NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 2019 Week 10 Recap

Episode Date: November 11, 2019

A room filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Chris Wesseling, Marc Sessler and Gregg Rosenthal recap every game of week 10. The Ravens stomped over the Bengals (9:02), the Packers held on to the final play against the Panthers (22:54) and the Dolphins...won again. (55:22). As always, the heroes recap the Sunday Night Football game where Kirk Cousins showed up in prime time. (69:44)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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presented by the United States Marine Corps. My name is Dan Hansis. I'm joined in a room. It's just filled with heroes, Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal. What is up, boys? Hey, Dan. That feels like a ripe intro that I could take to human resources and file some sort of a complaint. I'm not sure what it would be or why it would be necessarily a home run complaint, but I think I could find a way.

What was that, Mark? Oh, yeah. What is that new sound bite? I don't like it at all. All right, bye. You know, then we're celebrate, Mark, I'm not speaking again. I've never had heard a sound drop on her show that made me want to take a shower more than that.

Oh, yeah. We're celebrating the veterans of this country. Oh, yeah. We are, Mark. And so it's fitting that many, many a battle today on Sunday, week 10. A great Sunday of action. Wasn't it, Mark? Oh, yeah.

We really, if you want to go home, Mark, we're covered. Actually, this may be the best thing that's ever happened. to me. No, a lot of great games today, Sunday. We had, and we were able to really key in on them as a group because there were less games because of the six teams on by. So we, a lot to get to. And it was, again, one of those weeks where just when you think you have things figured

out, there's some curveballs like what happened at the Superdome today. And also all the one in seven teams won, like every one of them. So, you know, the NFL, it's unpredictable. How about that? for a catchphrase. I have to pick up some new catchphrase. That's almost like any given Sunday. Anything can happen.

Did you come up with that? Just now. That's good. That is good. Anyway, any given Sunday, anything can happen. And we saw that again. So we're going to go through each of the Sunday games, capping it with the showdown in Big D, the Vikings and Cowboys.

But let's start with what I believe was the highest scoring game of week 10 so far. and a game that came with a shocking ending of its own. Let's go to Nashville. Canna Hill, looking, looking, firing over the middle of course. Humphreys 5. Humphreys end zone. Touchdown Titans. Touchdown Titans.

Touchdown Titans. Adam Humphreys, 23 yards. And the Titans lead with 23 ticks remaining. Titans fans always upset. You never give us love. You're always, you know, keeping us down. Well, now you're leading the show. So you enjoy it.

Mike Keith with the call. Titans Radio Network. Ryan Tannahill, 23-yard strike to Adam Humphreys with 23 seconds to play. And then Joshua Kalu blocked the last second field goal attempt. The Titans beat the Chiefs, 3532. In Patrick Mahomes' return to the lineup, Greg Mahomes was excellent. As always, in his return. but a Chief's defense, we were just singing

Ozana's over a week ago. You know, they landed on the wrong side of the Tannascale. They did. Tanna Hill has come in and he hasn't played that great, but he's had a knack for making big plays in the big moments. That's three game-winning drives in four starts. And the two most memorable plays, I think the Titans had on offense, was him trucking some Chiefs defensive backs,

one on a scramble on third and long, which set up a score. and then another on the two-point conversion. And yet, I don't take too many negatives away from this Chief's performance. A lot of crazy things happen, but especially on special teams, where Bucker missed an extra point, which is the reason that they were trailing three late, because they went for two.

They were only up one late. They had the field goal block, of course, that ended the game. And they should have been up eight with a minute and a half to go, and they snapped the ball before their holder was, ready and they got the first ever intentional grounding on a holder, Dustin Colquitt, with about a minute 40 to go that I've ever seen in my entire life, which set up the Titans game winning touchdown. So the Chiefs offense- Oh, fluky, it sounds like. I don't know if it was, it was fluky, yes. I think the Chief's offense is so good. I'm not concerned about the long-term,

but the Titans did a great job after halftime finding a way to win this game. Be concerned about one thing, though, because you now have four losses as the Chiefs. And you're in a conference that It looked a little wacky a couple weeks ago, but the Ravens are surging with two losses, Texans with three. You're falling out of that spot to get a buy if you keep up these fluky performance. And that's what, when they managed with Matt Moore

to beat the Vikings last week, it felt like such an important win to them because this is a team that does need to go 11 and 5 or 12 and 4 and get themselves set up for January football. And yet, dropping this game, and it's no sin to lose on the road against a capable team like the Titans are. aren't a great team, but they've showed fight almost every week this season, especially since

Town Hall got in the lineup. But at a certain point, you need to get on a run, and at six and four, their chances of getting a buy. Even the division you can't just hand it to, and they're only one game ahead of the Raiders now. Yeah, and on the other side, the Titans, I mean, look what the Colts are doing in that division the last two weeks. The Texans are in first place, but have the Ravens and Patriots in two of the next three weeks, so you can't rule out the Titans. Well, plus the wildcard spot, you know, we'll get to the bills later, but both of the wildcard spots are going to be wide open. The Titans, we shouldn't be too surprised, find a way to get a win to get to five and five, which is just what the Titans do. And I do give them credit for in the second half. It's a trend.

Derek Henry gets rolling. I mean, the Chiefs are a team I trust because they throw the ball so well, and Mahomes was awesome today. He missed one throw early where it would have gone to Tyree kill to make it 17-0. They had at one point, I think, really half-time, it was 14. 31 plays for the Chiefs to 18 for the Titans. And this could have been a walk early. Mahomes missed that throw, but he didn't miss many. And most of the times they were stopped were because of Tyree Kill or Sammy Watkins drops

or kind of unforced errors. But when the Titans got the ball late, they found a way to make big plays. Tanna Hill had a pretty throw to Cleave Raymond, and Henry especially down the stretch, ran all over the Chiefs. And the Chief's run defense is a problem. Their past defense is pretty good,

but their run defense is a problem, and they also lost Emmanuel Agba in this game to a torn pectoral, and he's been good. 225 yards on the ground at 8.7 yards per carrier. You get these Derek Henry games every once in a while where he had nearly 200 on his own, where he explodes and the Titans' offense looks completely different. But they had some big...

I feel like every time you looked up, Tannahill was connecting with targets on big plays, which has been totally absent for chunks of Tennessee season. Oh, yeah. They are amorph... That is becoming slightly annoying. Did you just agree with yourself? And so much for Patrick Holmes being eased back into action,

not that anybody speculated that would happen, but 36 out of 50 for 446. So he was out there slinging it. It felt like it could have been more. Like the Titans had no answer. He looked awesome. And yet he still didn't look 100%. They rolled him out and he was on the move a number of times.

He was hesitant to run. I don't think he scrambled the entire game. And he was in Romo commented on it. He seemed like he was moving at about. 80%. And yet, he had so many crazy throws, including, you know, a jump pass to McCall Hardman that ended up being a 63-yard touchdown. It's just one of the most ridiculous plays I've ever seen. I know Mitchell Schwartz missed some time with a knee injury, and it was the first snaps he's missed in seven and a half years. He has been a total rock in Cleveland first, but now with the Chiefs.

One of the reasons they lost this game is, is their line, the Chiefs, that is, was really banged up. At one point when Schwartz was out, they were down four offensive linemen. if they had one more injury, they wouldn't have had anyone left to put in. And Mahomes was pressured quite a bit by Harold Landry. Confirming what you said, there was no credited rushing attempt by Mahomes. And also, Tyrig Hill targeted 19 times in this game.

He finished for 11 for 157 and a touchdown. So, yes, a tough loss for the Chiefs. They're six and four. That was their first loss away from Arrowhead Stadium. I think we all feel like they're still going to be okay, but they've got to get out of winning streak. let us move on Jackson will keep it on the read option he's got it for 40 35 spins at the 30 he's got room 20 Lamar jackson 10 five touchdown ravens Lamar jackson with the spin the

sprint and the score I mean that's Michael vick in 2004 that play this is unbelievable Jerry Sandusky and Dennis Dennis Pitta of WBAL with the call Jared Johnson's also on that team I don't want to speculate that was Pitta with the second voice that came in. So let's say Johnson could have been there as well done. Lamar Jackson rules the world, the dual threat QB. He threw three touchdowns. And then that 47-yard Madden-like touchdown run,

Vic-like, if you want to hear it from Pitta and or Johnson. The Ravens roll up the bangles, 49-13. The Ravens are now 7-2. they have the looks of an emerging emerging juggernaut mark my goodness I mean I think the play is Jackson-like it's not the Michael Vic is a fine comparison

in terms of athletic ability but he's his own guy and he's doing things that it reminds me when I was young and you saw Steve Young rumble against the Vikings on that one run that they've played four billion times since they're going to do that with this and there are kids watching this that are going to want to go out

and play football after school and do the same thing and they show They slowed that down and showed him escaping five would-be Bengals tacklers in the course of like 20-something yards. I mean, it's every game he's doing this because he's MVP-worthy. He's the most exciting player next to Patrick Mahomes in the entire league right now. And the Ravens are the team that found a way to form an offense around him that has opponents totally beguiled. The Bengals played this team not that long ago. They appear to have learned literally nothing.

from that game. And I almost can't blame them because they just have no way to stop what Lamar Jackson's doing. And it was through the air too. And we mentioned this on our sky hit that they used their tight ends, Mark Andrews, Nick Boyle and Haydenhurst from wire to wire. And it was a gronk-like stat line between all three of them, 12 catches, 151 yards and two touchdowns. But they made it so clear to Cincinnati right out of the gate, we are going to attack you with these three guys. Figure out a way to stop it. Cincinnati, we get that their punch list. could do literally nothing. And Cincinnati's rolling out, Ryan Finley, first start, to me, looked a little bit

like an Andy Dalton-esque type passer. He wasn't bad or good necessarily. I don't think it has any... It sounds like Dalton. Well, it makes no statement that Andy Dalton should honestly be benched. I think Dalton could have done more in this game, but he couldn't... The Bengals just have so many issues. There's such a wide gap between...

