NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 2019 Week 14 Recap

Episode Date: December 9, 2019

A room filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, Chris Wesseling and Gregg Rosenthal recap each of the games of Week 14 including the shootout between the 49ers and the Saints, (2:34) New England's home loss to the Chiefs (11:08) and the Ravens winning in Buffalo (19:55). The heroes also discuss how the Broncos and Drew Lock walloped the Texans (39:52) and Nick Shook calls in to talk Vikings (56:37). As always, the heroes break down the Sunday night game between the Rams and the Seahawks. (1:19:06)Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

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. The Around the NFL podcast. We're also available for children's parties. Some of us. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast presented by the United States Marine Corps. My name is Dan Hansis and joined in a room filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Gross with the What is our boys? Hey, Dan.

I do a children's party. Multiple streams of income. I was just saying legally, not everyone in the room can do it. Now, am I going to say who it is or who they are? I can't say anything else. Just let the audience decide. Big show. It is.

That's a cliffhanger, folks. At the end of this episode, you'll find out who is not legally allowed to attend a children's birthday party. Now, that's how you get into. That's how you hold people and bring them back. Why is your chair so high, Greg? One of the great American long forms of all time is a Washington Post article about a clown who does children's shows.

Ooh. It's really good long form. Interesting. Yeah. There's also John Wayne Gacy. Don't, yeah. I wouldn't associate him with that clown. Yeah, different clown.

All right. This is an odd start to the evening. Really, jagged start. Hey, it's week 14, and we talked about it on Thursday's preview show that we had some A-plus games, an A-minus game. That's a Sunday night game we're going to talk about. We had a B-plus game and then a bunch of filler. But you know what?

When it's July and when you're watching pre-season games and taking them too seriously, you're going to miss even these bad games, Greg, in the regular season. You're going to miss them. Right. You'll be dying for it. You'll miss the bigger games more. I mean, this is what we've been building to. Absolutely.

And, yeah, so we have some games. you know, the complexion of both the AFC and the NFC atop those conferences shifted with those big games. And it's getting interesting down in the wild card hunt. Greg, this is where you really shine. You're our conscience. You're our guide mathematically when it comes to figure out who's in, who's out, who's on the rise, who's slow out.

Struggling to see how conscience plays a factor here. Two separate things. Yeah. Math prowess. Okay. So let us get into it. And let's start with, really, I've got to say, in all my years at the NFL, one of the best games I ever watched in the newsroom. It occurred down in Norland's.

The Superdome, to be exact. Brins left, Rixie James Jr. right. Garapidle back. He throws out left. Oh, George Kittle down the sideline 40. Runs by a man. Stiff arms, a man still pushing out flag. Three flags come in. They made it, George, for a personal file on the stiff arm.

Marcus Williams grabbed his face mask. That's going to be a penalty on New Orleans. George Kittle went crazy on the play, caught it, ran down the sideline. Did he stiff arm? On a fourth down, they got the ball to Kittle on the outcutt, went down the sideline, and it was Marcus Williams who gave up the Minneapolis Miracle, who may have just lost the game for the Saints. Ooh, hey.

Greg. Papa, Tim Ryan, 49ers Radio Network. Yes, Jimmy Garoppola's clutch. to George Kittle, who rumbles 39 yards, gets that penalty, the face mask on top of it. Marcus Williams, poor Marcus Williams, with the call leads to Robbie Gold's game-winning kick and an all-time classic at the Superdome. The Niners pull out a 48 to 46 win over the Saints, a game that, as of when we're talking in this very moment, moves the Niners into the number one seed in the NFC.

It knocks the Saints out. And this was just a classic, classic shootout. And sometimes, and I'm going to point to the Rams Chiefs shootout last November, sometimes when I watch these type of games where they're going back and forth on the field, it starts to a little exhaustion sets in. It feels like we're not even watching football anymore. It's like we're watching Bon Jovi's Arena League team or something. And it kind of doesn't feel as good.

RIP, by the way. Yeah. You know, 30 years, great run. It's over now. all right and in this case i didn't feel that way this just it was a great shootout an epic shootout and with the stakes what they are these are both teams that will be in the playoffs um but knowing how competitive the nfc is how much was at stake beautiful and great quarterback performances on both sides of the ball just an excellent game and i know you guys um i'm sure kept an eye on this game

uh this was the game obviously that i drafted first overall um if you didn't get a chance to really soaking in. You have something to look forward to tomorrow. It should be about 72 minutes long on game pass, so prepare yourself for that. But it will be a fun 72 minutes. It was an awesome game. In fact, you know, the offense, this is a game,

this is why football is funny, slash stupid, is that everyone was talking about these two great defense. The Niners entered this game, the number one defense in the league, statistically. And you, and what do you expect? You expect some big stops? Instead, each team traded

touchdowns throughout the first half. There was one punt in the middle, but it was touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown. And just an excellent game. And I just want to focus first since the Niners won on Jimmy Garapolo because he showed no fear in this game. This is the game where I've always been a fan of

Garapolo, but I always wondered if he's that next tier quarterback. He kind of had the, he's always had the look. He looks like, you know, we joke around about Drew Locke. But Garoppolo has always looked like a guy that's a superstar quarterback. He played like one. He's done it several times this season, but in this game with the stakes, he was fearless. And right down to that fourth and two when he connected with George Kittle, who's just a tremendous

player. So the Niners with a huge win, 48, 46. Whoa. The Niners are a team that have had throughout their history. You know, when we grew up watching the Montana and Steve Young Niners, so many indelible film clips and highlight real images that you just would remember and are drenched in a football fan forever. That George Kittle play has suddenly right up their smack dab at the top. I mean, that was one of the craziest, toughest, wildest displays of power I've seen from an offensive player. I mean, I think a lot of Saints fans are getting flashbacks to Vernon Davis and the play that the 49ers, former tight end, made against the Saints to break their hearts in the playoffs earlier this decade in one of the best games. I'm so impressed that the 49ers can win this

type of game. I think it's a good sign for the Saints that their passing game can be involved in a game like this where they're the ones throwing the ball and scoring touchdowns on their final two drives, despite losing Jared Cook, who's been so big for them, had two touchdowns, but leaves with an injury. Yet I think if you're looking at Alvin Camara and the running game, that's the part of the Saints offense that you're just trying to figure out why is this not working right now, especially in this matchup you thought it would work. Yeah, Kamara averaged less than two yards of carry. And, Wes, you've been on this.

Killer fumble. Yeah, killer fumble. And, you know, does Breeze have the army used to have? Can he put the throws in the tight windows that he used to a couple years ago? Probably not. But when you watch this game, it just shows you he's still absolutely a star and a guy that can go punch to punch in a game. I don't think he's close to being a liability or anything like that with this team.

And this was just a nice reminder of that. I thought he was excellent as well in this game. Yeah, at this stage of his career for these two quarterbacks, to combine for a 270.1 passer rating, the highest by a pair of quarterbacks on 10-win teams since at least 1950. So I think that was also the most points ever by two 10-win teams, too. So they made history in this game. And I sensed all year long a lot of doubt about Jimmy Garoplo.

Through the early part of the season, I get it. They were run-game heavy. That was what they did. The defense carried it. Since mid-season, he's had to move the chains by and, in that offense with a lot of injuries, and I think more often than not, he's come through. I think one thing that flipped the switch for them was trading for Emmanuel Sanders, who is versatile enough when Kyle Shanahan trusts him enough to have him throw a pass and throw

a touchdown in this game, and that he has, this is someone who was rehabbing a bad injury all offseason, and to come back and look at the way he does. I just think that he has, when good teams trade for players, and it clicks, and we've seen that with the Baltimore Ravens this year with Marcus Peters, and it's happening right here with Emmanuel Sandler. It's a trade of the year. I think they swapped middle to late round picks with Denver. With Sanders coming back, he's 32 years old.

He had shown, he looked really good before. They'll probably re-sign him too, so like got to jump on that. He suffered the Tour de Kili's last season, but it was playing well before it happened. He showed in September with Denver that he could still make plays. So you wonder and, you know, what other GMs are thinking right now. Wow, why didn't we be more aggressive with that, including the Saints and Mickey Loomis? and I'll say this, again, to creditor of Breeze, that Jared Cook goes out with a concussion

after his second touchdown catch. And it was kind of more of the same. Ted Gin made one big play down the sideline. But it was, you know, Michael Thomas pouring into Michael Thompson over and over and over again. You just wonder, come playoff time if someone figures out a way to slow down that Thomas DeBree's connection

and then it really puts the pressure on Cook. But they could have used a second banana like Manny Sanders is my point. I'm just so impressed. by the 49ers all season long, overcoming more injuries than any team out there. So many teams use injuries as an excuse. This has been one of the most injured teams in the NFL, full stop. In this game, too, they lost their center, Western Richburg. They lost D. Ford.

They lost Richard Sherman at one point. They lost Kwan Williams, another starting cornerback. And they find a way their two losses are at the very end of the game against the Ravens and Seahawks. They control home field advantage in the NFC. Now, we're taping this at an unfortunate time, but that game against the Seahawks is going to matter. Either way, though, now the 49ers know if they win out, they are the one seat.

And I thought last year when the Saints lost at home, I thought, wow, Drew Breeze at 40, are they ever going to get a chance to have home fields in New Orleans again? This might be it for them. They're back in position, but they have lost that control right now where they might be the two-seed in the NFC. Let me give the final word to Richard Sherman, who after the game, he's been kind of punt.

pounding the table in his media a lot this season after the game is about Jimmy Garapo, how much he believes in him. And here's what he had to say after Garoppolo's brilliant performance. Obviously, Jimmy Garapolo being clutched down the stretch, you know, this is a big game and he played big time. You know, he played like the best quarterback in football today. He beat a legend. A beat a legend and the Niners. They are battle tested before the playoffs begin. Let's now move to another potential playoff matchup. This one went down in Foxborough. Brady, a long count here, trying to give a hand signal to Edelman, takes the snap.

