NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 2017 Week 8 recap: JuJu shines again for Steelers, & how Zeke's looming suspension affects the NFC East

Episode Date: October 30, 2017

A room filled with some heroes- Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler & Gregg Rosenthal recap all of the Week 8 action, including a possible 'Game of the Year' contender between the Seahawks and Texans (1:00); The Bills continue to roll as they held off the deflated Raiders (9:00); A swole Nick Shook joins the heroes to break down the Cowboys' encouraging win over the Redskins and what lies ahead Ezekiel Elliot (15:00); The sad, sad Browns lose again (26:30); Dan's Dad -- Keith Hanzus -- weighs in on his lowly Jets (37:00); And with JuJu-Smith Schuster taking over the Steelers' offense, what does it mean for Martavis Bryant? (56:30).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 full of heart from start to finish. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hanzas, and I'm joined by Room Filled with some heroes, Mark Sessler and Greg Rosethal. What's up, boys?

Hey now. I don't need that sound clip coming back into my life. Yeah, that is the famous connection to you and the movie Draft Day. We'll always be connected to you, and money just brings it right back to the surface, and you're not looking for that. Unwelcome. Unwelcome. The, yes, the Around the NFL podcast, presented, of course, by Head and Shoulders.

This is our week eight. Recap episode, the flagship program of the Around the NFL podcast. And what a week, indeed. Well, yeah, it was a good week with a couple great games, including maybe the game of the year, or at least in the conversation, Greg, and we're going to get to it in a minute. The game of the year of the week, Russell Wilson,

in Seattle holding off to Sean Watts. We needed that game this week. Yeah, we did it. We need a little juice, and we got some juice in Seattle. So we got that game to get to. So every Sunday matchup, And then, of course, we'll end with the Sunday night football matchup between the Steelers and Lions. You know, we're just trying to hold things together here in the NFL media universe after one of the most stunning, stunning lunch orders ever.

Chili dogs ordered for the entire media group. How does that even happen? Who is behind the order? who decided that an entire newsroom would want that, and who, and this is the most important part, did not think ahead, do you want to be feeding a group chili dogs three hours into like a 12-hour shift?

It's just, it's not a good thing. Well, these, it's very nice of them in theory to order these lunches, so let's start there, but they typically come very clearly from an area restaurant of note. And I just don't, I cannot identify an L.A. restaurant that would have created this meal. Where was it made in a school kitchen potentially somewhere in Cardo, I don't know. I guess what I'm saying, Greg, is Daddy feeling great right now?

Daddy? Oh, okay. That's right. I thought you were, when you were saying like that, you know, we're struggling, we're fighting through things, how can we do? I thought you were talking about the absence of Chris Wessling, who we clearly miss, you know, on this program. But no, you were bringing it back to the chili dogs.

Well, the bigger C, the chili dog fiasco of Sunday weekend. Now we have the little C, the big C, and then. and the Grand Daddy Sea, Chili Dogs. Let's get into the Sunday game starting, yes, at the clink. Tight formation. Seattle trying to take the lead. Wilson rolling to his right, has a man wide open for a touchdown. It's Jimmy Graham.

Seattle takes the lead 33, 31. K-I-R-O, the call there. Russell Wilson's last-minute touchdown connection with, yes, Jimmy Graham sent CenturyLink Field into hysterics and powered the Seahawks to a 41 to 38 win in one of the best NFL games of the season. I mean, offense galore a game in which the two quarterbacks, Sean Watson and Russell Wilson, threw for almost 500 yards or 1,000 yards combined,

that type of game. And Mark Watson was incredible in this game. Four touchdowns, threw for 400, ran for 65 more. But Houston got conservative in the final minutes, and ultimately they paid a heavy price. I mean, it's so unusual to, have a game where a quarterback is throwing for 400 and something yards and putting the team entirely on his back. In this game, both quarterbacks did that. 452 yards for Russell Wilson with four

touchdowns. Most of that coming in a heroic second half performance by him. And Deshaun Watson, who right away made it clear that Seattle's Legion of Boot, he could not have showed any less fear of Richard Sherman firing the ball right at him. D'Andre Hopkins finishes this game with an incredible, 224 yards. I mean, making, Will Fuller had two touchdowns and 125 yards alone. This offense is a fascinating watch.

And they were the headline for much of this game until Russell Wilson basically said, uh-uh. Well, the crazy thing is neither of these teams have a traditional running game. I mean, the Seahawks have nothing now. I mean, it's crazy. They can't continue to try to win games.

Like, Russell Wilson won this game, despite getting three yards from his running backs, despite not really having much of an offensive line. And oh, by the way, his team gave up 38 points. So as great as Watson was, and he was great, Wilson had that one interception that was under three minutes to go. Watson had a few more mistakes in the game.

That was kind of the difference. And ultimately, Seattle's defense did get the stop they needed on the third and two, where if Texans pick it up late, they get the first down and they win. It was third and four, and it looked like it was an option play where Watson could have held up. on to it or hand it off, hand it off to Lamar Miller who got to. And it made me think about a few weeks back where all they needed to do is get what,

it was a third in one or third and two against the Patriot. That's right. They stuck it in Lamar Miller's gut that time. And it didn't work that time either. And then they got beat in the final second. So this time, to me, the Patriots game was frustrating. But at the end of the day, they thought they could get the yard. They didn't get this time.

It was overly conservative. And then it's almost as if the defense, which had. done their very best. Marcus Williams, who was a former jet, who got cut, picked up. That should have won the game. They just need a couple first downs and the game's over. And instead, they went back on the field, Houston. It looked like they weren't even prepared. And by the end of the game, the last play, Jimmy Graham just wanders down the middle of the field, untouched, unmollested and scores the touchdown. It was a crazy how to be a deeply disappointing way, a crushing way for Houston to lose because they had come so close. And that said, they're three and four, and you easily could flip that reference.

record or say they'd even have potentially five wins if things had gone a little bit differently. But if I'm a Texans fan, I come out of this incredibly hopeful about the future. You have a star quarterback, and you're in a division. Forget the record right now. There's a long way to go in this season. I never call this the midpoint after week eight. There's so much football to be played, and they can climb out of their current record and fight on. And I think they're a legit threat in the AFC if they get hot and get into a good playoff position.

Look at who else is fighting for a playoff spot right now. bunch of junk. Everyone else has major problems. That division's got three teams that are all going to be fighting for that division alone. But the Texans fans, you know, when they lost Watt and Merciless, they probably were, you know, I don't know if this team had a chance to compete to win the Super Bowl this year anyways. This season's all about Deshaun Watson. So I don't care if they end up going six and ten. If he keeps playing at this level, they have found a franchise quarterback for the first time. Watching these two guys, I was thinking, what if you could show the tape of this game to maybe a 10-year-old Mark Sessler in the 1980s. Like, it would have blown your mind to watch two of the greatest quarterbacks ever in terms of being able to evade the rush and improvise and run. Like, it's just they're playing football in a different way. These two back to back. It's insane.