They were so overwhelmed out of the gate, and it was just... Honestly, it's one of the first times I watched the Bengals and just literally felt bad for the entire franchise. Wes, when we were talking about Lamar Jackson entering this season, obviously the talk was we know he's an explosive athlete, but can he become an effective passer? This is another performance where it's like he is doing it all. 15 of 17 for 223. He's averaging 13 yards attempt in this game, an attempt in this game. Three touchdowns, no picks, a perfect passer rating.

He is to me right now, you know, now he's the MVP, as this is such a great race this year. Because what he's doing is just no one can stop him. He's unstoppable. I totally agree. And the reason he's in the MVP race is because I think he does more than other quarterbacks. Like as far as carrying the team, the identity runs through him. Nobody is like him.

He's just that special kind of guy. On the other hand, I'm not going to judge Lamar Jackson's passing against a team like the Cincinnati Bengals. I just don't think it means anything. Sorry, real quick. There is one pass in this game where he throws a sidearm Mahomes-like throw. He is developing as a passer. Absolutely.

And I think having Hollywood Brown healthy is huge. I don't think Jackson's close to being where Russell Wilson is in the MVP in terms of being consistent every week, dominating. But he's getting there if he keeps this up. And the difference between him and Vic, and we said on this show, I thought he was the best running quarterback to enter the league since Vic. I think he's one of the best runners in the NFL. That's pretty obvious, even including the running back. The difference is Vic had Greg Knapp and Dan Reeves trying to run offense for him. They never built it around him, and they've built this around Lamar Jackson,

and he is bawling, it is a joy. 49 points, by the way, in three quarters. They shut it down. They brought in RG3. They could have put up a 60 burger if they wanted to. Yep, and their trade for Marcus Peters is working very, very well. He had a pick six today that essentially set the game on fire early. Good team stay good, bad team stay bad.

When you see what's happening with Marcus Peters and the Ravens and their selection and development, of their quarterback and what the Steelers have done with Micah Fitzpatrick, which we'll get to later when people doubted them at first. Good organizations usually make good decisions and you see it bear out. When I left the Bengals in the 1990s, it was for reasons like a stubbornness, a stubbornness to haul your franchise into modern times and accept the reality that this is how the NFL works. And their behavior at the trade deadline reminded me of that. Just a staunch refusal to admit that you need to unload guys like Carlos Dunlap and AJ Green and Andy Dalton and get what you can

for them because the rest of your roster is not going to be ready to win anytime soon. All right. Let's move on. In fact, now it's time for the road to victory presented by the United States Marine Corps. Back is gone. He has time. He throws the ball down the field. Interceptive. Minka has it. And that's your bow game. to Fitzpatrick with his fifth ausky of the year, and that seals the deal. Tipped by Joe Hayden. Tip by Joe Hayden.

Bill Hillgrove, Tunch Ilkin of the Steelers Radio Network. This Steelers D is ferocious. Mike Tomlin's D forced four turnovers, including Minka Fitzpatrick's game icing interception late in the fourth, lifting Pittsburgh to a 17-12 win over the Rams at Heinz Field. Total team effort here on the defensive side of the ball. huge games, T.J. Watt, Joe Hayden.

But Wes, let the takes touting Minka Fitzpatrick as the defensive player of the year begin, because he has been a monster for them. This was a total team effort on the defensive side of the ball. T.J. Watt and Bud Dupree bringing heat off the edge like they have all year. Cameron Hayward shoving people into the passer, taking double teams to allow those linebackers to make plays. And then Joe Hayden and Mika Fitzpatrick in the secondary. Hayden had five passes defense.

at least three diving, and it was a joy to watch a player selling out to that degree on every play. Mink of Fitzpatrick, you see his instincts, and it's not often that you can see a player's instincts on the field. You watch the film, you know their tendencies, and then as the play starts, you see that player starting to drift where it should be, and you eliminate more and more options with every split section second that comes. He eliminates those options and is where he's supposed to be as much as any safety in the game. He's just always where the ball is going to be. And you see it. And in a year without a defensive player of the year, when you're getting a takeaway every week, I think you have to be in the conversation. So should TJ Watt, who had a big

force fumble late in this game. It's funny, every year of the Tomlin era, I think it's the year that the defense is finally going to kind of step up and play to the level of their talent and help them, you know, get to a Super Bowl. They were my Super Bowl pick going into this season, which, you know, if they had more of an offense, who knows, the fact that they've turned the ball over this many times. On one level, you can't expect it to continue

forever, but it could, the whole season. It's a little like the Bears a year ago, but they have so many playmakers. Here's how many times they've turned the ball over since week three. Five, two, three, three, four, and today was another four. That's how many they've forced every week. That is

outrageous. Wow. And wait it DVOA, which factors in recent play, more than September play, they are right behind Patriots and 49ers in defense. And speaking of awards, I'm awards crazy right now, but Mike Tomlin deserves to be in this conversation now for coach of the year because this is an 0 and 3 team left for dead. They've now won five of six. And Wes, on Thursday, you said that you were going to look at Mason Rudolph a little bit differently, not at least give him a chance to develop. And while he is, and you look at a stat line and they obviously didn't light it up with 17 points, maybe it's okay where he is right now in the sense that he's protected the ball today,

he made enough plays, and then let the defense win the game. That could work. Well, let's change that 17 points to eight points because he gave two back on a safety and the defense scored seven. So the offense really wasn't good. Today was a day where the rest of the offense was as bad as the quarterback. The receivers dropped too many passes. The running backs don't make anyone miss because James Connor is injured, of course, and Benny Snelly, even the number two is injured. Rudolph also is like one play away from disaster all the time, which is why you see some of the play calling they do.

He's going to cost them. They can't continue to get this lucky. The best stick in his bag, his number one play, is backpedal away from pressure, throw as you're getting hit, and pray that somehow it's a defensive pass interference or your receiver catches it. You were looking for some Rudolph, love, you didn't get. Well, I would only say that because I thought. You thought you said you were going to try to see the good in him, but you still don't see anything, apparently.

What I'm saying is he wasn't so bad that he had his defense over a barrel, like the whole offense did, not just the quarterback. This, I think, was the most discouraging game of the season for the Rams. I obviously want to watch it closer, but if you're a fan of the Rams and you were hoping that the buy week could somehow help them figure out some things offensively to come back out and go one for 14 on third down to get the ball so many times in this game and golf to three. throw two interceptions, four turnovers total, and you score 12 points. Now you're looking at a Rams team with the schedule that they have and, you know, they've got a pretty uphill climb to make the playoffs. I struggle to believe in their fate this season. And it's, you know, you can't ask teams just to continue to be the same thing. They've got a totally different situation with Gurley and it running back. And I know he wasn't a disaster today, but Jared Goff, two picks,

no touchdowns. And you watched it, they ran into a buzzsaw on defense, but the Rams. of old would have found a way to put up points and get around Pittsburgh today. They don't have any juice. I totally agree with you. I mean, they're one and done in the playoffs that they even get there, I think. It's incredible. Cooper Cup was shut out in this game on four targets.

We know Brandon Cooks is out with the concussion. Like you said, we know what's going on with the running backs. And also, don't sleep on again. Their offensive line is just not doing the job anymore. And got an injury during the game. They lost their center during the game. So it just keeps on getting worse for them on offense, and you just wonder if this is something

doesn't get fixed until the offseason. They got 15 drives today. That's an outrageous number, which also shows how poor the Steelers' offense was. They basically got 10 points and 15 drives. And almost none of them, you know, did they get multiple first downs? I mean, credit the Steelers' defense, for sure.

