NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 2020 Week 5 Recap

Episode Date: October 12, 2020

A room filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler and Gregg Rosenthal recap every game from Week 5 starting with the Raiders big upset over the Chiefs (5:30) and a horrible season ending injury in Dallas (10:55). The Browns are the real deal (25:01) and Baltimore is rolling (39:29). Alex Smith had his comeback game (44:10) and the Seahawks/ Vikings made for some great SNF (1:04:39) .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. The Around the NFL podcast is slowly taking over the Baltics. Yeah, we are. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hanses coming to you from a virtual room filled with some heroes. Mark Sessler, Greg Rosenthal. What is up, boys? Hey, now, Danny.

I think they've got to. I think they've got. us confused with um jack easterby who literally probably is creating designs to take over territories and countries i don't know what what is our strategy to usurp the belt the Balkans i don't know if that's if we can we can't even find our way to you know cross town we go to a super bowl week that's true that's that's when we need our general kevin patra um no chris wessling today um as everyone knows Wes is in another fight right now against the big sea and uh you know before we get going today it's it's incredible for us to be able to see it but you the listeners don't always

i'm sure you can hear it because you could hear it in west's voice the fight that he's putting in on this uh but um how much of his heart he's putting into doing these shows and doing the work writing on the website the great cuby index and um doing the tape study and still delivering top Wes analysis, and we're so lucky that we've had Wes to this point this season. But today is kind of a reminder of the fight that he's up against and how it takes so much out of him. And I know all the listeners, obviously, boys are 110% behind Chris. And we don't want to, you know, put undue focus on his fight. But at the same time, like when he's not here on today's show. It's more like an appreciation of what he's been able to do while going through

this situation all over again. Yeah, I think this last week's been a tough one. If people knew, and Wes has been public about it, the back pain that he said, what he's going through, like, waiting for like a four-hour window where he's not feeling as much back pain so he can pound out like one of the best like 3,000 word QB index columns like on the internet. It's really, it's kind of amazing how he's been pushing through. So I echo all your thoughts, Dan Wilson. And I would say that the handoff from Greg to Wes on QB Index is sort of a Brett Farr of Aaron Rogers type scenario. I mean, I really, it's two people that couldn't work harder on those pieces, but you're getting Wes right now. Those are the vibrant hours of his week, and he's putting it into watching

Game Pass, and those things have been like so juicy to read. I mean, there's just not, as people have said not a wasted word. So anything that Wes offers. You almost have the analogy, Mark. What? Because it wasn't with, you know, Farvin Rogers, direct handoff. This is more like the Colts where it was, of course, Peyton Manning, then the Curtis Painter Year, and now Andrew left. I didn't want to dig in too deep on the brief interlude between the two giants. So I, you know, I kind of left that off, off that. But you've flamed our editing desk so that they can handle that on their own. I would never do anything like that. They do great work as well. So anyway, keep the fight, Wes. We love you. This is the flagship program. Nick Shook's going to join us in just a little

bit. Usually he joins us later in the show, but one of the games he covered happened to have, you know, the biggest injury story of the season. So we're going to get to that. Also, I guess we should just knock it out in terms of little league news up top before we get to the first game. The NFL in the middle of the early games today, uh, dropped a bomb press release. Um, that's not like 1990 slang. Like, oh, the release was the bomb. No, it was like a bomb. Yeah. Basically how they've juggled their regular, regular season schedule because of coronavirus outbreaks. The Titans and Patriots, um, of course, affected directly by that, but nine teams are affected by the schedule, um, reconfiguration. Some, um,

over a period of weeks through November 22nd, New England, Tennessee, Denver, Buffalo, Kansas City, Miami, L.A. Chargers, New York Jets, and Jacksonville, Jaguars. Denver's game at New England originally scheduled for Sunday, then moved to Monday night when the Patriots had more COVID-19 tests. Now will be played next Sunday afternoon. Then that move came after the Patriots had another new positive test for COVID-19 on Sunday morning, according to a report. So unbelievable. No TNF this week. That was kind of my biggest takeaway from all the shuffling. Assuming Bill's Titans happens on Tuesday, yeah, they were scheduled on Thursday, and so there's no TNF game this week. I mean, it's still technically TNF if you want to just to go acronym for Tuesday night. That's going to be very weird. There you go. It's not really ever, you know, it's never happened during our show.