Chief Spring Presser, left side throw, and it's broken up in the end zone, broken up in the end zone, a quarter route to Edelman, knocked down by Brasad Breeland, five yards deep in the end zone. The Chiefs hold on downs at the five-yard line. And defensive coordinator, Steve Spagnola, brought everything but the kitchen sink right there. Brady had to get rid of it and just a great coverage play

as you mentioned by Bashad Breeland. Mitch Holtes and Kendall Gammon of the Chiefs Radio Network with a call. Spag strikes again Greg. The Chiefs needed that's just a little in joke between Greg and I. And our Sky Sports listeners

which they shared it with it. The Chiefs needed someone to step up and make a play. Bashad Breeland was the man. He knocked Tom Brady's fourth down end zone pass away from Julian Edelman. The clinching play in Kansas City's huge 23-16 win over the Pats in Foxborough. It breaks New England's 21-game winning streak at Gillette. Whoa.

Greg, gut-check victory for the Chiefs and a potentially massive one with the playoffs approaching. Yeah, it's big. You could have this rematch again in the playoffs. Right now they'd be the two and the three seeds. Right now it'd be in Foxborough. The Bills will have something to say about whether the Chiefs have to go on the road. But it just strikes me how much these teams have changed

since they played in the AFC championship, and the fact that they can win games, the Chiefs, that is, different types of ways with a very good pass defense and a very aggressive mindset where they blitzed Brady like crazy and they double-teamed Edelman and the Patriots couldn't win enough

one-on-one matchups to get it done. I just think this Chiefs team is so much more dangerous and the focus is going to be on everything that happened in the second half of this game. But I go back to the first half and I think in the end, both defenses and their coordinators, I think, won most of the time. The Chiefs get two touchdowns on short fields.

The Patriots did what they wanted. Mahomes beat the Patriots on a second 25 and a third in 19 with just sensational individual plays. He evaded the rush so well, so many times, especially in that first half. The Patriots don't have that sort of game breaker. I mean, almost no one does that quarterback, but that ultimately was the difference is Mahomes can beat the perfect defense.

I don't think Tom Brady can right now. now. The Patriots have always seemed like a team because their coach and their quarterback give them a couple of percentage points advantage every week over other teams that they rely on smoke and mirrors. And when you watch this offense, it seems like more smoke, more mirrors. They need a trick play to move the ball. They're throwing to Matt Lacoste with the game on the line in the end zone. I just don't think the Patriots have been impressive in any game since October. Offensively, that's true. They're an average to below average. I mean, the whole team combined, take them as an entity. I have not been impressed with them

since before Halloween. Well, I mean, it's meeting out in the sense that you've lost to Baltimore decisively. You've lost to Houston. You've now lost to Kansas City. Wes is putting out the alarm bells that Cincinnati will take out New England potentially next week. That would be a free fall. It's definitely a different Patriots team, and we've been over it so much. They do have something about them in terms of the coaching staff and Brady just mentally that, look, they made adjustments in this

game. What they did in terms of taking away the deep pass. They totally stuffed Kansas City in the second half. They get a big special teams play. And more importantly, offensively, you know, they started doing these outside runs. They also put Edelman on the outside. Tony Romo is so good at recognizing the changes that they make. And they still found ways to get the ball inside the 10-yard line, you know, at the end of the game. And it's down to one play despite having a kick being blocked, despite having some calls, you know, definitely go against you. They do that. And that gives you some confidence that, Maybe they can figure things out later, but when you just watch them against the best teams, they don't stack up.

They're not in that same tier. They're going to need like an outstanding coaching job in a different offense to compete in the play. I hear you about not harping too much on what happened in the second half of this game, but there were some insane official moments for this. I mean, in Patriots fans, and it's not easy to, you know, back them as a group all the time, but they have a right to be peaked and annoyed by what happened with the officials. McHill Harry had a touchdown taken away. They said he stepped out of bounce short of the goal line, but a replay showed clearly he had made it in, and because it wasn't ruled a touchdown,

it needed to be challenged, but the Patriots were out of challenged, challenges, so they got screwed, and then Jacoby Myers is a chance to erase that mistake by officials, and he drops the ball in the end zone. So they get a bad break to pets, and then they don't help themselves out. And because the margin of error seems so small with this offense,

those type of, you know, a bad break with the officiating and then a failure to take care of your own business with a drop, those things come back to haunt you because they don't seem to have very many opportunities the way this team in the offense is built. Jacobi Myers' drop was huge. And fans that want to get upset about the officials, they should. I mean, it was not just, you know,

the one touchdown being taken away. They also had the whistle blown on Stefan Gilmore. Stop blowing the whistle. And that stuff happens too much in the NFL. It's crazy. Here's the one thing. The only thing that really bothered me about the officiating, because those things happen,

it's like sometimes it goes for you, sometimes it doesn't. Like make the play. They didn't make a million different plays. The problem to me is in the rules in that the Patriots had to challenge to change that Stefan Gilmore play to a turnover because they messed it up in two ways.

Not only did they blow the whistle and stop Gilmore from scoring, but they also didn't even blow a fumble in the first place. So the Patriots got that challenge right so that they could get the ball. And that was why they were out of challenges because they had gotten their first challenge wrong. Belichick is among the coaches.

It's been brought up a few times that you should be able to keep your challenges if you should keep your second challenge if you get it right. It feels like a simple fix. You shouldn't have to go two for two to get a third. And before the owners meetings every year, you get that list of potential rule changes suggested by teams. And the Patriots always have a massive laundry list.

This feels ripe for that. I honestly think Belichick has suggested before different people have. I don't know why they're so afraid of like giving an extra challenge if you get one right. But in terms of like what they didn't do well, a three-play sweet sequence in the first half really stuck out to me where they needed to score and they're trying to stay it. They're up seven three actually at the time. Philip Dorset doesn't recognize a blitz, doesn't turn it around. The blitz was getting home all day.

Brady throws it to nowhere. The next third down, Brady makes a good throw. Jacoby Myers just drops it. He's kind of been killing them. The Patriots then choose not to take a 45-year. field goal. I know you noticed. I did not like that. Because their kicking situation has been so bad and folk had, you know, gotten blocked and it was fourth and seven. And then Brady misses a throw on fourth and seven, where again the pressure got

home. But in previous years, he had Alderman open on that play. I think he would have maybe stepped into that throw and made a tough throw. So it's like, it's never just one thing, but it's a lot of things. By the way, the Chiefs clinch the AFC West with the win because the Raiders are in a free fall. They're nine and four. And yes, They obviously now have the head-to-head tiebreaker on the Pats and they're one game out. So we'll see if the Pats still control their destiny in terms of staying ahead of Kansas City. But it's not going to be easy because, West, it's just not easy for the Patriots anymore. I think people are making a huge deal that they need the trick plays and all this stuff.

But you know what? It's true. And Brady, when the Blitz does come, he just seems helpless. Well, we've learned not to make any grand sweeping conclusions about what will happen in January when the Patriots go through these late season funks. This is not the first time in November and December that we've seen an aging Tom Brady look less than we expected him to, and then he turns it on in January. I'm not writing them off. I'm just saying everything I've seen for the past month and a half, this team just isn't very good.

And the AFC East is up for grabs. The Bills Patriots game in week 16, if the Bills can get there having one next week, could be for the division, which is pretty exciting. And I think the Patriots fans and the Patriots should welcome that, because, they need to get a win against the quality team here down the stretch. Speaking of the Buffalo Bills. Fourth down and eight. Josh Allen out of the shotgun, Devon Singletary with him in the backfield. Raven Show Blitz.

Here comes Earl Thomas off the edge. Singletary's pass over the middle. It is incomplete. No flag on the play. Marcus Peters with the play. And with 103 left in Buffalo, the Hayes in the Barn. Hayes in the Barn, Jerry Sandusky says W-B-A-L. So, facing fourth and eight at the Baltimore 16, Josh Allen's pass intended for John Brown broken up by Marcus Peters, who celebrated by jumping into the stands and chugging a beer.

The Ravens beat the Bills 24-17. That's nine wins in a row for Baltimore. Mark, this game is pretty much the opposite of what we saw at the Superdome today. Absolutely, and you could look at both of these teams and I do coming out of this game as having Super Bowl-worthy defenses. Yes, the Ravens do what the Ravens do, and you put them in any stadium, they're going to grid it out and find a way to win, and they've done that again. I thought Buffalo's ability, what they showed against Lamar Jackson in this insane Ravens offense was admirable today.

The problem with Buffalo, and we've pointed this out all year long, is that if they do give up more than 20-something points, too often you cannot really convince yourself that they're going to find ways and have the weapons to hang around. And this was a game where Josh Allen faced so much intense pressure and heat from Baltimore's front seven that has become absolutely dangerous at this point. You saw some of the quintessential bad Josh Allen throws early on, and it's not just because he's inaccurate.

It's because he had people in his face all day long. They had 13 drives, the bills, for 209 yards. Wow. 3.1 yards per play. And there were multiple marches where it was three and out. And it was, you just did not, you could not find a way that Buffalo was going to score in this game. And the Ravens lost Mark Andrews. Their playmaking tight end.