It's not like they'd get stopped that badly unless they were playing a great defense. But that's outrageous. Sam Farmer had a great line on Twitter. You know, the Steelers brought back one of their old Super Bowl teams and the Rams brought out their Super Bowl offense. today, like 15 drives and a couple points. To put a point on how this Steelers' offense has played this year,

they rank between the Bengals and the Bears in drive success rate this year. That's where they're at. The Mitch Trubisky Bears and the winless Bengals is where their offense is. And there was a two-play sequence late in the game. Mason Rudolph made probably his best throw the day. Tight window throw in the red zone to Juju. Look like they're going to set up a field goal. The next play, he keeps backpedaling and backpedaling.

and tries to hold himself from throwing into last minute, it squeezes out of his hand. He's lucky it's rolled an incomplete pass. Could have been a fumble, and it might have lost the game for him. So it's just you never know what you're going to get from down to now. I'll just say, and I am not going to be on Mason Rudolph Corner. But on that same possession you're referring to,

I believe he went six of seven. He took them into field goal range. They took the field goal, which was a big deal because it made it a six-point game or a five-point game. So he is obviously not the answer or the solution for them, but he's not throwing the game away. He's got them in the six seed right now. Now, he doesn't.

I didn't even say that. But they are in the six seat, is what I should say. I'm glad you brought that up, Dan. To be fair to him, it was his best, maybe his best successive drive of the day as far as passing he was hitting. But my point is, he came within a split second throwing the game away.

So, like, he's lucky he didn't throw the game away. He's like a solid C-minus bordering towards C. Do we need him to be something? Thursday night football. That's what you're giving him for the year? Mason Rudolph, C-minus? No, I think that's, that is way too generous. I don't know.

I mean, we loop back the Thursday tape of Wes opening his mind to Mason Rudolph. His mind is closed. No, he can improve. He has that ability. I would not point to today's game as some like, well, 273 yards of offense, West. So you're right.

They're not doing it on offense. They're doing it on D. And we'll talk about them more as the week goes on. That was the road to. Victory presented by the United States Marine Corps. Let's move on. Here's the snap hit to McCaffrey. He's hit.

He drives forward to the goal line and is he in? That's the question. The officials are marking no. They are saying no. He's not in. Time has wound down. The Packers have hung on. Nice call there by Wayne Lara.

Turn this up in my headphones. I just always think of the natives taking the girl and tiring up for Kahn as a sacrifice. I'll say what I said last week. It just reminds me of like low-budget cop dramas. Was that Faye Ray? Yes. That's going back to the funny.

It's highly evocative. Why are we not? Because I only hear this for a minute each week. Why am I not playing this on loop in my? My house. Forget highly evocative. It's highly erotic. Okay.

All right. Greg takes it to a different direction. All right. Let's get into a Christian McCaffrey stuffed at the goal line. A crushing end to a Marathon Panthers March that produced nothing in the Packers' 24 to 16 win at snowy Lambeau field. What a vibe at Lambo. What a mood, as the kids say. Kyle Allen, let turn this up in my ear.

It's saxophone. Now Greg's right All right, anyway You can turn this down for now Go, Eddie, oh Kyle Allen led the Panthers Listen to this guys 18 plays 88 yards

On that final drive But McCaffrey stopped in his tracks A replay review confirms That he did not make it to the goal line So in a game in which the Panthers Outgained the Packers And Aaron Rogers was held Without a touchdown pass

Green Bay still found away Good teams often do I was impressed by the secondary figures of the Packers' offense. Even though the numbers don't show it, like Alan Lazard made a great play. Jake Kumero made a great play. I thought it was very telling that Rogers told Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, those guys are going to be playing more down the stretch. And to me, that is going to be at the expense of Valdez Scantling and Geronimo Allison

because it has to be at the expense of someone. And it was also echoed by Matt LaFleur. on the same page. It wasn't an amazing performance by, you know, the Packers' offense, but they got the job done. And they did run the ball really well when they needed to in the second half, which is big when it's snowy and you've got a lead and you want to finish that game out. I thought that they ate up, they ate up Carolina on the ground in that second half to say they were powerful the way that they ran the ball. I wanted Carolina on that final immense drive that you mentioned, Dan, to target Christian McCaffrey more. And I know that it's not

the easiest thing because Kyle Allen was under duress. They were struggling to protect. Green Bay's, Green Bay, you know, they've been quiet on defense. They made it real tough on Kyle Allen. But there were just, there were too many lobs into the end zone and flings down field. We're getting Christian McCaffrey open in space at some point on that drive, I think would have been effective. Came so close. So close. They got to the one. And McCaffrey does what McCaffrey does, which goes off for about 140 total yards and a touchdown. And I thought with Kyle Allen, that was an interesting performance.

And it was a Joe and Troy game for Fox. And Aikman at one point, Greg said, and I think we both kind of chuckled at it because it was kind of a strange thing to say, but it also made sense that about midway through the fourth quarter, he's like, yeah, other than those two turnovers, Kyle Allen's played a really good game. Well, you can't really kind of take out the turnovers and say he's had a good game. But he really kind of did. he threw a bad interception in the red zone

that really killed him, as you could tell by the final score. He lost the fumble, but otherwise, he did a nice job in tough conditions against the good team. Especially when, as we mentioned, he wasn't getting protected. Well, I don't quite get the Allen,

I don't know if hates the right word, but criticism and lack of belief that I hear, you know, especially even from Panthers fan, Josh Norris, who I like a lot of road world, like they think it's first read or nothing for him. And I see a lot of, good throws for a guy who's only started six or seven games. He's kept the offense very functional.

Even in a game where they were down two scores, we thought this game was over, and he gets them to within a yard of going for the two and trying to get into overtime. And it comes on a day when Ian Rappaport noted this morning that it is highly unlikely that the Panthers will keep Cam Newton. And noted the trade, a trade is the most likely route to ejector seat him out of the building.

That's a fascinating off-season subplot. I mean, the newsroom is going to go off when Cam Newton is traded somewhere. See, here's the thing. To the Denver Broncos. I guess I don't. Who is trading him? Who is trading for him? Who is trading him that works for the Panthers?

Maybe it's the owner. And I'm not going to guess sources. But here's the thing. We don't know who the GM or the coach is going to be next year. So unless ownership has decided, which is very possible, I mean, these things happen, But unless ownership's decided that they don't want Cam, how can we know unless the GM or it's the current people in power and that could change if they're going to remove?

Maybe the expectation is since they're playing so well under Rivera and Marty Herney's on a pretty good job in his second time around that this group will be the team next year. Well, I think it would be the owner, right? Yeah, I agree. This is not the man who drafted Cam Newton. There's not those type of deep ties. I think Tepper, this guy's...

You know why your owner making quarterback. That's a bit concerning. Well, the owner, he's the boss. And if he's a guy that wants to put his stamp on the team and he's ready to make a change and he feels like he won't be killed for it because owners, they go with the wind on that as well, I could see him doing it.

But let's slow down on firing Ron Rivera, please. Right, maybe that's the thing is that they fully anticipate this will be the same group. What are you going to say, Wes? Considering the market in which he plays and his status as a superstar and a marquee attraction, a trade like that, the owner, it would start with the owner. Yep.

Well, they have to get approval on it. I mean, you ideally don't want them making decisions. We're ahead of the game here. He would be eminently tradable, and I get it. I don't know if they have... It's a great storyline in the offseason. We need these storylines. We crave them.

Aaron Jones, by the way, is on pace for what, the sneakiest 20 touchdown season we've ever seen? He's so explosive. That's what I took away watching this game. Even when they're not firing on all cylinders, You get a 48-yard, you know, play to Jimmy Graham, which was great- What year is this? Great coaching.

You get a- You have that- Defenders out there? No, I just, it was a good play call, good execution. You get the 38-yard play to Devante Adams when they were backed up against their own goal line, and they're in the end zone three plays later. Aaron Jones is obviously very explosive. This offense, even when they're not always getting first downs,

they feel like they're always an explosive play away, like a great Aaron Rogers throw. happens three or four times a game. And they talked about the fact that Aaron Jones had a pot belly at some stage last year. And there were questions about his, Aaron Rogers teased him. And I mean, the running back position is the one where if you go and spend four months changing your body, your year is going to be completely different. And that's how it's looked. And I will say one thing.

We all love these snow games. That Packers crowd was one of the best crowds all year. And they kept noting how loud they were, how immense, how raucous they made it, and how tough they made it on the Panthers. was one of the more impressive touchdown drives you'll see all year they were backed up second and 21 with Rogers taking the snap and backing into the end zone and in legitimately less than like five minutes of real time they were in the opposite end zone and the other point I want to make is Aaron Jones as Wes alludes to he's on a tremendous touchdown pace he had three today

which I can guarantee you means he ain't touching he ain't going near the goal line because Aaron going to get his TD next week and the week after that. I love this. Buckle up. Cooked up narrative. Fantasy owners, beware. Aaron Jones, he ain't getting the ball near the goal line. Play action for the win.

Any other points? Why go anywhere else up to that? Just close it out with that. Strong ending. All right, then let's move to the NFC South. We got one of the biggest upsets of the season. In fact, I think the desert said this was the biggest upset of the season.