At Tuesday night, usually, you're in the clear to do other human things, not this time. Didn't we learn, though, through last Monday night, Mark, that there. very serious about the property infringement of different games that are connected to days, you know, the Monday night football snafu of Monday, you know, the less said the better. No, no, you're right. I mean, I'll probably be found in a van by the side of the highway at some point for, you know, going down that road. All right.

Let's get to the game starting with, to me, the most surprising outcome. It happened at Arrowhead. They have got to go. They're down two scores. Andy Reid knows it. They need seven yards here for a first down. Fourth down and seven. Here's Mahomes.

Back into the pocket. It holds. Fires deep down the middle. Intercepted. It is picked off by the Raiders. Jeff Heath, 20, 15, 10, 5. Yeah, baby.

Yeah, baby. First down and goal at the two-yard line. Brent Musburger. So crazy. It's Brent Musburger. It's like 300 years old. But you know what? That was a good call.

Was? who is doing all the Raiders games now for the past couple of years in Vegas, where he is running also an empire of some kind, I believe, Musburger. Anyway, Patrick Wilhelms was shut out for most of the second half through that late interception that was really a dagger, and the Raiders' offense piled up nearly 500 yards of offense on Kansas City and a 40 to 32 win over the defending champions, like I said, at Arrowhead.

And boys, this was a perfect day for the Raiders. You had Henry Ruggs, who's a big difference maker when he's in the lineup for this team because they desperately need that other guy. Josh Jacobs is a very nice running back. Darren Waller is a playmaking tight end. But you need that guy that could spread the defense and make big plays. And that's what Ruggs did with two long catches, including a touchdown. And Derek Carr, when you guys fire.

up the old game pass with this. You will be impressed. He, you know, a man that's often criticized for conservative play, we talked about on this podcast. I told him just the, it's okay to be Derek, Derek, Derek. And what he did today, the guy that gets killed for being a checkdown machine through two bombs for touchdowns had played with poise and precision, outplayed Patrick Mahomes. This one was for the haters of Derrick Carr.

And if you're the chiefs, yeah. Is it a bad game or a sign of bigger issues? I don't know yet, but it's quite a loss. Well, their offense hasn't been the same this year, and look, they put up a lot of points against the Raiders today, but to have a long stretch in the second half where they don't do anything, that's out of character. Almost all their numbers are out of character offensively,

but I think it's a reminder. It's like, players matter, and sometimes we're like, well, this team is banged up, but then we go on and kill them. but you get Trent Brown back who's an all-pro caliber tackle and you get your first round pick Ruggs back who when he's been on the field this year has absolutely made a big difference and suddenly a very good offense

turns maybe into a great offense and you get some plays and you coach around your defense what a win they've had a brutal schedule to be three and two despite this schedule and it doesn't really get much easier after the buy I think they have the bucks and then another really tough game that I'm forgetting off the top of my head.

But they've done amazing to be three and two at this point of this season. I mean, if you're a Raider supporter or if you're Derek Carr, or if you're everyone that's flamed Derek Carr left and right, including me. I mean, I've just never really loved his style of game. And a lot of it had to do with the fact

that while the league becomes a deep ball league, he doesn't seem to be part of that party. And today is the kind of win that you just can savor because you knocked out a team that is not just beaten you, but destroyed you in the Mahomes era at times. I mean, your defense especially. And you've beaten a arch rival. You've made it a rivalry again, at least for now.