And they never really, I thought, found a way to get out of that situation. He's so important to them. I think this game magnified how important he is. Haydenhurst had one of his rare big play scores today. But you take that away. this game would have been, I think, a really rough ask for Baltimore because Buffalo fought and fought in the second half. When you watch in that second half, they have nothing on offense. And it's like, you know, Devin Singletary does something really nice for you, but then

it's taken back by penalty. And then Josh Allen, you know, he's not, no interception, so he's not turning the ball over, but you can't count on him to make those window throws that you need. And that coverage by Marcus Peters at the end, if we want to talk about Prashad Breeland, like he had one of the, him on John Brown is one of the great. cornerback efforts today I've seen. And on the bills end, and no one's going to take anything away from the 9-3 start or that they went to Dallas and won on Thanksgiving.

But this did feel like another chance for the bills to put a big stamp on the season and say, not only are we a team that's going to the playoffs, we're a team that you better watch out because we might win some games and make a run. They almost beat the Patriots in their building. Now they almost beat the Ravens. So I think as much as it might annoy fans in Western New York,

you do have to figure out how to win a game like this to really get people to believe. Yeah, and who knows what beating the Cowboys means now or what it will mean in a month. Although, just keeping it close against the – I'm so impressed with the Ravens in general that, you know, getting it to a point where it comes down on the last play to me is a step forward and a sign they're playing better than they did early in the season. Here are the records of the last seven teams that the Ravens beat. 9 and 4, 11 and 2, 7 and 5, 8 and 5, 1 and 12, 10 and 3, and 3, and then, a 10-win Seahawks team.

So they're winning all these games against, like, great teams. And I guess the last two weeks have shown you can hold their offense down in some rough weather conditions. I mean, they didn't exactly, you know, rack up yardage in either of those games. And those games came down to the wire. But I don't know. I mean, it's about as good a regular season as you can have with two losses. I think we all kind of looked at the bill's schedule a few weeks ago and said,

even if we respect them, that lead in the wild card race is going to dwindle when they play these tougher teams. And now you look up. Titans and Steelers are only one game behind them. And the bills have to go into Pittsburgh next week. A team that is rolling and a defense, which I believe is better than Buffalo's. Same kind of quarterback issues. You don't trust the quarterback from week to week on either team. And prime time. In prime time on NBC. Right. And if you want to like try to imagine or picture a way that Buffalo wins a playoff game and caps this awesome regular season, it has to happen to Buffalo. And to Allen's credit, although he had a tough game and he was in the Luke Fox zone today, 3.7 yards per attempt.

He did ball out with millions and millions of people watching on Thanksgiving. So I think he could step up in prime time, but that's another big test for him and that entire Bill's team. A couple fumbles from him, including a key loss fumble. He'll do that. And that's, I think, why they're afraid of him, you know, running around so much. I think the number was one for 11 on throws over 15 yards, one for 16 when under duress.

So the Ravens won up front, and Alan clearly didn't advance. Yeah, four for 17 on third down, and it looked that way. And yes, the lost fumble was, I just think that he was hurt at one point. He hurt his ankle and he was hobbling around. He wasn't the same guy. You take that punishment over and over. They're going to get you. Amazing.

Two 57 yards for the Ravens. All right. Let us now stay in the AFC playoff chase with a game with huge wild card and division ramifications. Panahill works under center, two receivers to the left. crowd gets loud. Play fake, Tana Hill, looking, throwing deep down the middle, going for Brown. Brown's got it at the 50, breaks the tackle to the 40 to the 30, to the 20, to the 10, to the 5, to the end zone. Ladies and gentlemen, that is 91 yards. Touchdown! Titans, their longest touchdown pass in over five years. Oh, that was so great, and it happened here. That came straight out of the black hole right down to the other end.

Dave McGinnis with a call. Titans, You know what to do, Ricky. Drink me the girl. Kong comes out from the trees. Now you got to check out the YouTube show. What are we wearing? I don't know.

I'm looking spelt. I like it. The resurgent Titans Keep surging Ryan Tannahill Through for 391 yards Three scores Derek Henry Two more touchdowns

He goes over 100 yards He cannot be contained And he made it look easy Even with his leg taped up The Titans, four straight wins now Beat up the Olken Raiders You know put the Raiders under the ground 42 to 21 at the black hole

And The Titans you know, it started out, not so hot. There was a deflected interception, big man run back for the Raiders. They punch it in, touchdown. But from that point on, it's 7-0. Tate just took over the game.

And Oakland, who was underbanded and didn't have Josh Jacobs, which, damn it, that's on me for not tracking that closely enough because I locked up the Raiders. That didn't work out. But they were, you know, to their credit, Oakland kept pace and it was 21, 21 at the half. and then the Titans just took over.

They scored touchdowns on five of their next seven possessions after that opening Raiders score, and they are six in one with Tannahill, Ryan Tannahill as their quarterback. And Wes, reports started percolating over the weekend that the Titans might be looking to do business with Ryan Tannahill, whose due can be franchised at the quarterback rate of 27 million,

but they might want to get into business in a long-term way. And the way he's playing, this doesn't feel unsustainable. It feels like he has found a home here. Well, that team that nobody wanted to watch with Marcus Moriota, the team that couldn't move the chains,

couldn't keep their quarterback upright and off the ground. The titoons. It's now a high-octane, 30-point-a-week attack that have 500 yards by the end of the third quarter in today's game. And comeback player of the year, I wrote about it a couple weeks ago.

I did not include Tannahill because you're checking some boxes and I'm looking at players coming back from major injury or some kind of life event. And I think that award, there's no real definition for it. It's sort of like the threshold for obscenity by Potter Stewart, Judge Potter Stewart, I know it when I see it. You know a comeback story when you see it. Ryan Tannahill was given up for dead by the Dolphins and given away to the Titans, comes off to the bench and because of him completely turned the team around. that's a comeback player. This is one of the great comeback stories of the decade. I agree.

Tana Hill was just the guy. When he was signed as a backup quarterback, I think everybody was like, oh, that was pretty good signing. That gives him a choice of Mario to struggles again. But nobody, nobody thought he would take over the offense and then turn it into one of the more lethal attacks in the AFC. Nine for him.

Look at Arthur Smith vying for coordinator. Artie. I mean, the games with Mario, yeah, the games with Mario Dota still count against your record. But 9.4 yards per attempt, the Raiders defense, they never had a chance this year. I don't believe they never, they ever really had a chance because I think they were ranked in my mind either 30th, 31st, 32nd in talent on defense. And they were always just trying to scheme around that and figure it out.

And they did a pretty good job getting a 6 and 7 and maybe they'll get to 8 and 8. But it's like they were never going to be explosive enough to keep up with this defense. Who's better at football? the New England Patriots or the Tennessee Titans as we stand right now. I think if it was a neutral field. Right now? The Titans are better?

I think it was a neutral field. Titans might be favored. They're playing so well. They're playing so well right now. They don't need to score this many points every week either because their defense is legit. So it's like they're a balanced team and they're getting hot at the exact right time.

Well, the crazy thing is Tannahill every week he only throws it like 27 this week. That's a lot of throws for Tana Hill. Usually he doesn't even have to. Now, the win moves them into a first place tie with the Texans. And now it gets interesting because they play twice in the final three weeks, which is wild. I don't love the scheduling to pack them together like that. But you know what?

It is what it is. So let's just ride with it and enjoy the carnage because that is going to, I mean, we could see both of these teams in the playoffs. Or one of these teams could absolutely take out an arch rival in the biggest way in the final three weeks of the year. is nail-bite in time in Houston, and we're going to get to the Texans. But, I mean, where we stand right now, who's the better team that the Titans are the Texans after what we saw today? One team's more consistent than the other. Well, that's for sure.

The Titans show up every week. The difference is that the Texans are going to have the tiebreaker if they split. And if their other game goes the Texans way, because the Titans have an extra division loss. So they would win on that tiebreaker. The Texans play at Tampa in week 16. That is their extra game. whereas the Titans play against the Saints.

So who knows? I mean, anything could happen, but it's still an uphill battle for the Titans. They might need to sweep it to get the division. And hopefully Derek Henry's okay. He had a leg injury. He left the game briefly, and like I said, he had his leg taped up.

I think it was a hamstring? They were two and four. And he just... And boring and bad. Henry just made it look easy. It didn't even seem like he was trying that hard. Obviously, he was. And he just went over 100,

scored two more touchdowns. He's having a special special. You know one other thing that Marcus Marieto could not have pulled off today was the insane Ryan Tannahill darting down the field to blow up Maurice Hurst? Nice. That was awesome. One of the best tackles I've seen in the entire year coming from a quarterback. He's a great tackling quarterback.

That was like an old Twitter joke of mine back in like 2014 when he just was throwing pick after pick. By the way, look out. Derek Henry, I don't know if this is updated. He is just behind Christian McCaffrey at number three. He could win the rushing title. But not, and this is not, you know, an attack on you at all, Dan, which is a bad way to preface anything. But there is a trend right now of, like, guys who leave Adam Gase

and are playing better without him. And especially at the quarterback position, I think that's, you know, that's significant. Yeah, sure. I will say that Tannhill did. It's not about you. Oh, no, no. It's just about that. Look, he's playing a lot better about me.

Don't preface it by mentioning me. That's fair. Ryan Tannehill did look really good with Adam Gase, and then he blew out his knee and things got a little wonky. Had some moments. So, but whatever. I attempted that same point with Dan on the Thursday show and it didn't go well. So I wasn't going to go back down that.

Yeah, if you guys want to bring it up every week, he's not like my uncle. It's not like it hurts me. He's just the coach that will be fired before long. Just another Jets coach. I am under the assumption that any Jets talk is personal. He's grist for the most. I mean, I don't take it personally in this case.