Ryan in the gun. Ryan back up in the pocket. Throws, backside Hill. Open, diving and scoring in the pylon. And the Atlanta touchdown for Brian Hill. The last guy in the package. Haven't heard much from West Durham this year over at the Falcons Radio Network

because Atlanta stinks, but not on Sunday. Matt Ryan throws two touchdown passes and that Falcon's six-game losing streak, it's over. He 26-9 win over the Saints at the Superdome that ended the Saints' six-game winning streak. This is a bitter rivalry, and you just assumed that a Saints team

that has, you know, Super Bowl written all over it, potentially would just stop on a downtrod in Falcons team. It just didn't work out that way. Wes, it was the Falcons defense, too, that whipped up on a team, a Saints team that had Alvin Kamara, had Drew Brees, then it didn't matter. How?

It was interesting to see a big rivalry game like this, both teams coming out of their bye week, and you would have thought that the Falcons were the 7-1 team and the Saints were the 1-and-7 team. For the first time all year, the Falcons had a ball-control keep-away offense. I don't know where they got it. I don't know where it came from.

I don't know where they got it. Devonta Freeman wasn't really making people miss, but he was moving the chains until he got injured. And then they went to Brian. Hill who moved the chains. Matt Ryan, playing on a gimpy ankle a couple of times, moved the chains on third down. Marshawn Lattimore had a thigh injury. Julio Jones didn't have a catch before that injury.

He went out. He went out and then Julio kind of went off for a while for some big catches. But this was a checklist of things that had to happen for the Saints to lose and a roughing the punter penalty for illegal hands-to-face penalties, which I've never seen before in one game. Four, and they were all legit. Drew Breeze's accuracy was off on easy throws. You don't see that often. Alvin Camara, a non-factor behind Latavius Murray.

A much bigger advantage for Falcons on third and fourth downs. They sign Youngwey Koo, given Michael Vick's uniform number, and he drills four field goals. Of course. Here's the biggest story of the game, though, to me. The Falcons enter this game with seven sacks on the season from their defense. The Saints had given up 12 sacks on the season. And the Falcons got Breeze for six sacks, which tied his career high for most sacks taken in a game. And Greg pointed out with our Sky Sports hit that Jeff Olbrick is calling the plays now.

I didn't put much stock into it because every third game, Dan Quinn gives up play calling, it seems to me. So I don't even know when he's calling play. Apparently, yeah, Obrick's done it before a little, but now it's a shake-up, yeah. Yeah, it worked. I mean, I didn't watch closely enough to see if they were running stunts or why the Saints couldn't all of a sudden block. but Drew Brees isn't nearly as nimble in the pocket as he used to be. He couldn't get out of a way of some pressure that he used to get out of the way of. And the Saints just couldn't get anything going.

Even late in the fourth quarter when, you know, they were just turning it over on downs a couple of times in a row. So was this a bad week or did you see some legitimate flaws here that there's something other teams can pick at? I've been on this since late Thanksgiving of last year that the Saints offense is just limited in how far they can go down the field, how much of the field they can use because of Breeze's arm. But you also have a situation where if Alvin Camar isn't 100% and Trey Kwan Smith and Tegin are dropping passes, who else is out there for your offense outside of Michael Thomas, which is why he has another great game,

becomes the quickest in history to 400 receptions. But, you know, Jared Cook had a few nice catches. There were also a few borderline balls he might have caught late in the fourth quarter that he didn't. So I think they're still looking for that, like, third guy to stay. step up outside of Camara and Michael Thomas. There were light chants for Teddy. That's wild. Who are the idiots that are chanting for your reason to be fed?

I said light because I think it probably was a flock of idiots to sell. You know what? I just came up with a theory. This is probably totally wrong than someone could prove it. Maybe it was the Falcons fans there doing a little mocking. I want to put it past them. That is a great rivalry. That's Maccabellian.

I like. Because there were a little section of Falcons fans there. I noticed at one point that they got quickly booed. And it is such a cliche. You throw the records out when these two teams play. And I'm thinking, no, not really. Like, the Saints have been better the last couple of years, and they've beaten the Falcons like a drum,

especially in New Orleans. But I don't know, there's something to it. You're kind of happy for Dan Quinn. Falcons, their team website, you know, not the most unbiased group in the world. But they said it's one of the great defining wins of the Dan Quinn era. And, you know, in a season where everything is this terrible,

it does have to feel great for the Falcons to be sending out these little trolling tweets and they go and they put one on the seven and one scenes. Put it this way, Wes. It's one week. Expectations have been recalibrated in Atlanta. It used to be they were trying to win a Super Bowl. Now they'll settle for this.

Right, because it's defining also because if the score were flip-flopped in Atlanta were going home down 26 to 9, Dan Quinn may not be working there a few days from now. I'd be a little worried. You're absolutely right. And this should keep it, you know, going for the rest of the year.

What's the point of firing a mid-season? Six sacks and a 10. team that doesn't throw the ball down the field is a troubling combo. He was only sacks 17 times all of last season. And in the game against the Cardinals, their offense was great with Drew Bree's back. But he only threw, I think, two passes that traveled more than 10 yards in that game to West's point, and it was working. At some point,

they will have to open it up a little bit. I don't want to make this all on the Saints. Grady Jarrett, who was legitimately in the run for an all-pro in a year with Aaron Donald and Clay as Campbell, had another two and a half sacks, and has been phenomenal all year. year. Just to point out, and this is my favorite example of pointing out the rivalry and the intense dislike between Falcons fans and Saints fans, after 283 happened Super Bowl 51, a couple weeks later was Mardi Gras. And the people of New Orleans created a 28 to 3 float to celebrate the loss

of the rival, a game that had nothing to do with the Saints that took place far, far away. They just, they love reveling in each other's misfortune. I mean, heck, they flashed a big thing at the stadium today in the fourth quarter when the Saints were down a couple touchdowns about 283, like a video montage or something about it. And, you know, that's not going to work with the Falcons got Youngway Koo wearing Michael Vicks number seven. Koo put that seven on and he said, I'm the baddest seven that's ever played for the Falcons. He had three field goals. This is the comeback player of the year, Wes. Put it at your column.

I like you, Hung Wicu. I'm happy you can't ice the kicker when he's already got ice in his veins, you know? Let's shoot over to the AFC. 53 to tie. Waiting on the snap. It's back. He's into it.

The kick is on the way. It doesn't look like it has enough. It's no good. No good. 17 seconds left to go. The brown sideline explodes. The stadium explodes. Did Doug Deacon?

the color guy for the Browns have money on the other team or something? He's like, oh no. Not that I know of. Are you breaking more news? Jim Donovan and Doug Deacon with a call for the Browns Radio Network Baker Mayfield.

He threw a seven-yard touchdown past to Richard Higgins with 144 to play. And then Bill's kicker, Stephen Houska, as you just heard, went wide left on a long field goal attempt in the final seconds.

The Browns escaped 1916, the win at the dog pound. Mark, That ends Cleveland's four-game losing streak. And thanks to that final Mayfield touchdown, quiets the talk of Cleveland's issues in the red zone. Well, I don't know if it quiets that talk because they were an absolute disaster in the red zone.

It would have been louder if he didn't get a lot. It would be a lot louder. A win does a lot. But they essentially, at one point in the game, in terms of their red zone issues, it was absolutely maddening. They had nine goal-to-go plays that resulted in zero yards.

But getting down into the red zone, they looked better than they have in a while. I thought that O'Dell Beckham got going. Jarvis Landry, who is a physical, tough receiver when he's on, played with an absolute fire inside of him today. I thought he really, he really, really wanted this game as much as I've seen from anyone on the Browns all year. Nick Chubb is an absolute bad man. I mean, the way he runs, I said it before, and I'm not trying to overstate it. There are moments where he has Jim Brown a look to him. He just runs with that kind of urgency.

But they got bottled up inside the 10. And I woke up thinking this thing was going to be a Brown's win because they confirmed this morning they changed the end zone stripes from these energy-stopping horizontal stripes to ones that are vertical. And I've been on this case since the beginning of the year, tweeting about it, annoying people relentlessly. You might be the reason they changed it. Well, I do think, I do think that there is, I do have it confirm that people inside the building are very aware and listening as a lot of teams are and struggling teams to various things that are out there.

And I think that they maybe did make a shift here based on a lot of people asking, agreeing that the horizontal stripes just looked weird and shrunk the end zone. Well, the vertical stripes are kinetic. They just look right. They allow it. They allow a lane into the end. It's an energy thing. And I think, you know, the way that they opened up the Browns today, I thought this is going to be the game. game where we're finally going to see what we've been waiting to see. And they played a great

defense, Buffalo in Buffalo, and they got bottled up. And I don't think it quiets really any concerns about what Cleveland overall, the way that they approach game after game, one uptick to have Kareem Hunt in there. I was thinking there's a world where Kareem Hunt has five touches for negative eight yards, and it's a complete mess. He made a big difference. And they decided not to start Antonio Calloway today. Part of that, is because Richard Higgins, who had the game-winning touchdown, was active and someone that they wanted to get involved. I also think it's because of the way that Kareem Hunt was used.