It hasn't been for a long time. It's a division race, maybe. It's a division race, and Derrick Hard did it in a way that shuts everyone up. So it's a pretty sweet. It's about as sweet as Sunday as you could script for the Las Vegas Raiders. Right. Like I said, it was a perfect day for them, and it does show their ceiling. like when they are humming, which I didn't think they could play at this level,

and I'll point specifically at the defense. You know, they finished with over 20 pressures, the second most, I believe, that Mahomes has ever faced in a game. They forced, as you heard, his first interception of the season that nearly went back for a pick six. That came on a throw made from a crumbling pocket. And Colace O'Semle, who had been a big pickup for Kansas City, He went out of this game with an injury, so they also got dinged up on their offensive line, the Chiefs.

But to me, it's a great game and it's a fascinating game because I think there's big stories on both sides of this, that the Raiders' ceiling might be a little higher than we realized that our car might be a little bit more dynamic. I mean, we talk about it, and we'll get to the Dalton scale in a little bit. We talk about where he fits in the landscape and how players like him go up and down depending who they're with. Henry Ruggs is a superstar deep threat, you know, we are going to see Derek Carr start hitting on more of those big plays if everyone stays healthy. So nice job of the Raiders, Chiefs, and we'll see. Is this closer to the Chiefs team from a couple years ago where the defense was an issue and they had to score 40 points every week? Because usually that doesn't win the whole damn thing.

All right. Let's bring in Nick Shook now. Shooki gets called up to the early. portion of the show. We wish it was under better circumstances. Nick, how are you, by the way? I'm fantastic. I'm doing better than some people in the league are right now. Exactly. All right.

Let's hit the highlights of what went down in Jarrow World. Snap back, four-man rush. Deep ball down the right side for Gallup. Cut it. At the 15-yard line. And then out of bounds. The call from Brad Sham, the Sham God, and Babe Lathenberg of K-R-L-D. Yes, Michael Cal at Gallup had two incredible catches on the final Cowboys drive on passes thrown by Andy Dalton.

And Greg Belleg closed the game out with a field goal, Cowboys 3431 over the winless Giants. An important win for Dallas puts them in the first place in the woeful NFC East. But that was not the big story after the game. Not even close. Hittering. And here's the quarterback draw, up the middle of Prescott, bouncing out to the big story. the left across the 20. He's inside the Sherwin-Williams Red Zone, 19 yards. Boy, and he's heart. That Prescott's heart. I didn't like the way he fell. When you run your quarterback, you're always taking a chance. He's holding his right leg. Yeah, that's going to get McCarthy

off the side leg. Well, and they immediately, the official there in front of immediately waved for medical personnel to come over and attend a deck. Yes, it was a serious right ankle injury for Dak Prescott. In fact, it was a compound fracture of the right ankle. He has surgery scheduled for Sunday night. It will end his season and in the eyes of many will end the Cowboy season. Shook, that was a really sad moment as the gravity of the situation revealed itself. Yeah, no doubt. I mean, the replays when they were showing them immediately after it happened were gruesome enough. But, you know, seeing Dak tearing up and wiping the tears from his face with a towel as he's on the cart and getting driven away,

you just realized all the ramifications of the injury that he had just sustained both of the Cowboy season and also with his future with him playing on the tag. The risk associated with that all of a sudden becomes reality. Of course, it tanks a season that was already a struggle and in a game that was already a struggle. I mean, Dallas was down 17 to 3 at one point before they charged back. It looked like they were going to be able to kind of pull away

before this happened and the air kind of got sucked out of the stadium at the same time that he got hurt. And, you know, you worry as a fan of a team about the future of your team, but really, more importantly, you worry about the future of Dak Prescott, who has done more than enough to try to lift the Cowboys to victories early in this season, as their defense has not done its part. And he has thrown for an incredible amount of yards. He's made plays with his legs.

And he, unfortunately, gets hurt making a play with his legs. And it really just makes you wonder, you know, is this the last time we've seen Dak Prescott in Dallas? It is a possibility. Well, I'm not sure if they're done this. season in terms of that NFC East, but when you think about what Prescott's been through, man, I mean, you feel for him. He spoke so eloquently about, you know, struggling with mental health this year, like a lot of

people have. I mean, he lost his brother to suicide this year. He lost his mom, you know, as a lot of people know, before the draft. And he seems like about as good a leader as there is in the NFL. I don't know where the Cowboys team goes like next. We could have that discussion in a second, but I don't know. I guess I have a hard time believing he's going to be anywhere else but Dallas in the future.