I mean, that's undeniable that Dolphins, players have done well without Mr. Gase. All right. Let's now talk about the Houston Texans. My goodness. Denver looks like they rush three. They will. Watch it, quick throw, inside pass caught Kiki QT again.

But he fumbled the football. And he's picked up by Jeremiah Toshu, who hands it to Kareem Jackson. Jackson's on the loose. Jackson with the foot racing. Here we go. 40, 35, 30, down the Broncos sideline. 20, 15, 10, high stepping into the end zone. Touchdown, Denver.

No whistle. No flags. If it stands, it would be the Broncos' first defensive touchdown of the year. It did stand, Dave Logan, Broncos Radio Network. My goodness. Cream Jackson had an intercession, returned to fumble 70 yards, touchdown against his old team. And Drew Locke, the kid, grow that beard. Doesn't matter.

More important that you're playing well. Threw for over 300 yards and three touchdowns, all three of those scores in the first half. The Broncos blow the doors off the Texans. Don't even pay attention to the 3824 final score. This game was 31.3 at the half. Greg, after the game, Von Miller said this of his rookie quarterback. Incredible. That guy's an effing rock star.

Do the Broncos have something here? I hope so. It'll make them more watchable. I don't take Von Miller's hype like too seriously because he did call both Paxton Lynch and Trevor Simian, the next Peyton Manning, I believe. But did he call him effing rock star? No, I love Von Miller. I love hearing about Von Miller.

He's playing on a bum knee, by the way, today. He had to play on the opposite side of the field because he can only rush in one way. He had to do it against Tunsell. That's tough. And he still got a couple quarterback hits. They said after the Vikings game, and I know I wasn't planning to start with this,

but I love Von Miller. After the Vikings game, that terrible loss that he had, he went up and down on the plane and invited everyone out to dinner that night, and they went out that night, like trying to fire everyone up after the worst loss of the year. and this team plays like a team that's still in the mix. Like, if you want to judge your coaches by how hard your team plays,

the Broncos show up each and every week. They're very unlucky to be only five and eight, and they are the NFL's berserker. You don't want to play them in December. This is exactly, exactly how John Elway and Vic Fangio wanted this season to close. Once you realized that you weren't going to make the playoffs, forget about tanking and hoping you find the next quarterback. Put something on tape that you feel good about,

that you feel like you've figured some things out and you're not on the wrong. It's not just all about being on the wrong side of field goal luck at the end of games. They are a team that's making progress, West, as the game as the season goes along, and it is a credit to the players and the coach. They've unearthed some absolute stars on this team. Justin Simmons at safety is having an all-pro year. Alexander Johnson at linebacker has come out of nowhere to make a pretty big all-pro bid. They're turning their defense around.

Cortland Sutton has been a find, and now Drew Locke is the X-Factor if he's really this good. Right. We'll see that the next three weeks for the Broncos and then in the off-season is all about just trying to find out about Locke. Now, he didn't have to do too much last week. This week, he made a handful of nice throws against pressure early in the game. Absolutely. Didn't have to do much in the second half. That's fine.

I also give their coaching staff and my guy, Rich Skangarello. Skangs. Scango. I was like, this guy's not giving them a big advantage, like open plays. That was the opposite today. there were a lot of open receivers. Noah Fant made to big plays four for 113 before he got hurt in a touchdown, caught all of his targets.

And there were open players for Locke to go to. They didn't run the ball well at all. They had 38 points before they had 38 rushing yards. Because it was a pass heavy attack. The Texans didn't know what hit him. Do not go and place faith in this Texans defense. I just don't trust them. They're not good.

This is the most disquieting result from today because we, are coming off a week where the Texans fried the Patriots, and it was this, there's the game that reemphasizes everything good you think about the Texans, and they could be wild. They could catch a three-game win streak and wind up in the Super Bowl, but I think they're much more likely to ultimately every week lay an egg like this, because this is not, this has happened throughout this entire season. They've been brutally inconsistent, but it's still, it doesn't, I don't know what I take out of this game other than that they can lay an egg at any time.

I mean, here's the thing. The defense is a game plan defense where maybe sometimes it works, but when they had no pass rush, they're getting destroyed in terms of their linebackers. Their linebackers in coverage were awful. They were the same guys who showed up to the game dressed up as the dodgeball movie.

Oh, you got to, you can't do that. Including using a wheelchair guy as a prop. Don't put a guy in a wheelchair. And then that guy, I mean, you hate to point it out, did limp off the field with an injury. Now it needs the wheelchair. chair. As my mother says, don't spit in the sky. That's what you get. I don't like that. Wes, to your credit on Thursday, you did ask the question. He said, what about this Texan's

defense in a big spot? Can they make, is this a defense to be trusted? And the Broncos, even though they are improving, this is not an offense that you teams live in fear of. What do we expect when they play the big boys? You know what they're missing. Kareem Jackson. They ought to, they ought to melt his helmet down to make a trophy out and give it to the winner of this team every year because he tips the field every time this game is played. Right. You said that was the best game anyone played all year. Kareem Jackson against the Broncos last year. It was so good that they had to

give him a monster contract. He had three passes of defense on top of the interception, 11 tack. I mean, he was just flying around, got the touchdown. Good job. I mean, you can shut down Tom Brady. But the idea that you're going to shut down Drew Locke and his second start is

beyond wrong. Will Fuller is the jenga piece for this team. And Will Fuller is out. They are not the same. I feel like he's out every other game, too. Right. This is just... It was his replacement, QT, who had that killer fumble. Rick Skangarillo.

Skangs. Papa Skango. Remember Papa Shango? He was one of the more ethnically questionable wrestling gimmicks of the early 90s. Some type of voodoo guy. Yeah, I'd agree with that. He had a lot of... Oh, you don't believe that his origin...

He put a curse on the ultimate warrior. I remember during one interview where the warrior was given an interview to me and Gene. And then all of a sudden, like a black goose started running down his face. Is that why his heart exploded? Because Papa Shango, I don't know. Papashango had put a curse upon the Ultimate Warrior. This is during kind of a fallow period in the WWF. Yes, I would.

Intermittent. It's not a high point. A lot of blank faces in the control room right now. What is going on? But there are definitely 1,400 wrestling fans listening right now. They're like, love Dan. Way to bring up Shango in a big spot. All right, let's move on.

Bartlett pumped his fist. Three on the hubble pop. Here's the step. Pass on the left side. I got a bubble, three set up. tackle right at the point to make. Oh, fumble football. Picked up by the Buccaneers.

Bucs have the ball. Tampa Bay is forced a takeaway. It's Mike Edwards with a football. Harlan Mack. Rolling on the field is fumble. And he fumble the ball. Tampa Bay Buccaneers forced the first takeaway of the ball game. Gene Decker off.

Bucks Radio Network. James Winston threw for 456 yards at four touchdowns, helping the Bucks rally. Beating the Colts, 3835. See, this is like a chase through the streets of old school Los Angeles. Cops and Robbers stuff. 1967. Wes, Winston also threw three interceptions, including his fifth pick six?

Wow. I have to double check that's that. But it's another quintessential Jamis game. What do you make of this wild up and down Jamis season? It almost seems like a Jamis season on steroids this year. Yeah, it's like a refined version of Jamis Winston. It's just, like, distilled through three hours of simmering into 450 yards, four touchdowns, and three interceptions, which is as James as you can possibly get. And he joins Gus Ferrat as the only other winning quarterbacks to reach those statistical markers in a game and still win.

Gus Ferrat. He should have had another interception that might have blown the game, but Pierre Desir dropped it in a 3528 game. And what happened after that was the Devin White fumble was huge, because. because it had come after Marcus Johnson, who had a pretty big game for the Colts, drew a long-pass interference penalty. Naeem Hines is in the Red Sun. The Colts are driving for the score

that's going to put the game away. Devin White pokes it out, and then James throws an interception right after that, throws behind Paramount and is tipped and goes to Malik Hooker, but he ends up coming back again with another opportunity, which Jacoby Brissette, I thought, for three quarters, played my favorite game I've ever seen in play. Just stepping up in the pocket,

getting away from pressure, taking chances downfield, and he never throws downfield. So it was nice to see him doing that, attacking downfield. He didn't do much in the fourth quarter, and James did. It should be noted. James Winston suffered what Bruce Ariens labeled a little bitty fracture in his right thumb. He played the second half with the injury. He had some issues gripping the football. So credit to Winston playing through an injury there.

Also, playing through the injury and putting the most, most yards on the Colts since that game. I know you guys remember this as soon as I say it. That game where Big Ben and Andrew Luck combined for like almost 100 points and what are your favorite games of all times? Maybe the best passing game I've ever seen by a pair of quarterbacks. Winston with Bruce Aryan, I guess this was, we should have known this was coming because it's like it's all riskits, it's all biscuits, it's all Winston, like you're getting everything

that you could possibly get. At least you are getting, you know, you're getting the interceptions, but at least you're getting the 456 and 4. It's like sometimes there's so much focus on the interception and you think like, maybe he's unlucky. No, he has the appropriate amount because there's a lot of dropped interception. But you are getting the 456 and 4. Like that should be, that should be accounted.