Two more points. One, Greg, by the skin of your teeth. Congratulations. Oh, yeah. Ends the losing streak. Big victory for you as well as the Seahawks. And also, the Texans, the backdrop of this game was outrageous as well, of course. with a team owner, Bog McNair, the comments that leaked out from the owner's meetings

where he was quoted as saying that the inmates running the prison situation going on and led to a lot of Texans players kneeling during the anthem. Majority of them. So you don't, you didn't know if they were even going to show up for this game mentally. They certainly showed up. They just didn't get it done. But don't discount that being an ongoing issue around this team that could affect their season. Oh, it's remarkable.

If anything, it's interesting that they essentially didn't practice Friday. Hopkins left. I thought it was interesting. You know, the rookie Deonti Foreman was also one of the players that did leave. He traditionally this season has had a big role splitting carries with Lamar Miller did not have a touch in this game. Alfred Blue got the carry. So I don't know if that was, I don't know if that was connected or not. Clearly they weren't going to sit DeAndre Hopkins in this game. But I don't know. Pretty strong statement by the players. Let's move up. to football, right to McCoy, and stuffed. What a job by the Raiders, and now they're saying touchdown. Unbelievable. They're saying Taylor broke the plane. Andrew Catalan of CBS with the call. He got it right eventually.

Tyrod Taylor put the game out of reach with a fourth quarter scoring plunge. And Matt Milano put the bills ahead for good in the second quarter with a 40-yard fumble return as Buffalo crews to a 34 to 14 win over the Raiders in Orchard Park. Greg, the bills are on the rise while the Raiders appear to be. Fating. That play, that call from Catalan felt bad for him there. Did you, though? It was typical of, well, no, I love.

Greg's like, make sure you cut Catalan failing. I love it when an announcer has a moment like that. It is a major subplot sitting near Greg every Sunday. Cut to Catalan sitting in business class listening to our pot of the tear going on his jeep. Yeah, I'm sure he's listening to. Stop. That was a play that was decided just by a hair, that it could have gone either way. And that's how the call got messed up.

It looked like he might have fumbled it, but no, it ended up being ruled a touchdown. And to me, that's kind of what this Bill's season has been all about. I really admire what they're doing. I think they're playing hard. They're playing great team defense. But watching this game and they won the turnover battle 4 to nothing, they're now leading the NFL in turnover margin at plus 14, I believe.

Every time the ball bounces up in the air, it's like there's a Bill's linebacker to take it the other way for seven. or a tipped pass that Derrick Carr through today, which gets picked off for an intercept. It's just one of those years that everything is going their way, and they're also making their own luck and not making mistakes. These are the teams that a year later, when they try to figure out who's going to slide back to the pack win-loss-wise,

it's these teams that are dominating turnovers because that rarely duplicates itself. But there's something else that happened from today. LaShawn McCoy, who I think he's ran well all season, but statistically a little stuck in the mud, and you mentioned that they went back to some concepts they used last year, and it unleashed them for 151 yards. Yeah, the last two weeks, I feel like the bills are more sustainable

because McCoy is ripping off big-time runs now in back-to-back weeks, and they're playing a team the Raiders who can't get stops. I mean, the Raiders have a huge weakness. They have not had a defense for a couple seasons now, whereas Buffalo, you look at who they were missing today, Jordan Poyer, who's played really well, another starting cornerbacky Jiggins. And, oh, by the way, they traded the guy they gave a $100 million contract to Marcel Darius.

They didn't miss him. They stuffed the Raiders in the running game. It's like, doesn't matter who's out there. They play pretty well on team defense. It's a bad situation for the Raiders who came off that dramatic, potentially, you would think, season-altering win over the Chiefs. And then to have this happen where the bill's missing the two defensive backs, Darius isn't there.

They still can't move the ball on offense. So all this greatness that you got. out of the end of that game. That's all kind of wiped away now. And then when the dust clears, and again, we were just talking about it, the Texans, and you look at the AFC playoff picture, the bills look to be in great position in five and two. And the Raiders, they're clinging just to hope it looks like now to maybe get the sixth seed. So a lot of things have changed and not in good way. Well, in Oakland's record is no fluke. This is really a team that just seems to completely be absent of last year's strengths. And who would have thought when you looked at this

schedule in August, and you saw the Jets and Bills kicking off next week's action on Thursday night football. You'd think, how dare you put that game on national television for us to deal with in early November? Instead, it is a fascinating game of the week almost. What? I'm right. The Jets are three.

Tony Romo called it a game of the week, and I think that the Jets are interesting. I like the Jets for the Zanda. Romo finally got something wrong because the Jets have lost three in a row. I just think it's for, here's it is, relative to how meaningless people thought it would be. It is the opposite. I wanted to cover this game because I thought it was kind of one of those two ships passing in the playoff race night. Like which way are these two teams going to go? And the final score is misleading.

But ultimately, the Raiders are set up in a way that their offense needs to be special. It's not special. It's just okay. Tradavius weight shuts down to Mari Cooper. You couldn't really run the ball. They haven't been able to do that all season. Let's move on. Handoff, Elliot, pushing on the right side.

He'll walk it in. Touchdown Cowboys. Elliott's second of the game for the second week in a row. And thank you, Tyrone Crawford and Orlando Scandrick for that score. KRLD, Byron Jones is 21-yard interception return for a touchdown. That was the exclamation point for the Cowboys, who went into soggy FedEx Field, came out with an important 33 to 19 win over the Redskins

who have now lost two division foes in a span of six days, not good. And now we welcome back Nick Shook, Swole as Hell, wearing a 1990s throwback Cavs shirt. One of the worst logos that I can remember in the 90s. It's literally a basketball that goes through a net. And it says calves in blue. There's nothing to do with an actual. The logo is simply, here's the goal of the sport. Still better than the Brown's logo.

But not close, but close. Anyway, Swall, he swole as hell. The Ricky Davis era Cavs. Yeah. Poor Dan trying to get out the intro here. Ricky Renegades. Who cares? Anyway, Nick shook, swole as hell.

He don't give a damn about standard fitness expectations. And he's about to talk about another big performance from Zeke Elliott. And what could be his last game for a while? I'm trying to get past what standard fitness expectations are. But anyways. Just like having like a standard good bod, you blew past that and that doesn't mean jack s to you. Like you're like, I'm going to go with the almost distractingly jacked body. I appreciate that.

Like so big that it's almost like, well, is he, like, is it actually hard for him to move around? Right. Is he overcompensated? Sort of like a Paul Orndorff Jr. And if you are wondering, yes, Dan obviously spends many minutes, potentially many hours thinking about your physique while not on the podcast. I mean, I feel like this is the question all of us are wondering, but only the old Zeuser can ask it. Are you getting too big for your own good? I actually was asked that in the newsroom today.