Out at wide receiver multiple times, a factor in the passing game, someone that's tough to cover if you're not going to put a cornerback on him. And he made a difference. He had a couple of big blocks and some tough runs, too. He looked ready. Well, he looked ready to play. Sounds like you're in, Mark. Oh, no, you know what?

They needed a guy like that. They absolutely did. On the whole thing. The Brown's got you excited right now. They have Pittsburgh on Thursday. Here's where they're at. Every week is you lose, you're out. You're basically, you're done.

You're cooked. They're cooked if you lose. So you're cooked if you lose. So they went and they saved the day today their season against Buffalo. And Wes and I got our locks. As you knew we would. We were not sure about the dog. To your point about the vertical stripes in the end zone,

why do you think I chose number 11 in basketball in fifth grade? Makes you look taller. There you go. There you go. So, yes, not a high-powered offense of showing. on either side in terms of yardage or anything. But the bills, 16 points again, Mark, and it looks like same old issues on their end

that their defense does a nice job and they got to goal line stands and they almost won the game outright at the end on a near turnover on a underhanded flip to Kareem Hunt that went sideways and that got brought back, which then led to the go-ahead Brown's touchdown. So they were close, but did you see the same issues

that have kind of led people to be not so bullish on the bills in general? Yes, yes, because I like Devin Singletary a lot, but he's kind of going to give you what he gave you today, which is 42 yards on the ground. Only eight attempts, though. Right, they never really got into their flow either. It was low scoring for a reason and looked that way.

And, you know, John Brown, every week he does something, every week he produces, every week Cole Beasley produces, but you don't have a superstar weapon here that can take over the game. Josh Allen, a couple scampers, very scary. And, like, he's going to do the same thing, too. He is going to kill you if you don't put someone on him in coverage. And he's got an incredibly strong arm, but the accuracy is there, too. To the point where, I mean, I like Josh Allen in terms of his athleticism,

but they have a lot to think about in the offseason because it would be tough for them to shift gears. But I don't know what the ceiling is for Josh Allen when we're this many games in and the same issues exist. Well, they're putting it on them almost like they want to see what has seen. feeling is they are extremely pass heavy and they have been throughout the year you would not think that the bills who have had a lot of leads or been in a lot of close games would be a team that's really relying on Josh Allen's arm but I think a lot of teams did what the Browns did today they try to stop the run they're worried about Josh Allen running and they dare Alan to beat

him and you have a lot of games like this week where Alan threw 41 passes right and for the most part that's you know amounted to a mediocre off that's leading 22 of them that that tells me that at this stage anyway, they still believe in him completely. In fact, they're waiting for him to make the leap. This isn't a team that's trying to hide their quarterback. I feel like that's when you're getting to the point where the organization might be ready to look in a different direction. I don't think they're there yet, but they're still, it's like when you bring in Blake Bortles on third day. They have seven games to play. If he, if he regresses over the rest of the season, perhaps, right now I still think they think he's the guy. It's not yet. It's not there

yet. I would say that you cannot, they are doomed if they are going to have kicker issues down the stretch. They're going to have to win games by one, two, three points, and Stephen Houska missed a 34-yarder along with that game winner. Well, the bills are six and three, and I think the Brown's at three and six should have some playoff, you know, just dreams. They got to win Thursday night. Partly because right now the Steelers are in that six spot. And if the bills are capable of collapsing entirely, you know, this is, you know, one of those years you certainly could see a nine-win team make the playoffs or who knows the raiders win on thursday and the titans win and the the browns beating the bills the cults keep losing it's punching the afc wildcard

picture is wide open but i think we're all in agreement if the browns only be taken seriously they got to win at home Thursday night absolutely or it's over we shall see let's move up fourth and seven triscoll stepping up triscoll steps out of a tackle run and left fires into the end zone Pass is incomplete. This time expires, but there is a flag. There we go. Offense. Fonging. Fingianne of the line of scrimmage.

Bears' defense holds 20 to 13. They snapped their four-game losing streak. Clearly, Jeff Janiak and Tom Thayer weren't watching the telecast because Jeff Driscoll marched about three and a half to four yards beyond the line of scrimmage before throwing

that final incompletion. It was very clear what that flag was going to be. Anyway, Club Dresckel is back in business. Mitch Trubisky tied a season high. Three touchdown passes. All three of those scores coming in a span of five passes late in the second quarter and early in the third quarter.

The Bears withstand a late charge by the Lions. They win. 20 to 13, the Bears do. Four-game losing streak is over for Chicago. Matt Nagy can sleep better knowing his offense showed a bit of a spark in this one, at least in that period that I'm referring. to three possessions, three touchdowns. Before that, the four previous possessions were just as bad as it was last week when they had,

what was it, seven yards in the first half of that loss. This time it was 21 yards in the first four possessions. And Soldier Field, again, restless and believing that it was time to get Chase Daniel on the field. Think about that in terms of darkness. And then the game shifted on that last position. possession of the first half, a 80-yard drive, 10 plays, and it ends with a really nice Trubisky touchdown pass to the tight end. So that got them going, and then they were able to

sustain that in the third quarter. They kind of disappear again down the stretch, and the lions with Jeff Driscoll starting in place of Matt Stafford, who we learned this morning was scratched with reportedly fractures in his back, an injury that's been lingering for a while for him. and we'll see if that's something that's going to keep him out multiple weeks. But Driscoll didn't do much. He made a really nice touchdown pass, a 47-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter to Kenny Goladay that got him back in the game. And then after a three-and-out by the Bears, the Lions had a chance,

and they were marching down the field. They just ran out of time, as you heard, on that highlight. So the Bears, I kind of wanted to see the Bears' defense just step up and just make that game a laffer. And the opposite happened. the Lions had a chance to force overtime. So it wasn't the great Chicago defensive effort. You were expecting against Jeff Driscoll, of course, as well.

You're expecting the bears to clean up. But I locked up the bears, and it's five straight for the old Zeuser after five losses to start the season. Nice work. Because I don't think this is going to be a nightmare season for them. I just think they kind of are what they are, which might be about seven wins, and they got one of them today. Well, this is the worst possible win you can have.

It's a pathetic offensive performance. There are no bad wins, Greg Rosenthal. To have 226 yards against one of the worst defenses in the league. And then you think maybe you turned a corner and you go three and out and four of your last five possessions. And you're playing Jeff Driscoll and you're playing an offensive line that lost two of its starters. There's an article on MLive.com that is just a list of the 16 different lions that were hurt in this game. So there's no, to me, this is not, yeah, you move on.

and maybe you get better a week from now. But they didn't show up. And you have to believe if Matthew Stafford is on the field and you're not running Paul Perkins and McKissick as your two running backs at the end of the game, the lines are a better team. Right, that's what I'm saying. There's nothing about this game that screams,

oh, they fix their problems or they're ready to make a rise. And if you want to, if the optimistic viewpoint is they kind of, they got a little bit better last week in the second half with two touchdown drives. they did have three touchdown, well, they had, one was a short field, I believe, but they had, one was 20 yards. They had three scores. That, I know it doesn't sound great, but to understand how bad this offense has been for large swaths of the season, there is a tiny bit of progress if you want to see that. Because you're playing the 29th defense in the league who's more injured than ever. But if you're just people staring at box scores, it looks a lot better for Mitchell Chubisky than the reverse, which would be three picks.

And if I'm a Lions fan, you've had a quarterback in Matthew Stafford this year that's played as well as he's ever played in his career. And he's been a fascinating guy who'd get much more attention if he weren't stuck in Detroit in the middle of nowhere in terms of football coverage. Nice recovery. Well, it is. I mean, it's not one of the, it's not on the coast. I thought it was a geographical hit piece for you for a second. There's great people would have been mad. They're so banged up, but you think of Tony Romo, right, who had a back injury at various times.

You think of Derek Carr when he did. It's just, I don't know what we have in Matthew Steph from figuring out if it's serious at all. I mean, season over. This Bears' offense isn't going to be fixed until Trubisky's a running threat again. Last year, he was fifth in rushing yards amongst quarterbacks. This year he's 22nd. And until Tariq Cohen is a big play threat again, which he hasn't been all year. All right, let's move on.

Here's the snap. Maybe the final play of the game. Dropping back Murray, under pressure Murray. Murray, throws the ball up for grabs. Downfield. It is knocked away. No time left. Bucks win.

Box win. That is the ball game. Box win. Gene Deckerhoff. Box Radio Network. Kyler Murray's desperation heave was a prayer unanswered. And to pass interference uncalled, in my opinion. But that's beside the point.

The Cardinals washed away. by the ice water in the veins of James Winston Sunday at the large pirate ship. Winston led the Bucks on a six-play, 92-yard drive in the closing minutes. The decisive score in a 30-27 win. Greg, Ice water. No, I mean, he's good in the two-minute drill. I'll give the Bucs that. I think they're one of the better two-minute drill teams.