We got riskits, biscuits, and brisketes in this game. That's pretty good. That's good football. Are they going to bring him back now because of this late season? Well, that's the question I'm kind of posing. It's like. It sounds like they want to, yeah. If he annoyed you, if he's annoyed you his whole career,

if the bucks have been quietly or not so quietly doubting whether he's the guy, has this season reinforced their feeling or has it gone the other way? Do they see these big plays and the fact that he's going to throw for probably close to 5,000 yards and 35 touchdowns, whatever he's going to end up with, will they be swayed by that? You know that trope when people say, you know, there's open in college football where there's a big window you throw to, but in the NFL, you're only open if you have like a little bit of a step on the receiver. James Winston's open is like, if you have an inch,

on your cornerback, he's throwing it. And I think that's going to plague him for the rest of his career. Yeah, I think so, too. And I think the decision will be up to James Winston on some level because I think the Bucks will absolutely offer him a competitive enough contract. And I'm not sure anyone else, to me, he's going to be worth more to them than anyone else. And I think he's probably going to want to stay there, and it might get worked out before you even get to free agency.

It's kind of a hilarious season he's having, yes, that was his fifth Pips, pick six of the season. He's on pace to throw for 4,900 yards, averaging 8 yards attempt nearly 29 touchdowns and 27 interceptions. Rest in peace, the Colts, by the way. Yeah, they're done. Six and seven, it's over. You lost those two games behind now with three to play. Whereas Matt Gay drilled a field goal right after Pierre Desir dropped that interception,

the Colts missed another kick. Chase McLaughlin missed a kick today. And he made a couple too, but the Colts have missed 15. kicks this year the most in the NFL and it's cost them 33 points. Well, yeah, the 8 and 8, 10, and six line is thin. If your kicker keeps missing, you're going to probably end up on the wrong side of that. Let us move on. Andy Lee, will the punch net? Oh, gets it out of there, a big rush. Deontay Johnson has to chase it back. Takes it his own 17-yard line up to the 50, the 20, the 25, the 30. He's off to the races. 40, 50, 45, 40, 35, 30, 25, 20. There goes Deontay Johnson.

with a punt return touchdown. Guy don't see any markers down to you. Oh, Billy, I do not. And you know what? I was saying every time he catches the ball, you hold your breath. And now he finally took it to the house. His longest previous punt return, Tunch, was 14 yards.

Yeah. This one, to the house. Bill Hillgrove and Tunch Ilkin. Grove and Tunch in the morning. That's a good team. Steelers Radio Network. Deante Johnson, 85 yards to the house on a punt return. He also had a touchdown reception.

Steelers beat the Cardinals 2317 in Arizona, in Glendale, with a billion Steelers fans in attendance. Wes, the days of the killer bees and blowing off the doors off lesser teams like the Cardinals, that's over in Pittsburgh, at least for now. But hey, a dub is a dub, and the Steelers keep stacking. it would have been interesting to see if the Steelers blew the doors off this Cardinals team had Benny Snell not fumbled and given the Cardinals prime field position when the Steelers were

threatened to run away with the game early they let the Cardinals back into it and then it became a bit of a slug fest but I would say my opinion on their quarterback situation had a lot more to do with Mason Rudolph than Duck Hodges I've been a little bit fearful that Duck wouldn't get it done I mean he's not the most talented guy in the world Every week that goes by now, I'm a little more confident in Duck Hodges. You're starting to see that the receivers, James Washington, was coming off two big games back to back, and he drew a couple of penalties today that his numbers don't look as good as he played.

Deontay Johnson, after having an awful game last week, comes back and has his coming out party this year with the punt return, and then he had a great play in the red zone where you think he's getting tackled for a big loss, and his punt return skills come out, and he sets up his own touchdown with that play. He had a really nice game. Duck Hodges started out eight for eight on third downs, and he only missed three completions all game. So you're talking about a guy who is certainly not hurting his team and in many cases is helping his team. Greg, you mentioned the Chiefs and the Patriots as being so vastly different than they were in the AFC championship. The lineup and the box score for the Steelers week to week is ultra insane. I mean, obviously

it starts with Duck at quarterback, but Kyrith White is running for. for eight yards per carry. It's the Benny Snells. It's like everyone that was there is no longer there, and they are winning these games, and they currently had the tiebreaker over Tennessee. Well, defensive player of the year candidate, T.J. Watt, had an interception in the end zone on a play

where Kyler Murray probably could have kept the ball and run and picked up the first down or touchdown on fourth down, but he passed it instead. And I don't think Kyler is himself while playing through this. I think it's a hamstring injury. he's not really effective as a scrambler right now and that's a big part of his game and T.J. Watt, it was interesting that Tomlin told the CBS

crew, if you ask me in September who's the leader of your defense, it's Cameron Hayward and he said now it's definitely TJ. Watt and it's been fun to watch him just take ownership of that situation. Any concern of Kyler's decision-making, three interceptions, fumble, takes a lot of sacks. I know it's not a good offensive line but a lot of that is on him. It seems like

it's slowing down. Maybe it is this hamstring injury. Well, I think it's a combination of the hamstring injury and an erosion of trust with his offensive line, which I think early in the season, I was surprised he wasn't getting sacked more often considering how bad they were. And now it feels like it's been building up over time to the point where he doesn't trust him much. All right, Pittsburgh is chasing that wild card spot and they're in good position right now. Let's see another team. Let's check out another team gunning for a wild card slot. Mayfield shot count.

He's got the snap. Back, settles, looks up in the pocket, runs left to the corner. He's to the 10. He's to the 5. He dives around the pylon. No signal. Now they do. Touchdown.

Baker Mayfield. What a job by his body to hook around the pilot and get it in. As he runs it in from seven yards out on third and goal. So the Browns tie it at 13. Jim Donovan Browns Radio Network with a call Yes, Baker Mayfield didn't throw for a touchdown But he did run for one

As did Cream Hunt Nick Chubb went over 100 Including 99 after the halftime break Cleveland stays alive in the AFC playoff picture 2719 win Over the Bengals who come down to Earth After their first win of the year mark This doesn't sound like a flawless effort for the Browns

But hey, need the win, got the win. Well, I don't really specialize in flawless efforts. And my biggest concern with the way this game started was that this is a, Cincinnati is the worst run defense in the league. And they've played better of late. And it's not, you know, that's the collective stats there. But Cleveland had Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt with 17 combined yards at halftime. In a game that I thought, this was where you just at home pound away with your best player,

Nick Chub, and use Kareem Hunt the way you've used them. and don't put Baker-Mayfield into strange situations through the air. They took them a long time until that touchdown, we just showed, to get their flow together. And then from there, they took care of business. And you look at the stats, and it's like Andy Dalton, no touchdowns, and he had a pick six. I thought he played pretty well, actually.

I mean, it's just that there's not much around Andy Dalton. Joe Mixon had one of his best games of the year. The Browns, to me, are not a playoff team on any level at this point, because they seem to be, I think, definitely a year away in a lot of different categories and ways of really being an effective offense at all. They seem mentally discombobulated in terms of their game planning. I don't trust their coaching staff to adjust at halftime

or to go into the game with the best way to attack. No, they gave up 27 first down to the Bengals. They were outgained by 120 yards. Mayfield through two interceptions. Well, hold on one of them, can I just say one of them? He was like, Dave and Njoku catching the ball and falling on his back, and everyone thought it was going to be, A, a catch, then B, and the Joku fumble, and then it was ruled a Baker Mayfield interception.

But still. Right. Just that it was a day where their red zone defense ultimately saved him. I think the Bengals were one for five in the red zone. And the feel, the fact that Baker Mayfield's going under 50% completion, I know he had some big plays against the Bengals. And then the fact that after the game, the conversation is about Odo Beckham, where Jay Glazer, before the game, says this Odell Beckham talk,

how he's not committing to Cleveland long term, which kind of came from a press conference, you know, last week pops up, and then after the game, Baker Mayfield's kind of throwing his training staff under the bus. We have that sound. Let's listen to. I'd say that, you know, it wasn't handled right. He's not able to run as well. as he should be able to, as well as he knows, and that's frustrating for him.

You can sense that's some of his frustration where that comes from, so it wouldn't handle the right way in our training room, so it is what it is. And so his not 100% is still good enough for us. I feel like Browns fans have experienced every kind of frustration under the sun, and this year has brought a new one that every time you win a game, you're not talking about the football, you're talking about some other controversy after the fact. Do you never get a chance to unwind and enjoy a win? He's a smart guy, right?

What is Mayfield things going to happen when you make that comment? Trying to stand up for it. He's trying to make... Isn't there a smart way to do that? Of course. I mean, because that becomes the story that he's throwing his team under the bus in a way. And even if his intentions are noble, which is to say, I'm on OBJ's side, all you guys are getting on him that he's having a down year.

But this is one thing you don't do. And like, Wes is saying, it's just... It should be about the Brown's saying alive, and it said it's going to be about Baker, Maldenoff, about his team. He did come out and apologize strongly on Twitter for not wanting to make it seem like he's throwing. No, I get it, but he just did. But part of it is you haven't heard much from Odell Beckham at all.

And I think that he is speaking for someone who typically is the person drawing all this media fire. I hear you, though. I mean, it's like I'm not just going to stick up for Baker Mayfield because I'm a Brownsman by nature. It just makes the organization look better. First of all, that Oda Beckham wants out. And then second, that the quarterback is sort of blaming the organization.

So you got to think as the leader, like you want to make your organization look good. Baker is going to be there long term, whether OBJ is, you know, or not. And I get that he's trying to stick up for him. And it helps explain maybe, you know, Beckham's poor year. But does it also explain why Beckham made that comment in the first place that he's maybe upset behind the scenes at how the Browns have handled. I think that would. I think when you see splits and we've seen. seen it this year in Washington, too.