What's it like that big arms? It's hard to buy T-shirt. Well, that's not what I was asking. Anyways. Let's go to Cowboys Redskins. He started the question. Tired of being objectified by three other males. I wrote in the post-game recap that this is really encouraging for the Cowboys

because the running game earlier in the season for them was not good. Zeke looked a step slow. We had talked about that on here. And in the last couple, two, three weeks, he's turned that around. He's back to Zeke of last year. The line's starting to gel. with the new pieces that they've got there, and they took advantage of that today

in what was a steady downpour. He rushed 33 times for 150 yards and two touchdowns. It should have been three touchdowns, but one got called back on a bogus holding call on Tyron Smith. And, you know, it's going to be interesting to see because right now, if Zeeke wasn't facing a potential suspension,

I got a lot of stock in the Cowboys. It's moving up. But with that, you know, still being out there. Monday is the biggest day of the season for the Cowboys practice. It's so strict. range, but that's the day we're supposed to hear from the court in New York that we believe we'll finally decide either the suspension starts next week or he should be clear for the

huge for the whole NFC. Right, absolutely. Because right now the way the Cowboys are playing in, I'm not going to give too much credit to the Redskins because I think they have a lot of problems and it's not necessarily a big, big statement win for the Cowboys, but the way they're playing in back-to-back weeks, they're really putting it together. And this game changed late in the second quarter. The Redskins are in control of the game.

for most of the first half. And they come out on the field, up 13-7, attempting a field goal. Nick Rose, the attempt gets blocked. Orlando Scandrick scoops it up, runs 86 yards, setting up the Elliott touchdown in the second quarter. So instead of it being 16-7 going into the half, all of a sudden you blink it, it's 14, 13, and the Cowboys never trailed again. So when you look at this, looking at the score, oh, the Cowboys took care of business in this game. They were the better team.

But it did not look like that for most of the first half. Well, they played a pretty sloppy first half overall. I mean, they were really lucky to be going into the halftime with the one-point lead. They didn't deserve that lead. But they earned it in the second half with the way that they played. You still wonder if they have enough on the outside or just in general in the passing game. The Cowboys, that is. I wonder that.

And that's why I do think they're a team to watch this week with the trading deadline, whether they would want to pick up some sort of receiving. You're talking a little of Martavis, Brian? Maybe Martavis, but there's other receivers possibly out. T.Y. Hilton, maybe. But there's reports that, like, their teams have inquired about Martavis Brian, and I think that the Cowboys make sense culturally and sort of just who they are and what kind of player.

Well, no, I think a lot of teams would say no. Teams would say no way to Martavis Bryant, but the Cowboys consistently, you know, field risky players. They'll take it over and over. Send your nightmare headache to us. Right. Randy Gregory agrees with you. Yeah. There you go.

Any other thoughts? The Redskins, again, you know, the conditions, let's be fair, Shook. bad for everybody. But again, the Redskins, they just don't have it. And there's something like that annoyed me about that last pick six, that it was just a checkdown pass, like floated in the middle of the field, no timeouts. It's like, what is going on with this team right now? They are a team that has been decimated by injuries, and especially on the offensive line.

They're throwing guys in there who arrived this week and were blocking for them and not doing a very good job, I might add. There's a guy who used to block in Minnesota. His name's T. T.J. Clemmings. He plays tackle. He was a, who was an addition to the Redskins this year. and he was bad before he got hurt.

He got ran over and then gave up a... He allowed Kirk Cousins get hit on actually a touchdown pass, you know, ironically. But they can't protect the quarterback and they're suffering injuries in all parts of their team. And Matt Ionitis, who's had a pretty good year so far, especially against the run on the interior, a defensive tackle. He fractured his hand. Jordan Reed left with a hamstring injury. Niles Paul had a concussion. This is just today.

Well, we said in the offseason, this season could be decided for them on what do. Dotson and Terrell Pryor does. And if they came up, today they combine for five targets and one yard. One yard, one catch, one touchdown. But it was only because on the play prior, Dotson got flagged, well, the cornerback covering Dotson. He drew a flag for a pass interference in the end zone that was kind of a gift. And they're three and four.

And you have Seattle, Minnesota, and the Saints. You get the Giants after that. Then you have the Dallas again. So I don't know. I mean, I find the Redskins fun to watch. watch when they're kind of clicking, when they're clicking. No running game. This schedule is wrong.

Well, they need to get healthy first. Bottom line. Let's move on. Oh. God, that was your lock. Hello. That's five in a row. It's five in a row, Greg.

Can't make up ground on me this week. I mean, I'm looking forward to the streak ending because then we'll just stop talking about the standings in general. No one will actually find out if the street ends. Greg, still struggling with being in last place. Aw. All right, let's move on. Five in a row, baby.

back. Ted Ginn Jr. goes in motion. They flip it to the near side, Camara, trying to turn the corner, forcing the boundary, and he's going to score. Shrugs off a tackle at the two, and ducks into the end zone for the score. That was WWL with the call. Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram both rushed for touchdowns. Drew Brees threw for 299 yards, and the Saints topped the Bears 20 to 12 at the Superdome. Greg, another week, another conquest for the Saints who have won five straight. Get excited, Mr. Tulane? I mean, I'm excited. Saints fans should be excited because they're winning games in different types of ways. Drew Brees said after the game that he doesn't even feel like the passing game is really has it all together. And he's right. This was a game. He only had five in completions, but they could

have put it away earlier. They didn't need to. That was the perfect clip to pick because Kamara to me is the key to the team. On one drive, you know, he beats, you get, they just get him in good lineups where he's beating a linebacker on a deep sideline route. You just don't see running backs do that. And then on the next play, he's lined up in the slot and he's beating a zone. And it's just like, if it wasn't for two Mark Ingram fumbles when they were in position to score twice late in this game, it would not have been as close as the final score. And that's an aberration for Ingram because I don't think he's had two fumbles in a game ever in the NFL. No. I mean, they're running game for the most part. Today was bottled up.

You've got to give Chicago a little bit of credit. Keem Hicks is playing really well. I feel like we saw some steps from Trubisky. A nice deep shot down field, a big run at the end. I mean, are they used, they use him in a different, threw the ball 32 times. They're not doing much with him, by the way. I know he doesn't have a lot of stuff around it, but there's a lot of big talk about him in his first game. He's not really moving the ball with him, is he?

Well, I mean, this is a team that just had to make a move for a receiver this week. And a receiver. Right, right. They're in a weird spot. I did write very early. Like, how are they going to respond to being down 10-0? Are they going to kind of get out of what they do? They didn't, they didn't really.