I'm not saying this injury raises that or lowers it. I had a hard time really buying that that would happen before this. And I think that's still true just because he's played too well and it's just too crazy to let a guy that that good go. I think you're right. And I mean, there aren't that on the juxtaposition on the same day that we'll get into it that we saw Alex Smith return to the field from his injury, that the day began with that. And it ended with this. But the parallel also is that the outpouring of genuine care from enemy lines and beyond and within the own locker room that was pro Alex Smith,

DAC has that too. I mean, I really, you know, players get injured every week, but the outpouring of people just saying how much Dak has meant to them and these stories that are bubbling up about things that we never knew about, things that he went out of his way to help people. Mike McCarthy is saying that how much Dak Prescott has impacted him during their short time together.

You know, now Mike McCarthy, you couldn't script a sort of a more rough and tumble beginning to your career as a Cowboys coach than he has, then what he's been through over the first five weeks of the season. It was a little surreal because Jason Garrett, now the offensive coordinator of the Giants is one of the first people that gets to Garrett

on the far sideline when he gets to DAC on the far sideline when he's on the ground. You had Tony Romo in the booth for CBS, of course, who handed the baton as Cowboys quarterback to DAC. And yeah, it was a, like I said, compound fracture, which is the gnarly one.

It's the one where the bone breaks through the skin. The good news is, as nasty as that injury is, we've seen it a lot where that's something that gets repaired and players return at full strength and I'm with you Greg I think barring some type of unforeseen complication

in his rehab I would imagine that Jerry Jones is going to still richly reward DAC and he'll enter next season hopefully week one as their starter and is one of the highest paid quarterbacks in the league

no of that would surprise me but none of that helps him right now that's speculation, or the Cowboys, Andy Dalton. I thought that was an awesome signing by them. I mean, not that Andy Dalton's awesome, but I thought that was like when they signed Andy Dalton quietly this offseason, it struck me as one of the better moves for depth that we saw at the quarterback position. And you saw what he was able to do, which is coming to that game and put points on the board,

beautiful pass to Gallup to set up the game winning kick. And the great Chris Wessling, who coined the Dalton scale, where we try to figure out where quarterbacks exist and who is the prime meridian. And Andy Dalton famously is the prime meridian. Now, sometimes the definition of that will get lost. And even I lose it sometimes. But what Wes always said was he's the prime meridian because he rises and falls based entirely on what the team is around him.

So if the Cincinnati Bengals had nobody on offense and the coaching stunk, he would stink. If they were loaded, you would see what happened in 2015. This is the ultimate test of the Dalton scale because he now joins an offense with the three best, you know, the best wide receiver triplets in the league and an all pro running back and a still solid offensive line.

I'm excited to see Dalton's second act of his career, obviously not at the expense of DAC, but I'm excited to see how he does here. Yeah, and you know, he did find success today, 9 of 11 for 11 11 yards, and of course that pass that set up that game-winning field goal, which was a beauty and a great grab by Michael Gallup, but it will change their offense a little bit

because it's just that you don't have the same guy running the system. I mean, and that is going to be an adjustment that they're going to have to make on the fly, but it still comes down to the same thing for them, which is their defense. You can't give up 34 points to the Giants. I don't care if one of those scores was a defensive touchdown.

That's not going to win you games against almost anybody, and it almost cost them to that. Well, it's also like, what's the goal here? If the goal is to possibly go win this division, you know, that seems attainable. But for the Cowboys, you know, they've had first round losses. Like, that'll be a good story,

and maybe it's something you can build on going into next year, but they're not winning the title without Tyron Smith, Lyle Collins, and Dak Prescott. They're not going to the NFC championship game without both of those tackles for the year in Dak Prescott. And this defense, by the way, I mean, it's just not going to happen. So, you know, it's not.