When there are issues between player and medical staff, that can lead to the force. There's still so much upside, though, with Baker and that offense and O'Dell. I think it would be a huge mistake if Beckham forced his way out of town. There's no sense digging on that because we don't know there's so much to be told in that story, but... They need an offseason. Stick around. I cannot think of a team that needs to just flush this experience.

Turn the page. You won today, though, Mark. You won. But he's right, though. Every win feels tinged with something. darker that you can't really find... Tainted. Just you can't enjoy it.

Shout out, though, before we go, to Zach Taylor, the Bengals coach for having Randy Bullock line up for a 46-yard field goal with 12 seconds to go. Hey, Dr. Rainmaker. Do you get credit. Oh, I don't want a log version. What is this? Because it brought the rain at the last second. Wait, like, you want to hear this.

Turn it up. Here comes the rain again. Here comes the rain again. Never again. Lean in. Oh, boy, the voice. Greg, what concerns me is you were actually the lead singer of a band at some point. Yeah, why are you so ashamed of the voice that sold four copies of an album?

How do you want to cook, at least sold like 47? What a great title. Wait, do you think you sold 47 copies? That means there's at least 47 copies out there. I mean, did you give away? I don't know. Is that how you sang for that band? I just want to know if that was like you're saying more of like a, no, we wasn't trying to hit those tough notes.

We just did the throwback pod. talking arcade fire, Greg, who would, because every singer, whether he admits to or not, is influenced by someone out there that he listened to or looked up to. That was really a singer. Who would be the voice that you maybe modeled yourself after during your days fronting Delaware, the emo goth band in Western. Not an emo band, not a goth band. I would say the dead milkman, whoever that guy is.

The dead milkman. Not a lot of people would answer the dead milkman for that question. All right. Let us move on to the NFC. Back to the NFC. So it's first and goal Vikings in a scoreless game from the Lions 9. Alexander Madison, the tailback, play action. Kirk, straight drop to the end zone.

Caught touchdown, D.C. Bowl up, B.C. Johnson has caught two touchdowns in his many games against the Detroit Lions. And the Vikings have taken a 6-0 lead. Ooh, Paul Allen's one of the zero-truthers. I've had some words with Matt Money-Smith about this, because money is also a zero-truther. There's no six-nothing. When he's calling the game, it's six-zero.

It doesn't sit well with me. I agree with you 100%. It's technically correct, and that's why a real broadcaster, like a money, or a Paul Allen, does do it. But I don't love it. Wait, you don't like money's take on it? I don't.

He's a six-zero guy. He's a zero-truther. And I respect money, but I don't agree. He'd be allowed to make his own call? He is. He is. So what's the problem? I'm just saying he, I'm a 20-0 guy.

I understand what 20-0 means. I don't need it to be 20-0. I'm a traditionalist. I'm a nothing guy. Would it kill him to throw in a little bupkis or zatz? No, they don't do that. What is the exact definition for the zero numeric? Zero.

I mean, there are reasons that Matt Money-Smith has been hired to call games. Hey, he's a pro. Some of us have not. He's a pro's pro. B.C. Johnson had a touchdown, And Danielle Hunter had three sacks, five for Minnesota. Their defense needed a big game. They got it.

Took care of business against the Lions. 20 to 7. Six straight losses for the Lions. And Minnesota, the win as they continue to charge towards a playoff spot. Now, let us welcome in. Nick Shook. Oh, my God. Who's straight out of the gym.

He's lending us a hand on a full Sunday slate. Shook, how are you, buddy? I'm great. I'm still captivated by that audio clip of Here comes the rain. Thank you. Thank you, Nick. Here comes the rain.

And by the way, are you a zero-truther also? No, I'm cool. You can use nothing. I didn't even think about that until you brought that up. I mean, technically it's correct. And if you want to be a stickler for it, then yeah, but now you can use nothing. Nothing's fine for me.

Shook's at every man. That's why I love him. Anyway, Shook, so yeah, we needed a hand. and those big masculine meat paws of yours are going to help us out here talking Detroit, Minnesota. We know where the lions are at this juncture, which is a very bad place. But what was your big takeaway from the Vikings in this game? You know, they did enough. I think, you know, their defense was the story of the day.

You know, the five sacks that you mentioned, really shutting down anything that Detroit could do. It was more of a game where statistically, if you look at, you know, the line Kirk Cousins had, it's really good. but oftentimes they couldn't really take advantage or just didn't take advantage of the opportunities that they had. But they took advantage of enough opportunities to win the game. It's not like the task was that great, you know, considering the Lions team that they were playing. And they got a really big boost at the end of the half.

There was like a minute and a half left. And the Lions, you know, tried to settle for a field goal, missed that field goal, and then the Vikings hit a big play to Stefan Diggs, ended up cap, and it was a Dalvin Cook touchdown run, and it pretty much felt over from there, and it ultimately was. I think that was pretty much the turning points.

It's one of those games where you have a team that's clear, superior and just needs to do just enough to win and get to the next week, and that's what we had here. Did Dalvin Cook look like a guy playing through an injury, or did he look like an MVP candidate? Handoffs-wise, you know, carries-wise, he looked like somebody was playing through an injury, but I didn't notice that much of an issue with him running the football. He still looked explosive.

He still looked strong through the hole. You know, I was watching the Browns game in this game at the same time, and I was getting, you know, frame-by-frame comparisons of him and Nick Chub, and I was thinking of myself, If I had to pick a running back to start with, I would pick Dalvin Cook over Nick Chubb. He's just more explosive from the backfield through the line of scrimmage, then a guy like Nick Chubb, not to knock anything against him. So he looked fine. I just think, you know, it was a game where he could have sat out,

and I wouldn't have had an issue with it. I mean, Alexander Madison still had 14 carries for 46 yards, and I think he would have done a good enough job. But again, you're kind of fending off the Rams who are coming up on their tails, and you're also trying to still win your division. So I understand why he played. I don't think it's a huge issue going forward. For those of us that started a fan club based on the exploits of David Blow,

should the Blauards be concerned about the overall arc of where we're at with this quarterback right now? Wow Hard Nation wants to know. Well, you know, every time Blow takes the field, there's a certain term for that span of time. It's called Blower Hour. Oh, yeah. Blower Hour wasn't so great this week. Through a couple interceptions, one of them was really bad and kind of killed their only strong drive at the second half.

But again, I mean, he's handed the ball off to both. Scarborough and you know he connected with Kenny Galladay on a garbage time touchdown that's pretty much the majority of what happened you know what they're dealing with here they're just not a full strength team and especially not with a full strength quarterback so everybody loves David Blow and having spent training camp covering him

I also enjoyed David Blow and his magic tricks you know he's good with the cards and everything but wow were you just dismissive of all of us bohemians out there because we like what we got our guy It won the rookie show in Berea.

I'll tell you that, but I don't know how far it's going to take him in the NFL. Wow. Shout out to Daniel Hunter, the youngest player in NFL history to get to 50 sacks. I feel like he gets slept on as one of the great pass rushers. This year, he's second and sacks, fifth and hits, first in hurry. 79 pressures this year by Daniel Hunter. He just does it week after week. And it feels like he's even better in that dome in their home stadium

where they have an advantage against, you know, with the crowd noise. He just plays so well in that dome. Shook. You believe in the Vikings before we say goodbye? I'm looking at their 9 and 4. Right now they're the, they're the, where are they? They are this projected sixth seed. They got at-chargers, home packers, home bears.

Tell us where the Vikings end up New Year's Day. Right now, let us know. Well, on the spot. They could still win their division. I mean, I think that the Packers. In week 16, I believe that they'll beat the Packers. I don't fully believe in the Packers. Every time they've come against a team that they face a strong test against,

they've fallen short, and I think that they might fall short against this team. As long as Kirk Cousins can play well statistically and on tape, because sometimes there's a difference, and he's only done that really in the big moment once in his career, so he needs to do that. But I think they're equipped enough. You know, Greg mentioned DeNeil Hunter and everything that he's done.

This is really two strong seasons for him in a row that he's a premier pass rusher, and I think they can ride that defense. As long as their offense does enough, As long as Kirk Cousins looks better than just a sterling stat line, they could beat the Packers, they could win the division, and they could make a serious run. Do I think they'll beat the Niners or another team like that in the playoffs? I don't think so, but I think they're good enough to compete.

All right, and I'm just curious before we say goodbye, now that you're back in the NFL.com family, which are so excited about, these Sundays, they're long Sundays. You're covering a lot of the NFL watching TV all that. Do you get a chance to get a pump on a Sunday? Actually, no. Usually, I mean, if I get up early enough, That's a revelation.

No. It's been a designated off day. It's all football. That's what's fueling me on. Are you as committed to your physique as you were when we knew you here? That's the question that had to be asked. Thank you, Barr. Yes, of course.

Absolutely. All right. That's got a really weigh on your mind while you're sleeping on Sunday nights that you didn't get a pump in. You know, it does. Not at all. See this guy? I don't carry the past day's failures at all. I just move forward.

Always forward, never back. Shook, we're probably going to need your help again in the coming week, so we'd love if you could rejoin. us down the line. Does that work for you? Yeah. Lyons every week for you, by the way. We'll hook you up with a better game before we say goodbye to the 2019 regular season. Nick Shook, thanks, buddy. Thank you. Speaking of those Packers, and the snap to give Jones up the middle, cuts it back, straight ahead to the end zone. He dies in for the touchdown. And the Packers take a six-nothing lead, four-yard touchdown run

by Aaron Jones in a Lambo lead to the South. And zone stand. Aaron Jones, he'd been gone for a while, but he's back, 134 yards, season high total. And only 16 carries, Aaron Rogers. He threw it for a buck 95 and a touch. Packers, 2015 win over the Redskins at Lambeau Field. Wes, I didn't see a second of this one. 2015, tell us about it.

