss. 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 jets week nine only the

jets can blow a game like this today today it was absolutely ridiculous after they came back they get ahead and then after they were re-kick and then the guy returning at 96 yards totally outrageous Fitzpatrick is absolutely maddening in the way he's inconsistent put petty in and let's move on. That's it. Thanks. He nailed the biggest takeaway for the Jets right there. It's time. It is absolutely time. I know Dodd Bowles, there's loyalty involved,

which is an overrated thing in football and sports in general sometimes. But Ryan Fitzpatrick threw a touchdown to put them ahead, and they probably had, I would guess, 85% chance to win at that point. So you might say, oh, well, that's why we're going to bring them back. But Fitzpatrick threw two more killer interceptions, including a dreadful, dreadful red zone pick. And you're not going anywhere.

We all know that. And why not? Let's see what we got. You know, who knows? Bryce Petty might be terrible. But let's see what we got. And maybe you'll catch some magic in a bottle. And you know what you have going into the offseason.

I'm sick of it. I'm with you, Dad. Let's move on. Bordel's raising the right leg. Waiting for it. Under pressure, holds on, fires it late. The pass is incomplete. And the Chiefs hold the forward.

Stephen Nelson defends the crossing pattern. intended for the receiver Brian Walters and the Chiefs plant the kingdom flag on fourth down on three and hold the fort with 155 to go in the game. A little Stephen Nelson pop in a big spot. I like that call. It was really on message with the whole hold the fort.

Yeah, Chiefs, Fort, got it. Nailed it. Mitch Holders, KC.FX 101, the Fox. The Chief took advantage of an avalanche of Jaguar's mistakes and made a stop in the final minutes that you just heard to preserve a 1914 win over the putrid Jacksonville Jaguars. Wes, the chiefs are rarely pretty, but they continue to get the job done. And can we relegate the Jaggs? Is that in play?

But the Jaguars, speaking of teams that need to sit the starting quarterback, the Jaguars at the top of the list, you cannot keep going entire first halves without moving the ball. And I think that Blake Bortle's mechanical issues are so severe that they're effective. his receivers to the point where you question the receiver's effort at this point. Julius Thomas, Alan Robinson, I don't know if they're running out their routes at full speed. I don't think they trust the quarterback to put the ball on them. And I don't know if I blame them.

Blake Bortles isn't an effort issue. You won't see a quarterback trying more on scrambles, sacrificing his body. He knows he's terrible as a thrower right now. The Jaguars have to sit him down and fix that throwing motion because they're killing their team and I know they're attached to him the current regime, but they're not going to fix this without setting him down. He's a mess. Get him fixed. What a terrible fix to be in as an organization,

because it looked like they had won this when they boldly went after Blake Bortles at the top of the draft a couple seasons ago. And now you have no other option. You can't possibly talk about drafting someone else. And you look at this Jaguar's team from week to week, there is nothing to hang your hat on. They did have a ground attack today,

and maybe that's a promising sign for Nathan Hackett in his first game as offensive coordinator that go for over 200 yards on the ground. Chris Ivory. That's new. Chris Ivory had his best game by far and probably averaged over 10 yards per carry. He looked good.

This just is a Blake Bortles issue. Any concern about the Chiefs after this game, 449 yards for the Jaguards, 2131 for Kansas City. Granted, it's Nick Folles starting, Charkandric West, but it wasn't the chiefs often for years to see. Travis Kelsey got himself thrown out of the damn game for being a jackal. Oh, I loved what Travis Kelsey did. I thought it was hilarious.

It brought me much entertainment. Well, it was entertaining. I'll give you that. Wait a second. You don't want your guy taking out his talent throwing at the ref. Yeah, I mean, this is the last Boy Scout, Wes? Hey, after their performance, the reps have had this year, I thought it was fine. All right.

Good. Agreed to disagree. One for the player. Did it come at a, how much time was left in this game when he? he pulled this stunt. There was plenty of time left. The Chiefs had a comfortable lead at the time. It wasn't comfortable by the end because, you know,

Blake Bortle starts to move the ball in the fourth quarter. Wes wants his playmakers acting like WWE superstars. I thought it was funny. I'm fine with it. I thought it was great. I'm just having fun. Until we get better officiating in the NFL, I'm fine with this kind of stuff. It's still bad.