They stayed pretty run heavy. And I think we partly saw why. Ultimately, he completed less than half, of his passes. I think he's, and this is true of almost every rookie quarterback, I think he's just a beat or too slow getting the ball out of his hands, and that's something he'll get better at as he plays. Yeah, I definitely agree with that. However, there were some moments Adam, or excuse me, Zach Miller, went down with an unfortunate leg injury that was really gruesome, but it was on a great ball, a great pass from Trubisky to him that would have been a

touchdown if we could ever figure out what a catch is. Is this a catch fiasco alert? Let's hit it. Catch rule, fiasco alert. Catch rule, fiasco alert. Catch rule, fiasco alert. Yeah, you know, basically what happened was Zach Miller catches the ball. He proceeds to dislocate his knee. And then as he goes down to the ground, feels the pain, realizes something's wrong with his leg, drops the ball.

And that right there is not completing the process of the catch. And it was well after. It really felt like there was nothing that you saw. I was really surprised. I shouldn't be surprised anymore. I was surprised by that one. Yeah. Every week you get one of these.

Let's move on. Shotgun in motion, kiddle the tight end from right to left. Low snap. Back goes boasted. He fires and it's intercepted. Mills down the left side. He cuts back at the 15.

He's running across the steals. He gets a block. He cuts back. He's in for the touchdown. Jalen Mills, Magnificent. WIP on the call. Carson Wentz through two touchdown passes, including that one to Jalen Mills. The Philadelphia Eagles glided past the San Francisco 49ers, 33 to 10.

Shook the Eagles were fully expected to take care of business here, and that's what they did. Yeah. And you know, here's the weird thing about this game. And much like I've given the Browns credit in the past and I've given the Bears some credit recently for their defense, the Niners defense kept this a game until the last two minutes of the first half and everything just fell apart. I mean, in a world when there was that pick six. And then there was, right before that, there was a touchdown pass from Wentz to Zach Ertz, which completed like a six or seven play drive. And it went from being an Eagles three-nothing lead in another rainy game to suddenly being, you know, 17 to nothing.

And the Eagles in complete control. I mean, they brought the house at Wentz with the Jason Peters industry injury. And they got seven hits. They got three sacks. But it's C.J. Bethard. And Dan, that's your boy, C.J. Beat hard. I mean, he, week after week, is taking a beating. And I don't understand.

He's taking a hard beating. Big time. If you're Kyle Shanahan, you need to get a win. Did you catch that one? Yes, I did. And it was mildly humorous. Thank you. I sailed a little reaction.

Oh, mildly. Why are you sticking? Are you going to stick with it for the rest of the year? This is not the quarterback of the future. This is not the humor that I like. I'm Mark Sessler. Mark, Dan's not going to hear any of a very. our points for the rest of the show. His ears are just going to be mildly, mildly, mildly.

It is simply impossible to make a point on this show. How about die? There you go. That's what I was looking for. Here's the thing with Bethard, Beat Hard, is Brian Hoyer's worse than him still. And it's not necessarily his fault. When he's protected, he makes some good throws. I mean, we're talking about the Niners here. He's not a franchise quarterback. You're right. They need to find somebody else in the future. But right now, it's got to be. Bethard over Hoyer. Their problem, again, much like the Redskins in the last game, is they can't protect him. The thing, the thing, though, with a rebuilding team that's 0 and 8 with a new

coach, you want to be excited about identifying some players for the future. And I don't see that at all with this 49ers team. I see their best running back is Carlos Hayter's not going to be on the team. You know, their leading receivers today was a running back, Matt Breda, who I don't think that has a future. You got Trent Taylor and Garrett Seller. And these are guys are just here. And they're not going to be, if the 49ers ever get good again on offense, it's not going to be with any of these guys. So it's hard to get excited. Yeah. No, I feel you. I think the one point maybe is that maybe Trent Taylor could stick. It's like your fourth or fifth guy who likes to be the slot guy, that kind of thing. But yeah, especially on

this offense. 2017, you've identified your fourth or fifth target on offense. Nailed it. Moving on. Keenham checks out, takes the snap drops back to pass, has a little bit of time, steps up in the pocket, throws for the back of the end zone for Rudolph. He's got it high in the air and comes down two feet in. It's a four-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Rudolph. KFXN with the call, Case Keenum threw two touchdown passes, including that victory-insuring toss to Kyle Rudolph and Kai-4-bath.

Guys's Kai. Guy's going to be Kai. He made four field goals. The Vikings beat the Browns 33 to 16. At Twickers, that's the final game that will be held in Britain. This year, we could not, we just couldn't get them one. Couldn't get them a game. And we were on Sky Sports.

You got him, Fourbath. We got him, Kai. Kai's going to be Kai. We were on Sky Sports with Neil Reynolds earlier today, Greg and I, and we promised them any game they wanted next year. Yeah, better. He requested Tom Brady, Carson Wentz, and we've got the type of poll. Which is the power to deliver.

We're working on. You certainly have the power to make that happen. I mean, Case Keene, has played in, I believe, two-thirds of the games ever played at Twickenham Stadium. Wow. This was the best half they got. Goose bumps.

Anyway, Greg, this is your classic take-care of business game for the Vikings, but, you know, the Browns had made them earn it. No, it was a good game for two and a half quarters, or at least a competitive game. I just saw the Browns do things that bad teams do, though. I mean, they gave away about 10 free points when the game was actually close with a missed field goal. with Hugh Jackson totally botching the timeout situation at the end of the first half,

and then another penalty, which led to fumbling the first play of the second half, which led to three more. It's just like here, here's 10 points for you, and it's tough to win that way. Yeah, on the flip side of Kai Forbath is Zane Gonzalez, Cleveland's rookie kicker that's had, he's had a tough season, and, you know, he's not a long. Greg, Greg, you witnessed my deep passion for this Browns team this morning before our early England hit. Yes, that's true.

Mark in the past has said that he's let go of the Browns a little bit. I think in this case, he really is pretty tuned out on this team. Smart. Nick, on the other hand, still has that in his team. Nick, how you do? I had to engage with people on Twitter after the Browns have lost this game this morning about why they don't need to fire everybody right now and how it's going to set them back.

It's week eight. I mean, I don't want them to fire everyone either, but I think the takeaway here is more of the Vikings. that they, this is a game that if they were a lesser Vikings team or last year's Vikings team that started out 5 and O and then crumbled, they're doing the opposite things this year. They got stuck in a tough first half and mind their way out of it. What do you want them to do, Nick Shook then? Are you saying now is not too early to start making some changes?

I think you retain your coaching staff and you consider some front office changes just because they don't seem like they're necessarily on the same page in the long run. But bringing you back to the Vikings, I also had to defend Case Keenum on Twitter today. He's had a pretty solid season. We've talked about that. What is this? What is this that you're doing? I didn't wake up this morning and think, I'm going to have to defend Hugh Jackson and Case Keenham in the same conversation.