It's week after week. They did it before halftime. They did it at the end of the game. Maybe that's when James Winston's not thinking and they're just playing. They should try to do that the whole game because the rest of it, he seemed very much in his own head. Had a couple interceptions, could have had a couple more, some bad decisions. But the Bucks are who they are. They're so consistent.

They're so bad in the secondary. They're amazing stopping opposing running backs. Kenyon Drake and David Johnson had, I think, 26 touches in this game for 51 yards. Whoa. 22 touches for 51 yards. David Johnson fumbled the ball on a key catch late in the game that really helped Tampa put it away. That was our first fumble all year.

Right. First time since 1940, a team went nine games without a fumble. And Kyler Murray at his first interception in a long time. So the, you know, the bucks, you would have thought, oh, maybe they win the turnover battle. Nope, they still lose it. They turned it over three times. They are the same team each and every week.

They just sort of found a way to win this one. Remember when the Patriots had that long, like, streak of really extraordinary low fumbles and everybody thought it was some kind of weird combination of Belichick cheating and black magic? That was true, though. This is different. This is a different situation. Mostly luck. The Bucks are the most, like, the perfectly situated three and six team ever.

They should end their season because they're the ultimate three and six. Well, they're fun to watch off that. Stop it. We know who you are. That's hurting. We do. If they had a good defense, like a legit good defense, they'd be winning some games because as much as Winston gives it away and is a huge problem with the turnovers,

they put up points and they put up yards. O.J. Howard's been playing better lately. He had a big game, which helped turn it around. Ronald Jones as a starting running back, I thought made a difference last week. Didn't get it too much done on the ground today, but had 77 yards receiving and eight catches. They were killing them with screens.

It's like, it's a Bruce Ariens team through and through. Kyler Murray filling up the box score again. How did he play? I thought he missed a number of things. throws early but overall you got to be excited you hit christian kirk deep couldn't get rid of the ball on that last drive right i would say a very up and down game but at least he made a lot of plays uh to go along with with the mistakes although he did have the turnover yeah he's first he's fun to watch they're a three six and one team too they to me do not smell like a team

that that should have been four or five and one so i like it when teams just kind of reach their their appropriate level vernon hargreets benched for lack of hustle never a good sign. Never a good sign. It takes a lot to get. Unless you don't want to keep playing football, then that's a very good sign for him. You ever touch James Winston's hand?

You ever shake his hand? I've never met him. It's like pure ice. The man fears nothing. It's how young ways Koo's Fido are too. Let's move on. Fitzpatrick back to throw. Get pressure again.

Rolls to his right. Pumpfakes. He's going to run with it. He's a five. He's got it. All right. Ryan Fitzpatrick. Fake pumped it.

Took off. He goes, I'm going to the corner. It's a touchdown. That's the last thing that defense was worried about was 36-year-old quarterback running the football. You know, when you get older than 36 and announcer say that stuff, you start to feel bad about yourself. It's like, it's not that crazy that he ran 11 yards. No. He's a 36-year-old professional athlete. It's like the idea that you...

Jimmy Cepelo, Bob Greasy, and Joe Rose with the car. call for the Dolphins Radio Network. Yeah, Fitzmagic, 11-yard touchdown run on the first half. Then the Dolphins make a late stop with the help of a costly mental error from Eric Ebron. That preserves a 1612 win over the Colts. That's two straight wins for the Dolphins, who have put that historically inept first two months in the rearview. Draft positioning, be damned. Mark, how did they win an indie today?

I think they're really well coached. I mean, for the lack of assets on both sides, for both lines being what they They are, I think they're the least penalized team in the entire NFL right now. And that has a lot to do with Brian Flores. And he, you know what? Forget the whole organic tank business. They were fired up on the sideline. And this is a Colts team that rode through the first seven games of the year with seven

turnovers. And that's how they won, I think, partly because they were a mistake-free operation. They've had six in the last two weeks. And you got the every other Brian Hoyer game where he played really well last week. Today, he was a turnover machine. They just don't have enough around him to make up for the mistakes. And Miami, watching them today, I understand that the whole point here is to try to get the first overall pick. They're going to win three or four games.

They've already got to two, and they've got the Bengals on their schedule later in the year. They've got the Jets and Giants. They could win one of those two at four and 12. That's the thing that people that aren't really watching the dolphins, they've been conflating this whole time that dolphins aren't trying to win the team's trying to win it's the management that set them up now it was more a major league type thing uh the movie than an actual situation where the whole team was in the tank and you've seen it week after week that they were getting better and yeah i think it is a credit to flores because if you think about it that was the worst start of any team in NFL history now you

could also say that's kind of on brian flores too if you want if you want to be that guy but the fact that he was able to get them out of that bleak place where they were the joke in the last staffing stock of the league and everyone with their very somber takes about how the dolphins were disgraced for what they were doing and all that stuff. He just kept on trying to get this team competitive and now they're winning. Isn't this near the top of the reasons why your front office should not tank? Because your coach and players are not going to be on board with your plan? Well, yeah, why would they? I mean, they didn't look like a team tanking when they stuffed the Colts 27 yards rushing for Indianapolis in the first half. One of the best offensive

lines in football and Miami completely bottled them up. I mean, it was an impressive. of... Last week, as a Jets fan, I'm reading all the post-mortems and there was talk, is this the worst Jets loss of all times? Like, no, because the Dolphins have been competitive for weeks now. They were going to get a win, and now they got two wins. And as Mark's saying, they're probably going to get three and four and potentially be out of the top five.

And perhaps there are dolphins fans that are upset about that. And I get that too, because when you're trying to get a young franchise quarterback, sometimes you just want things to work out your way. And maybe, Greg, they still have enough assets. even if they go 4 and 12 or 3 and 13 that they could make them trade up the board. So it's not the end, even if they don't end up. Even right now, they're only in the 4 spot with these two wins. That's not too far down.

They could not get the number one pick and still get the guy they want potentially. Can we just point out that this Colts team is not like the 5 and 3 Colts team that the record said they was? They were playing without their starting quarterback to three of their top four wide receivers. Right. I mean, that's the thing. The expectations have changed so much. In Indianapolis, they're saying the same things about how embarrassing this, losses and what a travesty.

It kind of shows how high the expectations are that Reich has made so quickly that a team led by Brian Hoyer or the number one wide receiver, Zach Paskill, is fully expected to win. And it is a bad loss, but they've been playing with very slim margins and their offensive line is overrated based on how they've played the last three or four weeks. They just haven't made a big difference. I try to watch that game closely a week ago. They're not put, they weren't pushing the other.

team around on the offensive line. And the Dolphins are playing much tougher defensively, because if you're getting any pressure on Hoyer and you're stopping the run fairly well, then this is not a team, the Colts, that is, where they're dominating on the offensive line anymore. I do wish we could have gotten a full season from Darius Leonard. He was awesome today.

13 tackles had a massive sack of Ryan Fitzpatrick on third down, had an interception. And the Colts, though, also they, you know, you're right. which Brissette had three interceptions through his entire run. Teams change, though, and coaching matters. Like, if Brian Flores is a good coach, I'd rather see that as a Dolphins fan than see a bunch of losses. I think it'll feel like this is one of the defining moments of Fitzpatrick's career,

like a thing that you'll remember. It's awesome. That's several. I think his leadership and spirit, for lack of a better word, not that he played, like, lights out today, but that's a tough spot. And I don't think there's many quarterbacks that could have come in and kind of had the intensity and way to build this team up.

His beard, by the way, is now at an insane level. Like, I get that it was big and bushy for a long time, but it is as big as it's ever been. It looks like a guy that lives in the Harvard Library. And like no one ever went and got it. Absolutely. He just lives his entire life there. And I should add a little context before we move on.

Eric Ebron, on a fourth and ten with a game on the line, ran a nine-yard route. It was stopped, like an eight-and-a-half-yard route. it wasn't even close. They didn't even have to take out the sticks. It's Ebronian. And everybody just kind of was like, Brian Flores ran down the sideline

and he was pumped up. But everybody else was just like, oh, I guess we just won the game because this dude didn't run a 10-yard route with the game on the line needing 10 yards. Okay, we'll take it. Just a little more context. They wouldn't have been in that situation

if Adam Venetary hadn't missed a killer P-A-T. I mean, just every week you're getting something new. I've talked about this last week. You've got to make the move. Got to make the move. You already missed out on Koo. You might be a play. Off team if you had coo.

Can't pick up the phone and call Kai? What's a Kai got to do? The book on Kai must not be a good read at this point. Let's be honest. Let's move on to the most important game of week 10. Jones back to throw. Under some pressure, he'll be hit. Jamal Adams takes the ball away.