Dee Ford, five and a half sacks the last two weeks, nine on the season. And when he makes some of those offensive linemen miss, He looks like a running back or something cutting through the hole. He's coming on, but to answer your question about their offense, Nick Fools had one really pretty throw to Albert Wilson for a touchdown. Other than that, really struggled with his accuracy, and they had their worst third down performance as a team on offense in many years.

10 first down. This is one of those games, though. The Chiefs will end up being in the playoffs. There might not be a very exciting wild card race, and it's because the Chiefs just find a way to win games like this when they have to 10 first down. No Jeremy Macklin, no Jamal Charles, no Spencer Ware, And for half the game, no Travis Kelsey, you can't expect fools to work miracles. And you asked, Dan, I think it was on Thursday, if we, in general, Andy Reid is underrated as a coach.

I think he's often just forgotten in the conversations about. The most underrated coach of his generation. Well, I'll say this. If you're anyone who suffers through, you know, watching a team that you're just, some of the Jets, that just drops games in the regular season week after week inexplicably, the Chiefs, what are they, 16 of 18 in their last 18 regular season games? that's phenomenal because this is not the most talented team, even in their own division, much less the AFC.

Let's swing back to the AFC West. Mario da back. It's in the coverage. Picked off by Flowers to the far sideline. 1510, 5. Touchdown, San Diego. Brandon Flowers jumped the route. Picked it off, took it in, 33 yards,

and the Chargers have scored again. Josh Lewin, K-I-O-Z. Yes, our old friend Brandon Flowers. You want to make flowers today? Hit me again, Sid. You want to make flowers today? One more! You want to make flowers today?

Our old friend Brandon Flowers have the game's clinching play in Melvin Gordon's comeback season. He hit a high point in the Chargers 43, 35 win over the Titans. The bolts left for dead by most after a ridiculous one-and-four start are now four and five. still in the playoff picture, you know, vaguely, but in the mix. They're in the mix. Greg, the Chargers. It's the spicy redemption. It was a Melvin Gordon game to end all Melvin Gordon games.

Spice racks, Twitter mentions, lighten it up today because, you know, you said the Flowers play was the clinching game, but this, the play, but this is the Chargers. You know, it's got to wait. You're going to wait until the last minute. And Tennessee scored to get within a. with a few minutes left, and you're thinking, uh-oh, Tennessee's got three timeouts here. Chargers might blow this. Third and seven, what most people would have said, a give-up play. Mike McCoy runs the ball with Melvin Gordon.

He breaks a couple tackles. Parrish Cox is going to get chewed out by Dick LeBow in the meeting rooms tomorrow on Monday for missing this tackle. Gordon catches a pass the next couple of plays, runs down the sideline. I mean, he has been fantastic the last couple weeks. he's the reason they're closing these games out. It's unbelievable. Joey Bosa is in the mix, too. These two guys.

Absolutely. They're going to be great next year. Gordon. What next year? The Chargers. Get Keene and Allen back. They're going to be great next year. I thought he had his best game of the year by far against Denver last week.

And then this game, 200, what was it, 60? I mean, that's an outrageous number. It's 259 yards from scrimmage. That's outrageous. For people that are maybe new to the show, Chris Wessling, desert consigliari spice rack who works atop a resort in a pool zone he sold himself as a man that knew the draft set went all in on melvin gordon before the last year's draft saying he was the next big thing to come into the league and then let's face it gordon laid an egg as a rookie

maybe he wasn't right physically but now a stud and what were you saying about the spicy who's obviously a character that, you know, a lot of differing opinions amongst our listenership, how did he handle this moment of glory today? Well, he was basically, he was feeling his oats. He tweeted, where's all the credit for my Melvin Gordon call and welcomed all of the praise, all the kudos, and then shot down anyone who had any criticism whatsoever

in very furious fashion. Spicerax's Twitter was off the hook. today. Spicerack, if Melvin Gordon goes over 1,000 yards or scores 20 touchdowns, his suspension from the show is lifted. Right now, barring injury, Gordon's going to run for 1,000 yards. It doesn't

mean he'll be a show-by-show or a weekly contributor. He'll come back on the show and we'll assess from there. But these chargers, and it has a lot to do with Melvin Gordon, after this game, you've got the dolphins, you're by, you've got the Texans, a terrible Buccaneers team, and

you've got a manageable schedule from there. every year you get one of these mid-season teams that wins three or four, five in a row, and there they are. The problem is the AFC wild card scenario. It's not just a division. The wild card picture is a cluster of teams stuck. They've got to have a massive run.