I would say that if you're Mike McCarthy, if you're the coaching staff, like, you've got to salvage something here. Sure. I mean, it's been a pretty disappointing head coaching job in general. I mean, I just, you know, part of it is Mike Nolan has his plan feels shotgun from decades ago and it doesn't function in 2020, according to the, you know, the players seem, you know, peaked with it too. But, I mean, you can't, like, if you can't win this NFC East with the talent they have, that's problematic. Do they have talent on defense, though?

Oh, well, they're, I mean, it's one-sided, but their offensive, like, their collection of offense and talent. On paper, I mean, they're going to have, they're going to get Vanderesh back. They have Jalen Smith. The secondary on paper doesn't look terrible. And they have Everson Griffin and Lawrence and Alden Smith. It sort of doesn't add up, but they are two and three. That's good for first place. Hey, what about the Ewing theory?

All right, let's move on. I don't think that applies. How about not? Here's the snap to the shop. It goes up. Got a man. First half, Cooks, left side, 15, 10, 5. He's in.

Touch. Down, Houston on fourth down, 28 yards. Mark Van Damir of K-I-L-T. No Bill O'Brien, no problem. I mean like no problems anymore. Maybe. DeShon Watson and Brandon Cooks found their rhythm and the Texans finally got off to Schneide.

3014 win over the Jaguars and the debut of interim coach. Romeo Cornell. Shook, the Texans, they look different to you today? Yeah, I mean, they play with a little. a little more life, but I think they got a gift by playing the Jaguars. I mean, the Texans had an extremely difficult first three games this season. Oh, they earned that gift, though, Shook, when you look at their schedule. I mean, look, they went from Kansas City to Baltimore to Pittsburgh to Minnesota, which, you know,

you can say what you want about Minnesota, but it's Jacksonville who has not played well since week two. That Thursday night game that loss against Miami was essentially the start of their downfall. They haven't been able to pick up the pieces there, so it wasn't exactly the greatest challenge, still an NFL team, of course, but it wasn't like the competitions they've played before. So I think they did luck out a little bit there, but for the first time this season, I saw a Texan's offense that actually moved the football with rhythm. Deshawn Watson, despite his two interceptions, he was pretty sharp for the most part. For the first time, this season,

he established a connection with Brandon Cooks, who had eight catches for 161 yards and a touchdown. They had pretty solid pace. David Johnson flirted with 100 yards rushing for the first time in two years. He didn't get there, so we can't say that he officially rushed for 100 yards after two years, but he finished with 96, and they did a good job of putting the game away, but again, it was as much, and you give credit to their defense to an extent, but it was as much to the Jaguars kind of making those mistakes and making it just, you know, grease and skids a little bit for him to get their first win. But hey, good on Romeo Cornell, who's proven in the past that he is a good interim head coach. Now, when he's a regular head coach,

it's a different story, but he's one to know as the interim head coach this year. The Jags are the slump busters of the NFL. And to be fair, they were the worst defense in the league before they lost their best player by far Miles Jack, their second best player, Josh Allen, and their third best player, DJ Hayden, before this game even started. So they were already coming into this game as a tire fire, and Houston took care of business. At least their defense shook, I guess, played a little bit better at the Texan. I'm always, like, I'm surprised that when Minchu doesn't put up more points in this. Yeah, especially when he throws for 300 plus yards, right, which he's done. And their record in games in which Minchu,

has thrown for 300 plus yards is not a good sign. So you don't want to rely too much on him, but they didn't get anything out of James Robinson today, who often met Brick Walls when he was running the ball. Leviska-Cenault still contributed as he has for the majority of this year. But this is just a team that lacks weapons. It lacks cohesiveness. It does not look anything like the unit on both sides of the ball,

the team that we saw in the first two weeks. And it does have a lot to do with the losses, like you said, of guys like Miles Jack. I still find this to be, this Houston team to be somehow more, depressing than the Cowboys at this point. And I'm going to need to go watch this tape closely if I choose to do so to see if that opinion holds true. Well, they were certainly more depressing, I thought, when Billy was there because

real ugliness had settled over there. I think they love Romeo. I think I saw after the game they were saying that all the meetings, like Romeo just says funny stuff all the time. How can you not love Rome? He's sort of like a lovable old. He's like a walking teddy bear. But just watch out here, guys.