He's going to run right and score. Jamal Adams to the five is into the end zone for a touchdown. Jamal Adams on a blitz. Simply snatches the ball away from Daniel Jones and runs it back for a jet defensive touchdown. Haven't heard much from

Bob Waschusin over on the Jets Radio Network on this program but we hear it there. The Jets' Twitter feed called it a gimmee six. Jamal Adams muscled past Sequin Barclay,

then ripped the ball out of the hands of Daniel Jones, took it to the house for the Jets who leaned on their star safety and a 3427 win over the Giants in a big, dumb, stupid, fun football game between two bad teams. How's this for a stat line

from the president, as he calls himself? Eight tackles, two sacks, two force fumbles, one fumble recovery, a touchdown, and a crucial fourth down stop on a Daniel Jones QB sneak in the fourth quarter. It was the best game of his career and a stark reminder that one of the chiefs are the Jets' chief priorities going forward.

And they have a lot of work to do to build this organization into a contender again. But to see if you can repair this relationship, and I know in the news this past week that he finally met with the GM and the coach and they smooth things over. But who knows if that's actually true? It might be just something to make the story go away.

What they should do is in the off season make them the highest paid safety in the league because as we saw in this game, his ceiling is higher than anybody. There are starting safeties who will go the full 16 game schedule and not have that many game-changing plays the entire season. Oh, yeah. That's outrageous. It was an important win for the Jets who also got Sam Darnold back on track a little bit

for the third straight week. He went right down the field on the first possession, scored a touchdown. The difference this time he scored another touchdown, the next possession. They go ice cold again for most of the second quarter into the third quarter, and that's when Adams had his big touchdown, which kind of steadied the ship for New York. So the Jets overcome actually a second half deficit. It was progress and no turnovers for Darnold.

And so Adam Gase, whose QB whisperer reputation is in tatters, he needs to stack some performances like this from his quarterback to have a chance to stick around. And on the other sideline, I would think that Pat Schumer is getting close to needing a Hail Mary because the Giants, you know, this, again, this is an organization. It's a proud organization that's had a lot of success. And they've been bad for a while now,

and they were just dreadful in this game. I mean, they're now two and eight. They've lost six in a row. And when Daniel Jones, who again is a very promising young quarterback, when he throws for 300 yards and four touchdowns and post a pass-a-rating north of 120, and you still can't beat the Jets, it just shows the glaring deficiencies around you on your roster.

found an answer to a question that I didn't know I had, but now I have it. How many rushes do you need to have an average of 0.1 yards per carry? What is the answer? 13 carries for Saquan Barclay, 0.1 yards per carry because he managed one yard on the ground. Well, right, yeah, Tom Rock from Newsday broke it down. Well, he averaged 2.75 inches per carry. Yeah, and that is, you know, that's obviously credit to the Jets' run defense, which has been good all year.

but also I don't know if Sequin Barclay is all the way back from that high ankle sprain he has he's had a couple flashes since he's been back but he certainly hasn't been the same guy so they couldn't run the ball and their defense had too many lapses and yeah I just wonder if Shermer is going to make it well then they mentioned that John Mara was Giants owner was absolutely steamed after the game making eye contact with no one while answering a few questions I do wonder about

what's going on? I know Levy on Bell is not fully healthy either, but his box score is troubling as well. And I feel like it's just sort of week after week waiting for that one Levy on Bell game. He has under 80 yards and he's never getting there. He averaged less than two yards of carry. They have a terrible offensive line, but I don't think he's moving as well. And I know he was very banged up going into this week if that played a role. But there were a couple times, it doesn't happen often with his offense, but where he got the ball with a little bit of space and he didn't seem to have the juice. So, yeah, that is something worth tracking for the Jets. Very strange game that neither team top...

First of all, Jones threw for 304 yards, and the Giants gained less than 300 yards. You don't see that too often. He was sacked six times for 50 yards. Right, and then the Jets didn't gain 300 yards either. In a game, they scored 34 points. 34 points. It scored four touchdowns. And someone had a great stat of the Giants' record

since Odell and everyone on the boat took the picture. You remember that? The boat picture. 10 and 32 since that picture was... That's better than I would have expected. 10.30. Teams don't do well on these boat trips. We know that from the Vikings and others.

Yeah, some trips go worse than others. Fred Smoot. And finally, before we move on, you know, we haven't had many opportunities to have my dad on to share his thoughts about that. Oh, right. Nice. You know, coming off our dub,

we're in Club Dub in the Mettelands. So let's hear from Keith Hansis 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 name today

What is he going to say About the game today Great comeback win by the Jets today Jamal Adams was the star of the game That strip was Simply outrageous that he got for the touchdown. The Jets kept the penalties down.

As a matter of fact, second and a half. They only had one penalty, which was huge for them. They stopped the run. Barclay's not an easy guy to stop, and they stuffed him all day. Donald was clean this week, which was big. The P.I. with Anderson was huge down the stretch. And like I said, no turnovers,

team win, total team win by the Jets. on to next week. There you go. It's good to hear Dad happy. I appreciate that you haven't forced him to come on during all these losses. That's nice of you. Did you catch that in the background? What was it?

The William Tell Overture. That's the Lone Ranger. Your dad's watching the Lone Ranger. Listen, maybe after a big W, Keith and Deb, they just settle into their recliners. They're retired now. And they check out, what's that channel that has all the old shows? Me TV. That's a big baby boomer channel.

So maybe they're checking out some me. TV in a big spot. Yeah. Keith loves a little Leave It to Beaver. He loves Perry Mason. He likes some of those older shows. Lone Ranger is not one that I've noticed on his menu in the past, but I'll check in. Could just be watching something else with that song playing.

That's awesome. Or he could have been listening to the Lone Ranger soundtrack. Do you have a record player at home? Maybe it's just spending some old records. I want a party with him. They're probably having fun to them. I will do the reporting on this and get back to you on Tuesday. Let's go to Sunday night football.

Oh, yeah. Fourth and five from the Vikings 14, Prescott, out of the shotgun. They left, incomplete. Eric Kendricks, knocked it away. We all know that Eric Kendricks is top three in the league for past breakups for a linebacker. So they thought that they had that mismatch with Zeke on Eric Kendricks and Eric Kendricks, Paul. What a beautiful play. Paul Allen and Pete Versich

of the Vikings Radio Network with the call Good insight there Cowboys thought they had to mismatch Eric Kendrick says no he swats it away and essentially that was it for the Dallas Cowboys the Vikings were able to essentially run out the clock after that and get a 28 to 24 win

in Gero World a huge win for the Vikings who move to 7 and 3 with the win and the Cowboys fall to 5 and 4 keeping the NFCE is very interesting. Greg, you weren't a fan of how Jason Garrett and the Cowboys and Kellan Moore ran that final sequence. Yeah, we'll get to giving the Vikings credit because it's a great road win. I think they dominated up front in the running game on both sides.

But Jason Garrett is very often to me the difference in close Cowboys games. and in this game, the time that they took in terms of managing the game, especially after they got under the two-minute warning, they were acting like they were ahead by four. You want to maximize your chances and you want to try to get the ball back if you don't score, which ended up happening with as much time as possible. More importantly, they just kept running Zechio Elliott on first downs and in key situations when it wasn't working.

Bob Stern, who does an awesome job, the athletic, would be right near the top of my athletic writer. Power rankings. He is amazing. He noticed that 15 of their 23 first downs, this was late in the fourth, so it could have been updated. They ran on first down, and they basically got no yardage on those plays. Zeke was just stuffed, including five carries for three yards on that last field goal drive. You add that plus how Garrett never goes for it on fourth down.

Four different fourth downs in the game where they're on the Viking side of the field, and it's five or six yards or less. They didn't go for it one time. In fairness to Jason Garrett, Kellyn Moore is calling those runs on the first downs, correct? Well, we don't know if Jason Garrett's telling them, hey, here's the situation. Whatever it is, the Cowboys offense, that's fair. The game management stuff in terms of, you know, deciding to go for it on fourth down,

that is certainly Garrett. But, yes, paint the broader brush. You've got to do better when you have a game like this out of Dak Prescott, which was sensational, and you don't only put up 24 points. I said early in the year, I thought they had one of the best coaching staffs in the league. And Kellynne Moore has the number one ranked DVOA offense going into this game. John Kittner, the quarterback's coach, I believe has Dak Prescott playing better than he did even in his rookie year. He's been exceptional this year.

Rob Marinelli, one of the best position coaches in the league on the defensive line. Chris Rashard showed last year he can call the plays really well. I don't trust the head coach. I'm with Greg on that. That's been the case for years. And a night like this wipes out what was. an incredible performance from Amari Cooper who would have been the talk of the town

had they won this thing. I just sometimes feel like Garrett's a punching bag and he's an easy target. What does he bring to them? They didn't execute. What does he, if he's not calling the plays and he's an offensive mind, what does he bring to them?

If his games management is suspect, I agree with you they didn't execute. I agree he takes maybe too much of it, but man, I've just watched these close Cowboys losses it feels like for a long time. And the whole idea, this is an offense first team, It's a pass first team. That's what they're great at, and you're not leaning into it.