I mean, the two wild card teams right now are six and two, and a lot of things can change in the second half, but the Chargers still have such a thin margin for error here. Absolutely. But they've shown that they haven't played, as they started playing better, We haven't seen them against kind of a mediocre team, so it was nice to see them take care of business against a Tennessee team.

I thought it would give them big trouble missing their two inside linebackers, Jatavis Brown and Denzel Perriman. And DeMarco Murray's held to 51 yards. They did a good job shutting them down. But two weeks in a row, Corey Toomers played a good game as the stand-in at an inside linebacker. And the secondary's been great. Casey Hayward, another big interception, flowers with the interception. Marietta had kind of hit maybe not even a season in a nutshell.

He looked incredible for a lot of this game, but he had three turnovers. Really, all of them were his fault. He must lead the world in turnovers return for touchdown. Right. One of them was, though, it looked like he tried to pitch it on a run that had no chance of going anywhere. He was just trying to do too much. He made some incredible positive plays in this game, but the-

They have a bright future. Yeah. What about those chargers? You like it? You think they're going to make the playoffs? No, probably not. All right. Let's move on.

The 49ers aren't the schedule, so we've got to talk about a game. Oh, no. Bree is handing it off and look at the hole for Ingram. Up to the 40, 45, 50, foot race down the far sideline 30, down to the 25, 20, 15, 10, 5. Touchdown, Saints, welcome back, Mark Ingram. That's Jim Henderson at WWL. Everyone loves to play the 49ers. On Sunday, it was the Saints turn who scored early and often in route to a 4123 win that has pulled New Orleans all the way back to 500 after an 0-and-3 start. Greg, I refuse to give any team too much credit for beating Chip Kelly's band of zombie gold diggers.

But your boys do deserve credit for keeping themselves in the picture, in the big picture. Yeah, they shouldn't deserve much credit from this, but they did what they had to do. And I liked themes continuing. Mike Thomas is their number one receiver. He made an incredible touchdown play. And Ingram and Tim Hightower are leading this new run-heavy type of approach. It was a lot of High Tower early, but the two of them combined for 245 yards on 38 yards. Which is about what the 49ers give up on an average base.

Right, but it's nice to see the Saints just do that. Their offensive line is better, and you know what's been a big key for them? They re-signed Jari Evans during the season, and that's kind of... Seahawks didn't want it. It's kind of shored up their offensive line. They've given Bree's protection. I've said it ad-Naz. A move that was laughed at when it happened when Evan signed with them.

I think that I've been especially critical of Sean Payton and the Saints for, you know, three or four weeks ago, you cook and cutter the same team we've seen 100 times. This is a spicy playoff level offense. If they can get any sort of semblance on defense or just keep scoring 35 or 40 points, you never know what could happen in the trashy NFC. They could sneak into January. For a second, I try to convince myself. You know, the defense is showing some things.

Kenny Vicaro is playing well. Colin Kaepernick passed for 398 yards. That's Colin Kaepernet! This is where I was going, though. This is where I was going. Camer Jordan's playing well. You know, Delvin Bro is back. This is that.

And then you look, and the 49ers have like 500 yards against it. Just forget it. Anything to like from, they got Sheldon Rankin's back, Probably not a lot to see, but... Little Ranko talk. Well, I mean, that was a huge draft pick for them, and that sabotaged them early. This is a couple road wins for them.

They beat San Diego. They also really outplayed the Giants. You know, it hasn't really been the crazy road home split. That's something they could be positive this year. This isn't all his fault, far from it, because they, 49ers have done everything in their power to take what had a chance to be a team that would be good for years and turn them into what they are now.

which is a laughing stock, and that responsibility goes up and down. But remember what Chip Kelly was a thing? Well, 100%. And he was a thing because if you come into the NFL with something new and that's something that's proven to work on some level, and you catch everyone off guard as he did, I'll never forget that opening primetime game against the Redskins in the first half. It does. It feels like decades ago.