their schedule is going to soften up, and now they can rally. It's like in Major League. Shook, you know, you're Cleveland Indians. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, sometimes it's good to rise up against the father figure or the owner or the general manager slash coach that you didn't like. What better way to stick it to Billy O'Brien out the door than to, you know, reel off five of six wins after his departure. You're back in? Hey, Romeo, Romeo, it's Jack Easterby with the Texans.

You want to come coach the Texans? Oh, hold on. I got a guy on the other line ask about white walls. Romeo's been a player's coach. There's a famous clip in Brown circles, which there aren't many of those in the last 20-plus years. Maybe there will be some this year. But there aren't many where he was in the locker room after a victory in 2007, his one great year with them. When he said, when you guys do well, it makes me look good.

And I'm looking pretty good right now. And today the Texans looked pretty good, I guess. So not bad for your first win. All right. Speaking of those Browns, Nick, hang around here. as we dig into the latest Cleveland Conquest. Rivers on third down and four from his own 46-yard line. Motion by Taylor back into the backfield.

Shotgun for Rivers. Third down, the Brown's shumming off the left side. Then they drop off. Rivers back to pass. Late pressure coming. Steps up throws. That's going to be picked off. They got it down the sideline.

Picked off by Ronnie Harrison. It's a pick six. Touchdown. Jim Donovan with a call WKRK. Philip Rivers' pick six was one of several killer mistakes by the veteran quarterback, who has to have Frank Reich and McCult's brain trust thinking. After a 32-23 loss to the Browns, for Cleveland, it's four straight wins, and the team's first four-and-one start since the goodish old days with Billy Belichick in the 1990s.

Mark, what did you take out of this one? I would note that the last time that happened in 1994, they made an interesting nugget at the end of the telecast, that it was prior to the first season of Friends. Like, culturally, that's a really long time ago. I mean, beside all the little football, you know, items, this game is, to me, another study in what this Brown's team is this season. You know, the talk was, okay, this is a run heavy team. They're systematically running for 200, 300 yards a game. And that's how they've basically squeezed the life out of their opponents to get to 3 and 1. What would happen in this affair against a really good cult's defense?

They came out throwing the ball. I mean, it was, it was, they couldn't run. They were unable to move the ball on the ground. But it really was the focus was putting it on Baker Mayfield's back early on. And I thought he had the best half that I've seen him play arguably ever. I'm talking about just like the defense you were playing. You weren't playing the Bengals. He had 228 yards over the first 30 minutes.

They were aggressively attacking Indies secondary right up the middle of the field. And it was working. And, you know, this Brown's team is learning to get up quickly as they did against Dallas. But then you've got to deal with the other 30 minutes. And they were lucky that Philip Rivers is a quarterback right now who I think number one, they're playing around. the best they can. And that's not easy to do because they're not littered with stars, the cults. But I don't think that they necessarily trust Philip Rivers. And I also think

that he just doesn't fit into what the cults probably should be on offense. So there were like that, that was coming into view as this game was melting down the stretch for the cults. But the Cleveland secondary is inviting and allows sort of anyone back in. And I think one of the stories of the game for Cleveland, and Nick, I know you watch this too. But the, you know, they're days away from playing the Steelers. and they came out of here with Baker Mayfield, Wyatt Teller, their badass right guard, Ronnie Harrison, who had the pick six, who they brought into play safety, Harrison Bryant, Jacob Phillips, Jordan Elliott, Sheldon Richardson, Olivier Vernon, and Kareem Hunt,