What? I am so tired of hearing every week how many passes Aaron Rogers has gone without an interception. if you hold the ball instead of throwing it, there's no chance of getting intercepted. Oh, no. You know what he's saying. Plug in everybody. Read between the lines.

I love Aaron Rogers, but this has been a story, whether it's Mike McCarthy or Matt LaFleur, for it seems like three or four years now. Why is Aaron Rogers holding the ball? Is it because his receivers aren't getting open? Or is it because the quarterback needs for the perfect play to be there

in order to release the ball? Probably a little bit of column A, a little bit of column B. This was a big part. of this game, and maybe we're not talking about it if Rogers doesn't throw slightly behind Jay Sternberger on a potential touchdown. If Jimmy Graham was the Saints version of Jimmy Graham and leaped up for a catch in the red zone on a pretty decent Aaron Rogers throw. That version's long gone. It's long gone, and I thought Graham should have made the catch,

but, you know, that's the ghost of Jimmy Graham. Aaron Jones on a third down, Rogers just barely missed him on a play that would have gone for a lot of yards. So this is what we talk about with Air Rogers almost after every game. They just missed on a series of plays where the throws were pretty good. But when you hold the ball for so long and you can't convert third downs, you tend to talk about the plays you just miss

because you're not talking about the plays you made. How about Haskins, little progress report? He has a major sack issue, like to the point where it's a James Winston interception issue. He... I knew that was coming. Desjohn? Like, go to the doctor.

Let's put this in perspective. Deshawn Watson's sack rate last year was 10.9% when he got sacked the fifth most times by a quarterback in NFL history. Haskins is at 14%. Case Keenham was at 6% behind the same offensive line. This is a Haskins issue, and whoever coaches them next year we have to spend the offseason working on. Pretty common one for rookie quarterbacks. Certainly, probably the most common one, just holding the ball too long. He played through an injury today, 6.3 yards per 10. The result doesn't surprise me. The fighting Calhands stay in each game.

You love Bill Galangett. This was more about the Packers than the Redskins. Okay, but it doesn't surprise me on the Packer side either because I'm with Nick that I don't know what you have right now with this Packers team. Great record. I'm the same place. This is the ninth time this year Aaron Rogers has had a passer rating under 100 in a game. That should not be happening.

It just feels like a clear middle tier to a collection of like the Vikings and the Packers. I know you asked Nick if he can see them making a run. I can see them winning a playoff game. I simply don't buy that with the Vikings, and I don't see that with Green Bay at all. I'm with you, and yet they're intriguing. Because some years, that's the best you got. Like, some years, teams like this are a one or a two seed,

and it's kind of fun. If these guys are the end of the NFC playoffs, like that is a fun little tourney. All right, let's rip through three games that have, I was going to say, zero implications, but I'm not going to do it. I'm going to say no implications. Bingo, nailed it.

They've got to be alert for pressure here. Here it comes. Yep, Ryan from the pocket. Going to take the shot. Zakeas is out there. Alameday's first professional catch. He breaks away. And Alameday, Zakias, is going to go to the house.

93 yards. Unbelievable. Dante Jackson got caught in the dust. They came with a sellout blitz. Zero coverage. And Alamedes Zichias. The ultimate leader receiver in Virginia history finally gets clean and finally gets an opportunity

to be put up the bat, and the rookie delivers big time. It's almost like West Durham and David Archer, the Falcons Radio Network, had a little inside joke side bet. Who could say his name the most on that call? On Roddy White Day in Atlanta, Alameday Zacchaeus, hauled in, yes, a touchdown passer, Matt Ryan. That was the longest in the great quarter. quarterback's career. 93 yards. The Falcons double up the Panthers, 40 to 20. Greg, I feel like this is a

meaningless NFC South tilt. You'd be weirdly excited about. Not too excited. I mean, it was a lot of point. It could have been worse. The bloom is off the Falcons rose. Yeah. I guess it can go two ways when you're an interim head coach. You can either kind of have a couple fun wins and become a new personality, Big Arms from Dan Campbell or Joe Vitz press conference. Or you can be Perry Fuel who gives up 40 points or his defense gives up 40 points and then his cornerback Dante Jackson after the game blames that play

and a couple others on his awful, horrible calls. For not practicing these situations throughout the week and that they didn't make any sense. This was a season. Of course, he gave up that play. He's going to be running laps this week. Remember when we were in London,

we watched the Panthers and they... It was not that long. and they beat the Falcons and they were riding high, these seasons can turn quickly in our league. Kyle Allen, pretty grim. The Falcons have intercepted Kyle Allen more than the rest of all their games combined.

So they love facing Kyle Allen. They own Kyle Allen. The four and nine Falcons will never lose to Kyle Allen. Let's move on. All right then. Eckler, now in for Gordon. Not wide to the numbers right, and the slot is Henry left. We've got a linebacker on Echler.

And here comes the quick blitz. There's Echler. Gets a block. 20, 25, 30. It's a foot race, 40, 50. Into Jack's territory, 30, 20. Austin Echler to the end zone. Touchdown.

Chargers. Austin Echler is having himself a day. And Keenan Allen cannot stop dancing. 84 yards. There was nobody there. I mean, you had blockers and two defenders. And once he got by that first line, Superfluous is what it is.

Matt Money Smith, there he is. And Daniel Jeremiah. With a call KFI AM, Phil Rivers threw for 314 yards, three touchdowns including an 84-yarder to Austin Echler. The longest completion in the history of Philip Rivers footballing. The Chargers are the latest team to humiliate the Jaguars, 45-10, Mark, in a tough year,

it was a happy birthday to your boy, Philly Rivers. It was a celebration. We did a Sky Sports hit that Mark was very excited about Phil Rivers. Oh, good. I'd tee him up on it. I like to hear that. I thought one of the more depressing visual sights has been Philip Rivers over the past couple weeks, and it was a week ago that, you know,

whispers are bubbling up that he's going to be benched. We have Tyrod Taylor warming up on the sideline. but you know what fixes these kinds of problems, the defense of the Jaguars, which at this point is beyond a ghost. I don't know what you want to talk about not coaching well on defense and not figuring out how to handle these assignments. This was a game where the Chargers basically looked at what's happened to Jacksonville over the past three or four weeks and said, all we need to do is take deep shots down the field over and over. We will unleash Austin Echler for 200 plus yards off of 9.5. Touches.

The best receiving back in football. I mean, wouldn't you rather have him than Leonard Fortinette? I don't even think it's a question. Oh, absolutely. No doubt. It's crazy to think. It's a passing league.

He had these insane runs of 35 yards, 27 yards, 23 yards. This was a game that I had to write up for the site, and it played about as beautifully as one could ever hope for a project like that, because the game was over in like 12 minutes. You knew it was over, and it never let up. Philip Rivers, instead of having to watch

Tyrod Taylor warm up and take his job was sitting by the beginning of the fourth quarter because it was like this game is absolute curtains and it's over. And the Jaguars are as disorganized as they come right now. And you know what? Gardner Minshu did not play well. He also simply has no chance to and neither did Nick Foles. And I can't help but wonder if you're the Jaguars and who knows who's going to be around a month from now or who's even going to care about what's happening next season. I might get another look at Nick Foles for a couple games because no, no, I'll tell you why, because this point, you're putting Gardner Minchew in a bad situation. Oh, this year?

This year, I'm saying I have no problem with doing that because it's like you have to figure out what you're doing. You think whoever they play is going to get hurt or ruined? I just, I don't like any quarterback's chances in this office. An $88 million contract if it's about like saving a guy from injury. I don't know, man. I'm not employed by an NFL front office. It's just a reminder that this never, as bad as falls was last week, it has nothing

do with the quarterback. This is, this team is just completely packed it up. I mean, they're the worst team in the NFL. They have not been, it is hard in the NFL to lose by three scores or more five straight weeks. And some of these games are like five scores. That's how much they're losing by. They have lost five straight all by 17 points, at least 17 points. The 1986 Buccaneers, the last team to drop five straight by at least 17.

That's what I'm saying. This is the worst team in the NFL. Free fall. The Bengals went over the 90s and never did that? Yep. Greg, you put it on my radar last week. This is going to be an epic free fall. down the old power rigs.

You hate to see it. For the Jaguars. How much farther can they fall from where they were last week? I mean, they're going to the 32, I think. I think you got to put them down there. And you know what? This is what it looks like when a team quits on its coach, and it's not pretty west.

Well, I think they're gone. I think Greg talked about this a couple weeks ago. Everybody's gone there. Finally, let's head to the swamps of Jersey. Brian Flores is not near the officials. I don't think so. I think they're going to let him. Kicking, 44 yards away for Fickin to try and win it.

Out of the whole event was. Clean spot. Kick on the way. It is good. Inside the right, upright for Sam Fickett. And on the last play of the game, the Jets pull it out. They win it over Miami 22 to 21. Nice call, Bob with shoes in.

He ain't playing out the string. Sam Fickin. Kick that 44-yarder as time. expired, given the Jets a 2221 comeback win over the Dolphins, the game that, and if you're watching it on YouTube or you watch this game, you're watching us

on YouTube, I should say, you see Brian Flores running, sprinting toward midfield as the Jets celebrated because this game for me will be in a game between two teams far out of contention. Another

example of the past interference rule, which was they change this rule in the middle of the season. Which not the only one. I mean, they say they didn't. They say they didn't, but for the past three weeks, something has changed. And what it is is they're now calling it closer to the letter of the law

rather than it have to be something absolutely egregious to change. And of course, coaches are mad. Not that they're now getting the calls, they're actually changing the calls where a guy actually is interfered with, it's that that they don't know what to expect anymore. and that's why Flores was so mad. And let me just give you a little context of how big the call was.