He made some plays on his own, but Adam Thielan makes him look good. And I feel for Keenom because he's been in a lot of different situations, and I could be wrong about this, but if you read Mike Zimmer's quotes after the game when they asked about Teddy Bridgewater, and he said, I hope I have a decision to make, you know, Case has played well, but we'll see what happens there. I really, just the, it's just the guess. I really think Teddy Bridgewater is going to be the starter after the buy and he's going to be the one that possibly takes this team into the playoffs.

Here's the thing, you know, they're winning games. So this is a good position to be in regardless, unless you make the change and the wheels fall off. Wait, so what's the San Bradford situation? Where are we at now? That is so strange right now. He's in a malaise. He's sort of just, he's a bit disinterested and I think they're just not suiting him up. His injury seemed like he has no timetable.

It's something where he's kind of cleared where he can do football activities But he clearly just can't move Except for the most important football activity To be playing on Sunday I think there's something serious going on there Where you're worried about his long-term future Playing the sport

I think that's the vibes that it seems Yeah is he football Brandon Roy Degenerative Knees is this it Right Could be that situation I was about to say bro Have a timetable But now you're making me think wait

He could be facing a career Threatening situations I think if you read between the lines Show a dash of sensitivity. If you were between the lines of what the insiders and what the medical people there have said, like that's sort of the vibe you're getting on Bradford that they don't know about his future at all.

Interesting. All right, Nick, one of these days, we're going to have you on the show and you're going to talk about a Brown's win. That is not today. It's funny. I did a preview. So another Twitter situation?

Yeah. With somebody in London. Twitter bits with Nick shook. He goes, what's the goal for the Browns? And I was just like, win a game, any game. It doesn't matter. Just one. One in 15 would be perfectly fine.

Perhaps. All right, there goes. Shook off to now defend Manuel Noriega on Twitter this evening. Shook doesn't know who that is. Hsuasopo. There he goes. Off to the gym. Get that pump in.

Is that a Tuiasaopo ref in a big spot? Back and by his day. What if after all this time Shook's actually just been wearing one of those gigantic, like, Halloween-esque, like, bodies that you blow up? And he has like, his actual body is like Mike Lennon-esque. Sure. That would be awesome. I wouldn't say it'd be like the biggest NFL scandal of the year, but it would be up there. It would rock the newsroom.

I mean, it'd be the biggest NFL scandal of this room for sure. Let's move on. Matt Boschier to punt right to left. Jeremy Curley returned man at his 25. Snap shot in the air, directionally wobbling to the far side, hard back pedal, retreating, and losing the football, the 15 Falcons fall upon it. Curley lost the ball. The Falcons pounce at the 13-yard line.

A giant special team snap, fool. All right, that was WZG with the call. Jeremy Carly's fourth quarter fumble sucked the life out of the metal ends and led to the insurance points the Falcons needed. A 25 to 20 win for Atlanta, which snapped a three-game losing streak. The Jets, meanwhile, they've lost for the third time in as many weeks. And we'll start with the Falcons. They are the winners.

And not a perfect effort by any stretch. And the only reason they won this game, and it was this game also in a very soggy day across the East Coast of this country, raining the entire game, pouring for large swaths of the game. But I will say this, ball security. Large swaths of the game. Matt Ryan lost three fumbles in this game. Two turnovers, a failed two-point conversion attempt.

And I don't want to be too negative. but Austin Cooper dropped a short touchdown. They had six red zone trips and had two touchdowns. They had a punt return touchdown wiped out by a penalty. Still, they were good enough to beat the Jets because the Jets are just good enough to lose every week. I think the Jets are the best bad team in the league and the Falcons are the worst good team in the league. Well said. When those two teams square off, what happens?

A narrow win for the worst good team. That's what happened today. Couldn't have said it any better. The announcer used the term snafu, and I'm sure you guys know what it stands for, but it reminds me of when I once was at a wedding and quizzed. My friend and I quizzed roughly 120 people if they knew what IBM stood for. I thought 90% would know, and roughly maybe 35% of people knew what IBM stood for, which was stunning. IBM is...

Not I've been moved as old IBM dads would use back in the day. Your dad is an IBM, man. What does that even mean? They would move you all around the country all the time. Oh, your dad worked there. He did for a stretch. Is it like integrated business movements or something? I'm not telling you.

I don't care, but like, I'm wrong? Yes or no? I'm not going to say. So anyway, yeah, the Falcons were sloppy, but they were good enough. In fact, this is the first- International business machines. Dingo. I didn't know that.

Which is a clunky name for a company. I really clunky. I really clunky. So, yeah, the Falcons are played a perfect game. And the Jets are, they'll just drive you nuts. I mean, again. At one point in the game, you were like, this is my favorite bad Jets team ever. I feel like they have got, even though you're at peace with like, okay, they're not going to be a playoff team this year necessarily.

They keep getting your hopes up. The fact that they're losing from ahead each week is frustrating. Yeah, it's certainly frustrating. It has reached the point, though, where you kind of feel it coming because they've now taken leads in four straight games and lost the last three and had a gift to win in overtime against. Jacksonville. So they just, there's something going on. I think our boy, Johnny Morton, has done a nice job on balance as their offensive coordinator. They've scored a touchdown for the third straight week in their first possession, which speaks to, you know, the scripted plays and they're doing something right in terms of studying their opponents and finding the right

plays. Josh McCown continues to look very good in spurts, but in the second half for the third straight week and now why their season is essentially close to over now is they have no idea how to close out a game. The defense is what it is. The defense can have moments, but is not a great unit by any stretch, despite there being some players that are really promising. The offense is dying out in the second half. And Matt and Forte, who is not a guy that's known to complain, did complain after this game. He only had four carries. And he said, in a pouring rainstorm, why am I only getting four carries? Which is a fair thing to say. They were saying that the plan was to run the ball more and and they went away from it.

They did a lot of passing in those conditions. And that's the struggle with the Jets right now, closing games. They still can't do it. I'm not giving up on the Falcons, though. They needed a game like this. I know it's not like a huge comeback win, but they were down. It's on the road.

It's bad weather. They're not great right now, but they have a running game. And they have a roster, I think that if a few things can go right, that their season can turn around, but they got to find a way to win some of these ugly games in the middle until they do. They have the Panthers, the Cowboys, and the Seahawks next.

I mean, the Falcons, something just has seemed off from the start, and yet you're exactly right. In that division, in the NFC, they have time to fix it. And as far as great as the Jets, a bit, like, in all these games where they blow the lead, they get outgained significantly. Not in all of these games, the other team has outgained them, and it has probably deserved to win. It's not like that they've had bad luck or anything.

And that's why I've never been sucked in. If you watch them on a snap basis, they are a very flawed team. Any shot to be. beat the bills on Thursday night. Where's the game? It is in New York. They have a shot, sure. Is New York a big home field advantage for the Jets right now?