And there were a couple fascinating articles written before this season, how that offense has been figured out. His scheme has been figured out. And I'm sorry, week to week. But this starts at the top. You know, we saw these coaches coming in and out and in and out before Jim Harbaugh ever showed up. And now we've seen it.

Tom Sula's out after one year. Who knows how long Kelly's there. That starts at the top. That's an organizational problem that goes back a long way. He's at a college next year. That's my prediction. It's nice to have Trent Balke's job security. I'm not sure it continues after this season.

Let's move on. which takes us to Sunday night. Oh, Sunday night. Carr, under center, turns, gives to Latavius Murray, soaring for the goal line, and he's in for the touchdown. Latavius Murray going airborne over the pile in for his third rushing touchdown of the night. And the Raiders may have just put this one away. Don't you heard just there was Latavius Murray?

Three touchdowns on the day, 114 yards on. the ground. He was the offense on Sunday night for the Oakland Raiders, and it was more than enough. A 30 to 20 victory for the Raiders over the Broncos, and frankly, the final score does not quite indicate how much Oakland dominated this football game, and the Raiders, now seven and two, folks, all alone atop the AFC West. Mark Sessler, Silver and Blacker for real. I agree with you. I see what you're trying to do. What?

Going to get me to talk, then you're going to drop your little music clip in. It happens tonight. Someone else can talk. Nice try, Sid. I mean, she's still kind of got you, though. Not really. Anybody else want to talk about the game?

Mark is texting, like, a disinterested... Looking at the box score, my phone, actually, Greg. Nice try. Opset at his dad. Does anyone else want to analyze this segment more incorrectly? Speaking of analyzing, incorrectly. I said this was be a battle between Raiders' offensive line and Broncos' defensive front seven, and I gave the edge to the Broncos. That could not have been more wrong. The Raiders' offensive line

dominated. They only had two sacks on David Carr and three quarterback hits. And moreover, 220 yards rushing in three touchdowns for Latavius Murray and the rookie duo of Jalen Richard and DeAndre Washington. What a rushing attack for the Raiders. I love Richard, and we talked about it going into this game, that they're a top five or six rushing team right now in terms of yards per carry. Murray, not a fun runner to watch it when he's in the open field, but he's the key guy. He is the lead guy, 114 yards. He runs hard, and this team has an identity.

And the Broncos have a problem. You know, their run defense has been bad all year. It doesn't mean they're a bad defense, but they're not the defense they were a year ago if they have a problem week after week. That's fair. Dan's shaking his head, smiling. I don't know why. No, I mean, listen, it goes for their offense, too.

I don't think you're giving the Raiders enough credit, though. I just gave them a lot of credit. Now, all of a sudden, Denver went from, you know, two weeks ago. Their defense is just as good as anyone. And all of a sudden, now their defense is a bit of a problem compared to last year. Look at the Raiders who are now a week after Derek Carthroats for 500 yards and four touchdowns. He does nothing today for the most part. He's basically in the Gabbard zone doesn't throw a touchdown pass.

But now you have the running game dropping a 200 bomb. The Raiders made it a problem for Denver. The Raiders turned Denver's run defense into a big problem tonight. And it's another example. It's the same thing we see from Dallas week after week. When you have a dominant offensive line and they're the AFC's best offensive line right now, you can win in multiple ways on offense. And the Raiders are fully for real on both sides of the ball.

Their defense was such an issue. They didn't let Denver into this game. Right. The defense is what's changed the most during the season. The fact that, and again, this is a problem for Denver, it's no discrediting towards the Raiders. I don't. The Raiders' defense has come on for the most part after the first few weeks.

They've had some slip of them. Kaleo Mack has been on fire. Carl Joseph, the rookie at safety, has been a major upgrade. And I think those are the two biggest factors. And Bruce Irvin's been about what they expected. He had a good night. Mack certainly had a good end to the night with the force fumble, and the secondary's been better.