There was four, like I said, four different fourth downs where it was five, four, six yards. There was a fourth and goal at the end of the game on the five, and you kick the field goal. Meanwhile, DAC at one point was five for five on third down and ten yards plus. I mean, he's hitting all these impossible throws that he has to make because you keep running on first and second down. And on the other side of the ball, you know, Wes, we talk about it on this podcast a lot. Now, whether it's something that should be done or should be done, Kirk Cousins is the center of the narrative around the Vikings of whether they sink or swim.

And in this case, Cousins was neither the total hero. And he certainly wasn't the goat. But he did his job. All that talk about that he's a guy that struggles in these type of spots. Well, he was perfectly fine today. And he kept the team moving with some long touchdown drives. He did not turn the ball over. and that's been a major issue with cousins

and games like this in the past. But the star of the game on offense was actually Dalvin Cook, who again is a guy that, and he's right behind Christian McCaffrey in terms of total yardage for all NFL players. And he saw it again.

He ran for close to 100 yards. He adds 7 for 86 through the air. He was on a day where they did not have Adam Thielen. And when you don't have Thielen, Stefan Diggs is not the same player. Dalvin Cook was there again to keep the offense moving. Made a nice athletic jump pass on that touchdown, which Rudolph made an awesome catch on in the back of the end zone.

And you're right. The MVP of this offense, the most important player is Dalvin Cook, not Kirk Cousins. But Kirk Cousins has still had, you know, he's had some ups and downs, but overall a good year and once again is a top half of the NFL quarterback. It's a perception thing too, because had Kirk Cousin's season started with the last four games

at the beginning of the year, we would be going absolutely nuts about them. It was a wicked slump he had and it was a team-wide issue and they are going to continue on with Cook. I love Alexander Madison being used more and more each week too.

I can trust this offense with the two of that. Right. For all the criticism, you know, I just had with Garrett, the defense of the Cowboys let them down again like they have for much of the season. They give up two touchdowns on the first two drives of the game. That's a terrible way, obviously,

to set the tone. And then the first two drives of the second half, Vikings go 12 plays for a field goal, 13 plays for a touchdown. They could not get off the field. And that last touchdown drive, you know, they ran at 10 straight times. That's just Mike Zimmer, loving life right there.

Like mono, oh, what is it? It's mono e mono. Those linebackers last year at the end of the year, not mono A mana. They boxed everyone into that 10 yards between, you know, before the first down sticks. And I'd like to read an article or talk to someone and tell me, are the linebackers not playing as well,

or are the defensive linemen not clogging up the scene and taking on as many blockers and not allowing the linebackers to do what they do with? So the Cowboys pile up 443 yards of offense, scored 24 points and lose. And, yeah, you take a look at what's going on in the NFC East as a result. I mean, this is supposed to be their division, but when you look at the standings,

it's going to be a dogfight down the stretch unless they find a way to start stringing together. there's some wins because at 5 and 4, and Wes and I were talking about this while we watch this game. That DVOA and a lot of the advanced analytics point to the Cowboys as being a top team in the league, but right now they're tied at 5 and 4, a middling record atop the NFCE.

So they've got to figure out a way to translate all that great production and those type of numbers into Ws or they're just not going to go very far this season. Yeah, they're already in a dog fight. They have the same record as the Eagles. Right, and they are 4 and O the Cowboys are in the division. But this game, I think, could be really big in the playoff picture. Vikings, Cowboys, you figure are going to be two teams that are going to be in the mix to the end, whether that's for a home game as a division winner or whether they're fighting for the fifth or sixth playoff spot.

And the Vikings getting the win on the road almost counts a little double. I think these are both playoff teams still. As frustrating as the Cowboys have been at times this year, I think so. Mark, you don't think so? No, I have no problem with that. I think the bottom half of the NFC playoff grid is figuring itself out. And the Cowboys, these games are coming down to snippets, plays, little moments. And we'd be talking about the Cowboys completely differently on a night where they had 450 plus yards of offense.

Double Cook bobbles a handoff with a minute to play. It's the last couple moments that shape our entire perception. Or if Kendrick's, you know, doesn't make what really was a great play. It's a yard behind where he was. Made the All-Pro team with West did a great job on and, you know, balled out again tonight. There are a lot of positive signs for these cowboys, including Prescott had no pressure on him for most of the night. Not only does Cooper go for 147, but Cobb goes for over 100. Gallup goes for 76.

There's a lot to deal with on this offense. That's why, you know, maybe I get a little more frustrated when it doesn't all come together. I would like to see Ezekiel Elliott move into a period of the season where he's, playing dominant. He was, though. Huh? Statistically, the last four weeks. I just don't see the same player right now.

He wasn't making that second level defender. I've just looked good last one. 140, 150 yards a game the last month. It's pretty good. The big plays aren't there. In previous years, he's getting 30, 40, 50, 60 yard plays that aren't there this year. All right.

So, what do we learn today? We learned that the Browns and Jets both won. That hasn't happened a lot, Mark. Playoff push for both of those. franchises. I liked, I liked Baker's

press conference outfit. That was a nice bounce man. No, you didn't. Well, he's trying really hard.

I would at least be real about it. You were, you were slinging it with arrows downstairs in the newsroom. I thought that he...

I'm sorry he doesn't have the charisma of Sam Darnold in front of the reporters, but he is who he is. I love that at the end of the spot.

Because it's like you're taking shots on it downstairs. I missed the zinger that apparently was so devastating. What I was saying was that he clearly put a lot of effort into today's outfit. Now, that's not a sling and an arrow.

And I do believe it was an improvement. He was, last week, he was dressed like a guy that should be on a list. This week, it was kind of like a DJ, like a hot DJ. And that's an improvement. That's all. If he's going to win, I don't care what he's wearing. Half the league has quarterbacks wearing insane stuff after they win or lose games. Mark, did you like the way Baker looked?

Oh, yeah Oh, okay We did learn something else though Yeah It's been seven seasons I don't know how many shows That's been This is our seventh NFL season

It's been a great ride But what we learn is we're going to have to come up With something else to do Sunday Night Because we said if we don't go over 10,000 followers on Instagram The show is over And we're at 6300 A nice performance

I mean we appreciate everyone jumping on board From 600 to 6,300, essentially, from Thursday show. You made a great effort. And Erica's doing a great job, you know, running this account. But ultimately, we're men of our word, and the road ends here tonight. Yeah. And it's not, you know, you look at the video preview show for Week 10. I looked at it.

Over 9,500 people viewed that and saw the threat and the message that the show would end. A huge chunk of them did not follow the Instagram page. If those 9,000 people want to check it out, at the ATM podcast on Instagram. It's, well, it's over. So don't even bother following now. It's our last show. Well, we could, maybe we'll transition into, like, radio or.

Or not. A different sport. I hear the YouTube is popular. XFL? Kids like that. Is that like, is that the same sort of thing? What if we start an XFL podcast, effective tomorrow? Then we have to watch XFL games.

Well, we got to start something new. We made a promise. More time for Courts of Thunder. So that's, that's, that's the thing. Hitting our off season. Infamous tennis blog. Right. We probably won't be back Tuesday. But if we were contractually forced to be here, we will be here on Tuesday. And you can continue to follow the NFL with us. And we do enjoy it. And all seriousness, that's awesome. We got a ton of new followers on that page. And Ricky is doing great work, building it up, which we appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks so much, Dan. Wait, how did you say thank you the way you just said it? That was a very like modern California way to say. I don't know. I missed it.

Yeah, it was very like, thank you. Yeah. That's not what I heard. But like it wasn't as sexy as like. Oh, yeah. But it wasn't equal to that. But I'm more saying it was like a valley girlish type way. But I will listen to it again on the recording.

All right, good. All right. So that's it. Let's go home. Good show. Good week. Great week of football. Great Sunday.

All the way through Sunday night. Dan Hansen signing off for Quiet Storm. The mailman, the old boss, Ricky Hollywood, Ryan Bartlett and Friends. Till Tuesday? I'm going to be able to be. He's born February 29th, 1992. Does that mean that he's really, like, 12 or 8 or whatever, how that works? What's the replacement birthday for leap year people?

That's what I mean. I think they just would move it to the 28th. They just go the day before and the day after. You just pick. Yeah, I think they do. He's not, he's not, what did you say? No, I think he's like nine. You've been, you think there's been 12 leap years since 1991?

I don't know, I don't track this bullshit. That's a different way to ask the question. That's what you think. How often this leap year happen? Every four years. If only it could be as sharp as you, Erica, you know. A dagger with an edge that could serrate and filet at all times. I think we're good.

A fillet is a kind of soft meat. It's really tender. You know, you don't have to be too. super sharp to cut away, but... You are. She's like, oh, I'm going to use this on Instagram. It's a good way to promote my brand. It's your brand.

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And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6th, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else. It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday.

Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we hope. host the NFL fantasy football podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL fantasy football podcast,

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