Oh, no, I'm just asking. I don't know. Yes, compared to their road. I don't think they have a home problem. Like, there's nothing going on there. It just as it is. You know, so let's see what Keith Hansis had to say about this Jets lost. Keith, a very hopeful jet fan, my dad.

But the losses and the manner of the losses, it's going to start grinding on my old man. I know it. His name is Keith, he's dad'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? Jet Falcons game today, another frustrating loss as a jet fan to watch the Jets come out and be very strong.

offensively again and then just fade again totally it was just another example of the team that shows that it can win but then in a long run when it comes down to making

the big plays at the end the biggest thing that comes down is that they just cannot finish which is frustrating watching this team I know they're young but still it's another game that was winnable and another tough loss.

It's a weird season, but at least they're making the games entertaining. They're not embarrassing themselves, but it could be frustrating. There were weeks that we were a little shorthanded on the news side downstairs. Would your dad be interested in maybe writing a few Jets recaps? I really enjoy his analysis.

He's retired, and I think one of the things about being retired that's really beneficial is you don't have to work anymore. Oh. So I don't think he's going to want to do that. But that's very kind of you to reach out to Keith, and I will talk to him. Privately, let's move on. Alan angles the punt right to left toward the sideline, dropped by Benjamin, he turns it back toward the end zone. He's gone up inside the goal line.

It's gone under by the Patriot. It appears his ruling that he got out. God is that stupid. As Brandon King and Matthew Slater were downfield, Benjamin curling to the right side line, dropped the ball and then he's circled back, and he's tackled for a safety. Oh, stupid is what stupid does. Wait, what the hell just happened? The, uh, well that, that was stupid is what stupid does.

I guess if, if you have a punt return, uh, that's returned into the end zone for a safety, you're going to have a weird call. That doesn't happen too often in the NFL. The whole thing was bizarre. Is that Zolak? I think it was. He's popping off. Oh, yeah.

He's probably failing himself. Scott is he. It sounds like Bernie Cozard during a preseason. No, no, no. He is much more organized than Scott Zolak. Hey, Zolak, pull together. Stupid is it. You know, calm down, buddy.

that's on my radar. That was, that was maybe one of the ugliest special teams plays of the... Right, it's not too often you see a pun returner run backwards 10 yards

and take a safety. That's a pretty crazy. I have never, I would like to see the stats on that, but I can't imagine that's happened too often in NFL history. He might have set the record

for running backwards on a punt return before. It's an experienced pump returner too. I mean, he really must trust his ability to have, you know, escape that jam and it didn't happen.

But you know what else doesn't happen off and a professional broadcaster calling a player stupid? I hear you. Oh, stupid is what stupid does. Where's the radar? Lindsay, I need my radar back. Where is it? As stupid does.

He's officially 11 yards. He ran backwards. Give me my radar, Lindsay. You're on the radar, Zolak. Show some respect. It's been on your radar for like roughly half a decade. On balance, I like Zolak typically. But, you know, anyway.

Tom Brady threw for 333 yards and a touchdown. And the Patriots, with the help of Travis Benjamin, they got a 21 to 13 win over the Chargers at Foxborough. Mark, the Pat's offense was not in stellar form on Sunday. But again, the defense rose to the occasion. Yeah, the defense played a nice game. And I have to give the Chargers defense credit, too, because there were multiple moments,

especially towards the end of the first half where I thought they had 15 points in the second quarter, New England. They're up 15 to 7. They're going to blow this game wide open. And Los Angeles found a way to hold them to field goals down the stretch, only six points in the second half for the Patriots. And Stephen Ginkowski, so reliable typically, kept this thing close with two botched field goals of his own.

Not since the start of last season. All right. So then... He's an average... His career is essentially about to end, I think, is what we're trying to tell you. But no, I mean, this was just the Patriots. Mark and Scramble Recovery mode there. No, no, I'm just saying.

I'm not going PFF on this guy's kicker kicking this season. But yeah, I don't know. Yeah, he's been not too good. I'm just saying he's on Patriots fans' radar. Since that ain't a title game. To put it a different way. I like what New England did in this game. Nice game today for the kicker, though.

Yeah, they had a nice game today. Yeah, really did. So, but this reminded me a little bit of how New England attacks Seattle and their pass rush out of the gate. in the Super Bowl, two Super Bowls ago, or three Super Bowls ago, when they basically used their running backs to a high degree on quick-release things to kind of offset Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram, who did. Brady was under a lot of heat, but he showed once again with his footwork,

and he kind of can obviously just sort of see stuff coming from behind him. He evaded what I think another quarterback would have taken a lot more punishment than he did. Well, this game and really this trend for the Patriots is now not just one week. I think they're trying to play complimentary football by controlling the ball. They had, what, 50 plays in the first half? It was 40 to 19 in the play count. And they end up with over 80 plays, and they're trying to play complimentary football

where you keep that defense off the field. And it kind of reminded me of the AFC championship game with the Chargers, where it felt like it was really one-sided and the Patriots should have control. It was almost the exact same final score. but in the end, the Chargers are in that game to the very end, and Philip Rivers gets the ball with a chance to try to win it. Yeah, one difference for me because I think last few weeks we've seen...

That was 2008 AFC Championship for your young listeners. Way back when... Forget that ever existed. Hunter Henry, who's been so involved of late, two catches for 11 yards. Like that to me, without him being sort of an integral part of the game, they lost out through the air. But Melvin Gordon had the best game of his whole season today.

I think it was an 83, 87-yard touchdown right out of the gate, which is a franchise record in a career long for him. But this offense, too, just, I don't know, this has got to be another, you want to talk about jets losing in a way the jets lose. This is another Los Angeles defeat where they could have pulled this thing off had things been a little bit different down the stretch. I am. Oh, yeah.

That's why it's on. This was, well, this was a lock that I lost, but I don't feel, I'm proud, that I picked, I went this way because it almost happened. Are you proud? You know, they didn't even cover. Here, look it. They didn't cover. What do you mean?

I mean, they didn't cover themselves in glory. Yeah, according to the league, I don't operate on that front. Greg is slipping back into the abyss. I could feel it. We need to talk to him after the show. One guy I want to just mention real quick, they could save for Thursday. I'll stick a pin in it. Who?

I want to talk a little bit about Keenan Allen and not having a big impact on this team this year, who was basically uncoverable when he wasn't injured. finally healthy now for half a season and is not putting up near the same production with a healthy Phillip Rivers. I'm just a little surprised about that. It's interesting. And they're a team I expected to have so many different ways to attack you that they could be different each and every week. And they're not really a dangerous offense. Whereas the Patriots, you know, I know they're not quite at 2017 or 16 levels, but it's like some weeks they can come out like this. And James White and Rex Burkhead can combine for 12 catches and 140 yards.

that's their offense. And it's like they can hit you different ways. 27 first downs, that is kind of vintage Patriots in terms of moving it up and down the field. Let's move on. Empty backfield, shotgun snap the past. Deflected and intercepted by Carlos Dunlap. And he runs it in for a Cincinnati touchdown.