all with injury questions heading into Monday. So, you know, this team is not extremely healthy, but instead of a classic sort of Cleveland melt job, they made just enough plays down the stretch to get to 4 and 1. And it's something that, I mean, Nick, I don't know where you were in 1994, I know where I was, and it feels like a long time ago. It was a zygote. In 1994, I was two. Jacobsfield had opened, and my dad took me to the exhibition game the day before it opened,

and we sat in the front row in the upper deck, which he still sits back and wonders why he ever did that with a two-year-old son. That's insane. Good for him. Yeah, I mean, you think about it, Belichick was the head coach. Nick Saban was the defensive coordinator. Ozzie Newsom was a front office executive who had yet to become the first black GM in the NFL in NFL in NFL history.

This is an extremely long time ago. Of course, it would be the year that we're in a pandemic that Browns fans can't enjoy this, but that's neither here nor there. You're right about how they've had this identity of a run-first team and how it just didn't work today. Kareem Hunt was under 80 yards rushing today. Deernerce Johnson ripped off a run to kind of put things away at the end,

but for the most part, they couldn't run the ball well. The Colts tackle really well individually. That's one thing that really jumped out to me. Open field tackles. They were not great. Kareem Hunt and Nick Chubber guys who do not go down on first contact. usually. They usually break through an arm tackle. The Colts were very, very good at tackling, and it forced the Browns. And Kevin Stefansky did just try to figure out a different way to move the football. And I do give him credit, especially in that first half. I thought these were two coaches

who had pretty solid game plans, and it was just a matter of execution. In the first half, the Browns' offense executed it very well. Moved the move the ball down the field pretty easily. I think they out gained the amount that the Colts allowed last week. I think they out gained them almost entirely through maybe two and a half, three quarters. So the offense was moving. They were getting past this defense, but they also ran into those troubles that you mentioned, and it really came down to basically Philip Rivers throwing a pick six and also getting hit with a safety because of a grounding penalty in the end zone. That was the difference in the game. Frank Reich said he thought Philip Rivers is playing very good and is the least of

my worries after the game when they asked about. I don't know what he's going to say, but I just see someone that. No, I'm with you. I thought going into this game, that's why I thought the Browns would win because offense beats defense in 2020. Everyone talking about like, oh, the Chiefs defense, they're pretty frisky. Okay, you give up 40 points. The Colts defense, number one in the league, they didn't get a single stop in the first half of this game. I know they made some plays, and they didn't have Darius Leonard, but ultimately good

offense beats them. And I know you guys are picking on the running game a little bit, but the test of the ultimate test of a great running team is can you run it at the end of the game when the other team knows it's coming to win the game? And they ran for two first downs, not just that the Uranus Johnson one, to win the game. at the end against this defense. I know that's getting, like, Mark Sessler's, he's getting him sizzling to have such a run-heavy brown steam.

I usually don't, like, I can't really even look at these games until we get out of this show and after Sunday night football, then it starts to become reality. Sitting at a desk, like, doing this and, like, typing out data points and looking at, like, a hideous Dolphins-Niners game at the same time. It all is very surreal until later in the night. The Colts defense, I mean, the Colts, oh, brutal, because Baker, as good as his first half was,

was terrible in the second half. He threw two picks, could have been a third. He had a fumble that they recovered. And after he got driven to the turf by Justin Houston, and he's in a lot of pain, as Mark said, he was getting x-rays after the game, they reported. I don't think he could have completed a big pass on that last possession. And with Nick Chubb not playing,

and with Baker Mayfield, maybe not even able to make a throw, you let De Arnish Johnson beat you with a 28-yard run on top of everything else. Frank Reich, probably, if I had a guess, because he's smart, he is trying to head this off at the past because he doesn't want to add anything else, Ron Rivera-style, into a potential quarterback controversy. You do have a solid backup and Jake Brisket, a limited but solid backup, but Rivers did not play well. He is one of the biggest problems that the Colts have right now. I don't care what he told the media. Yeah, that pick six is one of the easier ones you'll ever see in the NFL, no doubt. I mean, he left that out down the sideline.