Sean Smith wasn't even in this game. It didn't matter. And, you know, Trevor Simeon, his box score, it looks like he had a decent game. He got a bunch of garbage yardage on a Capri Bibb 69-yard, catch-and-run touchdown late in the game. Here's the thing with Denver. And if their defense is not going to be as good as next year,

they need more than just the guy that's a take care of the ball, facilitate or type of quarterback. And I have the last several weeks, a couple weeks especially, I don't see Simeon is good enough to take this team over the top if the defense isn't going to be playing on my level. You want to be a defensive-led team that destroys quarterbacks and grinds out offense by running the ball, 33 yards rushing. Devante Booker, 2.2 yards per rush.

As long as rush is five yards. They miss C.J. Anderson. They do. And the idea that Devante Booker was going to be better than C.J. Anderson, I never believe that. Well, you needed both. least. I like the idea of Devante Booker, someone they brought in as an upgrade over, you know, Hillman, someone else you could add to your ground game, but him alone is a lead back. That's not happening.

And he really had the one good game, Simeon, since he came back. But really now, if you look at his last four or five appearances, he has one good appearance. I don't think he's the problem. I just don't think he can carry a bad running game and a bad offensive line. Now, too many things are going wrong for them to have Simeon as your quarterback. It's not a good offensive line, pass protecting or run blocking. He's not going to be able to overcome that. He's eight games into his career. We shouldn't expect him to be able to carry an offense.

How about having the black hole on primetime loving life? I mean, they've been waiting a long time for a seven and two Raiders team to put a beat down on the Broncos in prime time. Greg, have a quick question for Greg. You have to, all your earthly possessions, I don't even know what you own or how much worth all of it put up on the market you have to answer this question who starts more games this season paxton lynch or jared goff jared goff for sure easy i would put my like 130 dollars worth of entire possessions up on right in fact i i need some i need dan what about

the 4.1 million that you're holding on to i would definitely i would keep my massive fortune out of this it's just too volatile situation i mean i need some help right now, and I'm always willing to roll the dice. You guys know me. I will put by everything I have on the line. If anyone wants lynch, I need it. That's what got you stuck working a day job, those initial issues that you had with that specific issue. Ladies and gentlemen, that was Greg Rosenthal 1,000th of a gambling reference on the Around the NFL podcast. Congratulations, Greg. That's not true. Guy had a problem. He got over it. You can too. Hens of it reoccurring. Hints of it reoccurring.

Yeah, it's good to see Where do you think he got those white shoes? The Raiders are back in prime time. We're going to see more of the Raiders because next Monday night. They are, and they deserve, and they should be flexed into games in December. The Raiders are for real.

The Raiders are right now looking like the second best team in the AFC. Two division leaders facing off next Monday night in Mexico City, Houston, Oakland. And I bet the Raiders fans are thinking, If I was like them, I'd be thinking, why is this the year that we have to lose a home game to Mexico? Because that's a disadvantage. How about like when Trump loses on Tuesday?

And he's like, you know, dealing with the aftermath of his ego taking a massive shot. And then he sits down on his leather couch the Monday night after and he just wants to get away from it all. And he sees the NFL playing in Mexico. It's going to stick in his crawl a little bit. I think so. He's sticking in my crawl all year. I hope I don't re-listen to that portion of the podcast. in a few days' time as an innocent time

before I started looking for freelance writing jobs so I can live in Japan. Right. Dan quickly whisked away to a prison camp. All right. That is the Sunday slate on that note of NFL action. The next time you hear from us, it will be Tuesday where we will break down the Monday night football game between

the Seattle Seahawks and Buffalo Bills. Yes. And then, you know, we'll have some fun. That's what we do. We try to have fun around here. Hey, make sure you check us out on the old iTunes, leave comments, leave stars, because that, as stupid as it sounds, makes a difference in terms of the support of the show and really how the shadowy leaf figures of U.S. as entities, which right now is really not much of an entity. Right. If you don't want us to see the four of us broken up because we can't afford to live in L.A. drop some five stars on that felt a little desperate if you want to support the show and see us continue on for years into the future drop some stars on iTunes or just take lynch in this whole lynch versus goff thing with me just DM me it's not good Mark's still on his phone I'm completely detached all right that's it let's get out of here um yes Stan Hans is signing off for quiet storm the mailman the boss and la seed behind the glassed behind the glass Till Tuesday. It's an important Tuesday. What is the, what's like a Trump line?

He's like, it's terrible. He's like, it's very, very bad. 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 evaluate 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.

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