W.EB.N. With the call. That was an amazing play. Can I just hear the color guy's reaction again? Flected and intercepted by Carlos Dunlap. That guy is the master of his domain. Lineman Carlos Dunlop. He knocked Jake Briscuits pass in the air, grabbed it, took it to the end zone, 16 yards.

Oh, and it was a game-changing touchdown. Just being that guy, rallying the Bengals to a 24-23 win over the Indianapolis cults. Mark, Cincinnati averted disaster at home to keep themselves in the AFC playoff picture at the midway point. I can't quite understand what those commentators are so excited about watching this Bengals team because... Well, that was a great play. It was one of the plays of the day. On a micro level, that's fine. Mark, it was a pick six to win the game in the fourth quarter.

I'm just saying this Bengals team to me barely outlasted a dead-on-arrival cults operation. And I cannot take Andy Dalton and the Bengals seriously anymore this season. They go on the road for the next three weeks, and they're going to come back out of the playoff picture entirely. This was a game that simply was about which quarterback, Andy Dalton or Jacoby Brissette, is going to make the key error at the end of the game. That's all it came down to.

This was not an inspiring win for the Bengals. I don't care what anyone says. Mark, is the sport of football on your radar right now? Football did some good things today. The Bengals, you know, as... You were really hoping the Bengals were going to lose. You wanted to bury them. They're a division rival.

And you wanted to just say, hey, let's cross them off for this. It's not a division rival. We're at the time of year where if you're a pretender, get out. I can't deal with it. And had they lost this game, it would have been one another nail in the grave. This team is not going anywhere. Large swaths of the nail from the grave? This team is going nowhere.

I love midseason Mark Sessler. It's my favorite part of the year. No, because the league is, it is a tad water down in this Bengals team that's mathematically hanging around. They're three and four. I will not tolerate them again. What does that mean? I will not cover them again this season.

You're not putting them on their schedule. This was this game that I had to watch on the background while the Patriots Chargers game was on and it was an eyesore. Alex, it's troubling that they could, that they were outgained and maybe outplayed for most of the game by the Colts. And surprising. They are in a position where who knows if they can play better. But Joe Mixon, 11 carries 18 yards, is kind of an answer.

And he had a huge catch and made a big difference as a receiver. That was one great play. Right. That was a terrific play. But it kind of is an answer to the people who have been saying, like, you just got to hand it over to Mixon. Like, their problems on offense start up front, whether it's the running game or the passing game. Like, those are the problems. And I thought it was very fitting that this game essentially ended with Jake Brisket, you know, who I love.

but holding the ball a little too long on a fourth down, you know, play before getting rid of it. Because that has been the problem for him. And I do wonder if this team is going to be a little different next week, the Colts. I think it could be a team that could be trading. One last thing, your boy, Frank Gore, nice game. Frankie. He's close to five yards of carryover the last month. And Mark, I believe you have one more comment about Cincinnati?

Well, Marvin Lewis is an idiot. Let's move on. Stewart in the backfield, tight line splits. Newton turns hands to Stewart who leaps. Extends for the goal line. Touchdown. Yes, he did. Yes, he did indeed. Cam Newton threw for 154 yards.

A touchdown to Kelvin Benjamin. Jonathan Stewart had a touchdown. The Panthers defense did the rest. The 17-3 win over the sleepwalking Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday in Tampa. Gentlemen, I don't know, you know, let the Tampa Bay Bucks. We'll get to the Panthers in a second. Let the Tampa Bay Buccaneers be the late. and perhaps strongest reminder

not to fall for the hard knocks team and I'm not saying the season's over but at the midway point for them five there are three games back of the Saints yeah at the midway point of the season I know they played seven games because they had the week one by they get a big fat F for me

in terms of expectations in terms of everything we thought we knew about kind of the chemistry and the vibe around that team in hard knocks it was all kumbaya in August and now everybody's upset about something

James Winston had a really bad game today and what was an important game I thought Greg because and I'll point to one sequence that happened in the second half the bucks have their backs against the wall I wish I could tell you the exact score but I could tell you that Winston

misses an open Mike Evans streaking down the sideline would have been a touchdown misses that pass and then the next play throws it over the middle, sails it over his intended receiver. Luke Kieckley intercepts it. And I remember thinking myself, that was the most important possession of the season for Tampa,

and the quarterback could not have come up any more small. And that's kind of the state of the bucks right now, a team with a lot of potential, but not even coming close to reaching that potential, and the standings tell the story. Well, Kurt, Dirk Cutter had an interesting week where he insisted to the media that James Winston suffered no setback

despite sitting him for the first two practices of the week this week where then he was on a serious show on Friday night and he admitted that James Winston re-injured his shoulder against the bill. So I'm not saying that explains away the buck season. It obviously doesn't. Winston played great last week. But his shoulder, I don't know if today was a problem. He certainly wasn't throwing it very accurately today.

And this was the type of game where the thing that stuck out to me was Mike Evans after the game saying we're not as good as we thought. Like, this is what we keep hearing about the books. Like, I don't know. It's 2017. Like, our team's really falling for their own, like, preseason hype that much? The Giants have been saying this too, that, like, we were not as good as we thought we were. We thought we were great.

We thought all the preseason hype meant something. By the way, when we say the Bucks may not be done, well, they have a long way to go. There's only one team, and that's the Giants in the NFC with fewer wins. Right. And there's three teams in their division that are above 500, including a five and two Saints team. So it's a long, it's a long climb out. And on the Panthers side, they had a nice drive early in the game. Didn't do a ton on offense, but didn't really need to.

And, you know, shout out to their defense, who once again are looking good. Yes, they lost 173 last week. They won 173 this week, but they only gave up three points on defense last week. Right. There were two defensive scores that submarine them in that game. So the defense is playing great. So that's not what their problem is. and they still seem to be Carolina, despite them being up and down,

the team with, to me, that has the highest ceiling in that division. I think New Orleans would give them a run for their money, but we're just not used to seeing that from the Saints. But the Panthers, I mean, they've had some rough weeks, and somehow they sit at five and three right now, so they're totally in the picture. And Jonathan Stewart didn't really run. Like, they still didn't have a running game.

Like, the second they have a running game, then I'll start buying them. Is that going to happen? I don't know. I mean, you never know. It doesn't look like it's going to happen. Not right now anyway. All right. Mark, you have some dad work to do.

That's correct. Yes. Is Daddy ever coming back? Yeah, it is my child Luke's seventh birthday. I did celebrate it a bit yesterday. Seven years old. Wow. Where does the time go, Mark?