The Jets were facing a third and 18 from about their 40-yard line with less than a minute to go, no timeouts. And Sam Darnold, incomplete. So they're set up now, they're near midfield, actually. They're set up fourth and 18 near midfield, no timeouts needing a field goal to win.

In other words, the dolphins were set up for the win, and they buzzed down and call. pass interference on Nick Needham. And the jets to their credit move another 15 or so yards down the field and then kick the field go. So the dolphins have every right to be angry. It was the right call, I should say. He was interfered with, but it's just the fact that they've been inconsistent with it.

And the one thing that they've kind of not gotten right here is, I think it's clear. It's like you couldn't have corrective steering in the middle of the season. You kind of had to pick a way to handle this and stick with it. If you change mid-season without making any type of announcement, which, of course, you would never do. It's just going to lead to confusion and frustration, and that's what we saw at MetLife Stadium. Shout out to Jason Sanders, who went seven for eight and field goals.

Well, this game had the most field goals. You don't see that too often. This game had the most field goals by two teams in NFL history. It was like a John Fox, Jeff Fisher, Fever Dream. The box score, these teams are as even in the box score as any game all season. I don't know what that means, if it says anything. 22 first downs, one each one team's, four for 13 on third down.

The other is five for 13, eight seconds apart in time of possession. I mean, Dolphins, Jets, hey, they will not be in last place the Jets. They will get that third place schedule now because they won this game. And I just want my last note, and I even checked in with NFL media research,

because I was like, because the Jets defense wasn't great, they gave up seven scoring drives, but they're all field goals. Has there ever been a case where a team punted just once, which the Dolphins did, without scoring a touchdown?

And it turns out that it happened once last season, but just six times since 2000. So it's rare but not hardly unprecedented. No Jamal Adams. No, Jamal Adams. No Levy on Bell. Sam Donald played a fairly poor game here. So the Jets are lucky to get the win.

And you never, even in a lost season, you don't want to get swept by the Dolphins. As bad as this rivalry is right now, it's falling on hard times. Don't want to ever get swept. And Hank has to eat that, handsome Hank, Hank, the Dolphinsman. Which takes us to some.

Sunday night football. Jared Gough, Undercente, looking to build on a 21-9 lead. He gives the Gurley. He tries the left side to the perimeter. A vicious stiff arm, and he goes in on his feet. Touchdown, Todd. Gurley, touchdown, L.A. With 11-07 to go in regulation, it's out to 27-9.

And for Gurley, it's his 12 touchdown in nine games against the Seahawks. Chris Wesselin's neighbor. J.B. Long with the call. Todd Gurley goes over 100 yards from scrimmage in a 28 to 12 Rams victory. I'm Greg. You know me. I've been on the show this whole time. But Dan had to step away. Take care of some family matters. So we are wrapping up Sunday night football in style. And the Rams, Chris Wesleyan, are making a playoff push. Didn't think they had it in them. They were the team last week that most convinced me. They were just different than when we were. we saw early in the season.

They are a different team now. It starts with Todd Gurley being back, and we saw it tonight. Mark, several times throughout the game, it seemed like in the second and third quarter, you said Gurley is running really tough tonight. And Tyler Higby, who before last week had played 62 games and it only top 50 yards twice in those 62 games, back-to-back 100-yard performance. Wow. And it looks like Todd Heap and his prime out there.

He's been wasting away as a blocker. They need that, and that's a big added element to their offense. They were doing a lot of jet sweeps tonight with Josh Reynolds and Robert Woods and friends and, you know, just finding creative ways to attack Seattle. I thought that when the Rams won me over in this game was you had the Gough pick six. Next possession, the Rams come back and throw another interception. You can feel the potential meltdown beginning to happen. In Seattle, beginning to do what they do.

Whatever the deficit is, they're going to find their way back in. But the Rams defense has been lights out the past couple weeks, and they put the clamps on Russell Wilson tonight. I came into this game saying, all right, Aaron Donald, this defensive player of the year is kind of up in the air right now. Go make a statement. And he did. I think you saw the four quarterback hits.

You saw a tackle for loss. You saw a sack and a half. And you saw what he does, kind of like Lamar Jackson opens up plays for his teammates. Aaron Donald opens up plays for Dante Fowler and Samson Ebbcon, who both had single blocking opportunities. all night, and even on plays where Donald is kind of darting inside, there was one where he had three or four blockers on him, and then Fowler gets around the edge. Clay Matthews had a big hit

on Russell Wilson on a key spot, and the Seahawks, who scored six points on offense, because they got that pick six. Basically, Collinsworth said it, but I agree, like when they just have to pass protect, they're a bad pass protecting team. And I know we're picking on the Seahawks. They're due to have one bad game. But 10 and 3, I would be a little concerned by this result, that they weren't competitive in this spot. Concerned enough about a playoff spot? Or just concerned that they won't be riding momentum when they go into the spot?

I guess I've been concerned all year that the offense works on a lot of low percentage plays. And Russell had his chance for him tonight where a couple deep plays to lock it that they just didn't hit. But you're counting on Russell Wilson to make magic. The running game is a little up and down. The defense, at least tonight, their big players clowny and Bobby Wagner, didn't step up. That won't be the case every week.

But it's just been a very slim margin for error. I mean, they have about as many two-score wins, I think, as the Miami Dolphins do this year. Every game is down to the wire, and that would worry me a little bit. It's a little slimmer margin, too, because Rashad Penny, who we had seen emerging as that sort of Robin to Chris Carson's Batman,

it just goes down with a bad knee injury, and he was on crutches with a large, knee brace after the game. That looked like it might be a season ender. Ruled out really quickly, and that's been a one-to punch for them. I thought if you're a Rams fan, the reason that there's hope is that outside of the interceptions for golf, when they're using him outside of the pocket, he looked really good tonight. He made some big plays. And they're just, their offense is starting to show work in concert a little bit. And my biggest issue with them was that they were not only not running well, they were boring to watch. This Rams team tonight

had some juice, a completely different situation. Like rhythm. They're, Higby was killing the linebackers, Gough was hitting throws in rhythm. The first third and four of the game, he hits Robert Woods on a crosser, and it was those plays that you saw all the time a year ago, but then you're also seeing some new elements of the offense with Higby following Everett up. Gerald Everett was playing really well before he got hurt, and then Goff being on the move, and then Todd Gurley running with some heat. I know you didn't have a monster game stats-wise, but you can just tell the juice is back. And the whole narrative, it's like, well, Sean McVeigh, you know, he said he was an idiot

for not giving him the ball early. Sean McVeigh is just putting that on him because he's a good coach. Anyone that thinks that they made a mistake because of Todd Gurley's usage in the first half of the season, we're watching the game. He's just playing better now. He's a different player right now. He wasn't making anyone miss then. He was trying to run them over because he couldn't go around them. And at mid-season, you mentioned Gerald Everett. It looked like Cooper Cup and Gerald Everett might be the two players who raised the level of the offense. Instead, it's been Gurley, Higby, and Woods.

They showed that graphic on Sunday night football. The first trio with back-to-back 100-yard games each since the 2000 Vikings. Think about what kind of a day it has been for 49ers fans. You win one of the most electrifying

franchise altering wins of late early on against the Saints and now this happens tonight and because Seattle was sitting in the driver's seat with that week 17 showdown coming had they won this thing. And now that game, which probably should be flexed into that night spot, it better be happening.

Seattle's got two winnable games coming up here before they play the 49ers in week 17. They're almost guaranteed to be playing for home field advantage. The only way that they wouldn't be is if the 49ers blow it the next couple weeks. I don't think that's going to happen. It was kind of a perfect night. I mean, the Seahawks offense got bogged down on a couple of drops, some things that were preventable.

But the Rams have played their two best games. of the year in a row, much like the Falcons two years ago, much like the Eagles a year ago, the NFC champs like shaking off the hangover. You know, a hangover lasts until late November, and the fact that they got a win tonight means they could enjoy what was ultimately kind of a silly moment.

Some might say it's embarrassing. I would say it was delightful. It involved the Rams cheerleaders. Let's take a listen. You still have it. You made the cheerleaders off the field. All right. That was preface.

by Jared Goff stepping up to the line of scrimmage about to snap it and they had to stop play and then there was about a 10 second delay and you could not have been more delighted. I love things like this, you know, the bags almost getting lost for the Chiefs and them having to maybe forfeit a game was one of my favorite narratives in a weird football season. This was right up there and I think if you go watch that clip again

if you find it on Game Pass, it's the presence of this gigantic absurd Rams mascot. The ringleader, if you will. Right, sandwiched in between all these cheerleaders trying to get, you know, just controlled chaos. It's like Charlie's Angels. Plus, you could watch games for another 100 years, and you may never hear this again.

You still remember. You made the cheerleaders off the field. All right. Just perfect. Al and Chris taking us home in style. That's it for the show. You know, we miss Dan here at the end, but he will be back on Tuesday.

We'll be back on Thursday to preview all the week 15 games, and it keeps rolling on and on. It's the home stretch. We're here. This train is rolling. Get it over with it. That Tuesday show is going to have a 35-minute recap of Giants. Eagles.

I don't get right. Let's go home. For Dan Hansis, our host, Erica Tamposi, Ryan Bartlett, Mark Sessler, Chris Wesleyan, and me is the old boss. See you Tuesday. I'm going to be able to be. Hey everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here.

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