Well, I don't know. It goes quickly. I don't know. If I could answer that question, I could. What did you do to celebrate on Saturday? Went out to brunch, opened up about 48 boxes of Legos that arrived in the mail

from various family individuals and members and cake and lots of sweets and... So this wasn't a situation because your sons, I'm not sure which one actually pressed the button. They famously once ordered Legos through Amazon on their own somehow through some sort of one-click ordering. It was amazing. Yes, they have incredible iPad skills

and somehow ordered a I guess sort of a non-registered kind of no longer sold Ghostbusters Haunted House that cost $470.70. And it showed up at our house, and we were totally stunned. They almost pulled it off. They almost did it. Is Luke the ringleader with the iPad, or are they equal parts like criminal masterminds? It's an ebb and flow scenario.

Very interesting. All right, Mark, well, you do your dad thing. Thank you. Prioritized family over the podcast again. For the final eight minutes of their being awake today, I will suddenly be in the picture. All right, bye, Mark. Well, all right, before we get to the last game, I have a question, Greg.

Wow, I'm waiting to hear this one. Was it a comeback? Is that the question? That's with Mark. No, I got no bits with you in the comeback realm. Want to save big? Love to. Well, over 300 million smart and thrifty shoppers have discovered Wish, the mobile mall app that connects you to thousands of...

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If you like the product, use it. We support it. Let's move to Sunday night football. Oh, Sunday night. Ben and the shotgun stands in his end zone with two protectors. He's back. He waits. He fires down the field and it's caught in a dead run.

That is Jiu-Jew Smith-Suster foot race. 35, 30, 25, 20, 15, 10. Pittsburgh Steelers touchdown. 98 yards. Officially 97 yards. Ju-Jew-Smith Schuster with the play of the game, his touchdown in the third quarter gave the Pittsburgh Steelers all the points they would need on Sunday in Detroit,

a 20 to 15 win over the lines who just have to be sick in the locker room right now, Greg Rosenthal, because they had five opportunities in the red zone against the Steelers tonight in their building in a very important game in Scors. score zero, count them zero touchdowns. They had 482 yards in this game. When you see a number like that, you're thinking a team's in the 30s, maybe the 40s.

You only end up with 15 points. That's the third most yards by an offense in NFL history without a touchdown. And this dying season would be so different if they could pick up a second at one or a third in one. This is not a one game problem. This has been a season-long problem. they'd have two or three more wins if they could do it. Oh, my goodness.

I mean, Matthew Stafford, he's now done this twice in his career, which is insane. He's thrown for 400 yards and not a touchdown. 423 yards. He averaged 9.4 yards per attempt. He did not throw an interception. Drop some dimes tonight, some very nice passes. He was certainly not the problem. But, you know, and the thing I was thinking, Greg, and we talked about while we were watching this game,

you could point to any of those red zone possessions that were kind of a mess. and the one I'll go with here is the last one where they had a chance to take the lead late in the fourth quarter it's first in 10 from I believe either 11 or 12 and they get it down inside the five and then it's third down and then it's fourth down and you're looking at that roster and you're saying all right who's going to step up and make the play

they have some nice players on that roster skill players but there's nobody that I really trust in that spot and as much as the running game's a problem to me, a true lack of a number one receiver, that's a big issue too. That's a huge problem. Our friend, Kevin Patra, you know, famous Lions fan, he says they lost because Jim Bob called a horrific game in the Red Zone. I think that's part of it, but a lot of it is they can't run the ball straight ahead

to pick up a yard or two, and you just need to be able to do that as a team. And you've got to give some love to the Steelers. For instance, on that last fourth down, they only rushed three. and Shazir, I believe it was rushing up the middle and DePri on the left side made Stafford get rid of the ball when you're dropping eight like that the best you're hoping for is just to waste a lot of time

and kind of improvised and someone gets open late and they made sure that didn't happen. So on a bad day in theory for the Steelers defense, they made all the big plays. And there's been some talk out there that perhaps the Steelers are too reliant

on their two big playmakers Antonio Brown and Levyon Bell. So consider this a good sign that not a great Lev Bell game who had 27 more touches but didn't really do much did score a touchdown. But Juju Smith-Schuster, the guy just seems to be

in the middle of everything. And you know Martavis Bryant in this game is sick. Watching Juju go for 97 yards and a touchdown and then I have a whole choreographed act on the sideline, which I loved with putting the chain on the bike and having fun all the teammates. He locked it up! He locked it up in a big spot.

I mean, J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-Smith Schuster locked it up. First ever. He sure did. So, J-Ju-J-J-J-Mis-Suster going seven for 193-1. How about that? So a big win for the steel. He almost doubled his total yardage for the season. It feels like J-Ju-Smiths Schuster's been everywhere

because we were, you know, he's got a lot of run here with this bike routine, with the Martavis Bryant back and forth. It's like, Juju-Smiths Schuster. It's all about him right now in Pittsburgh. And he only had about 200 yards going into this game. He's a fun player to watch. And, Anthony, Brown, you know, that's getting at him, too.

He's like, how come my bits aren't getting traction like that? And one last note from me, Greg, I had a legitimate cessler. Sometimes we joke around on the show about having cesslers or we don't actually have. I had a legitimate cessler, a vision even, of Ju-Jew Smith-Schuster, that first Sunday in February in Minneapolis, right in that now famous bike on the field with confetti everywhere. and his teammates all wearing white t-shirts and caps. Wow. And all the NFL film crew following Juju on his bike. After, of course, he has a nice game there, two scores the touchdown,

and a Steelers Super Bowl win. Just the Sessler had. Weird. Checks out for me. You've been telling me all season, oh, well, why even play out the season? The Patriots will end up there. Well, I had the Steelers in the Super Bowl going into this season. And their previous two games, I thought, were the most impressive two games by any

AFC team all season, back to back, and they're not going to be that good every week. In the end, they get a road win here to put them at six and two. They're in a great, great position right now in the AFC. I didn't believe it until I have that vision. Yeah, now you're on board. All right. That's it for the Sunday edition of the Around the NFL podcast. We'll be back on Tuesday with our next show.

And as we teased or revealed in our mailbag last Tuesday, we are going to stick a fork in some teams. And that's going to be tough, Greg. It's not going to be, I know you're not looking forward to it because it's a tough assignment, especially in a strange topsy-turvy season such as this. Well, I'm all about, you know, unpredictability raining, you know, that you never count out anything. I'm not counting out this Lions team just because they're three and four. All right, I like it. So Mark will be back.

Connie Fox will be with us and we'll have a good time. So thank you to everybody for listening. That is it for today's show. And with that, this is Dan Hansa, signing off for Mark Selle. The Sizzler in absentia. The old boss, Lindsay Fulton, behind the glass. We will see you Tuesday. Hey everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here.

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