He just has no juice behind his passes these days, which is understandable with his age. But for the most part, you're absolutely right. I mean, it's a Colts team that this is a game that when we came in, we saw the Browns and the Colts each at 3 and 1. And we said, okay, well, are either these teams for real? Because the Browns had a nice little easy patch against a couple lesser teams and the same thing with the Colts. I guess we had an answer, but we really won't know for a month or two, if not longer. But today, the Browns are the better team. The NFL is weird like that, but the Browns, four or five to start the season.

and not bad at all. Shook, come back and join us on Sunday night football, okay? Sounds good. All right, let's move on, Ricky. He throws it down the field. Oh, that is Chase Claypool. Into the end zone for a Pittsburgh Steelers' touchdown. Wide open from 35 out, and Ben kind of knew it.

Yeah. Oh, yeah, I've been saying it all day. This is our fourth time saying it, but that's top shelf Canadian bacon and sizzling. Oh, yeah, there's a little. the Dave Damashik football program theme attached to another Steelers win. I do love when the color guy all you hear is like a guttural noise.

Like where did it come from? Was it from the booth, the bedroom, the bathroom? Bill Hillgrove with Tunch Ilkin for WDVE. The Steelers, yes, have done it again. Chase Playpool is the latest wide receiver star to be drafted outside the first round for the Steelers. His four touchdown day, the difference. for Pittsburgh in a 3831 win over the Eagles at Heinz Field.

This is the craziest stat of the day for me, because I don't know how it's possible because this span, this exactly spans my lifespan. And basically as long as I can remember following football, the Steelers have been a good team and sometimes great and several times Super Bowl winning. The Steelers are 4-0 for the first time in 40 years. Okay.

What? A lot of great seasons over those 40 years. That threw me comprehensively. And, you know, with a few tweets, most people were like, what? Because, look, I understand they struggled before their dynasties rose up in the 50s and 60s and all that business. But like, you have your Patriots, if you're a Jets fan. Dealing with the Steelers since, like, the 80s, you're telling me they never started 4-0. I, like, completely didn't buy that when I first saw it.

But back to the game. Yeah. So just an awesome performance by Claypool, who. is a beast, and this came in the same game that Deante Johnson, another highly touted wide receiver, was unable to finish the game. He had another injury, so it helps to have the depth that they have. And Claypool will continue to play big snaps here, second round pick out of Notre Dame. And I mean, think about it. He got Mike Wallace, Antonio Brown, Martavis Brian, Juju Smith-Schuster, James Washington, Deontay Washington, all the, James,

what I said, Deante Johnson. They just have an uncanny neck. So that's what I take away from this game on the Steelers side, just how they continue to populate that roster and that offensive side of the football with playmakers and Ben Rathelsberger for all the doubts around him in the offseason. He is just as good, if not better right now, than he was before the elbow injury.

He's just playing. There's none of those reckless, and I know the schedule's been a little bit soft, and it's been a weird year, but he's just been so smart with the football and on target and just running the whole scheme with ease. And the defense was not very good today for the Steelers, and especially when you think about what the Eagles have going on, their issues. They make Travis Fulgum look like Jerry Rice in 1989 in this game,

10 for 152 and a touchdown. So that tells you kind of that they had some breakdowns themselves, and they struggled to get stops and put this game away. They were up 3110, Pittsburgh was, and the Eagles had a 59-yard field goal attempt late in the fourth quarter with a chance to take the lead before a miss and then a final Claypool touchdown for the final score. So, yeah, the Steelers, 4-0 defense, a little bump in the road,

but the offense humming at a high power right now. And I just think that they are absolutely in the conference. conversation is the best team in the AFC. It's funny because every game they've had has been so similar where their fans and, you know, their coaches will probably say we didn't play a complete game. It was close like about midway through the fourth quarter, but then you score the decisive important touchdown to win it. And to me, I think like, well, that's a good way.

Yeah, you want to blow teams out, but they are getting in the habit of making game-winning plays in the fourth quarter on both sides. of the ball. The secondary has not been great this year, but I think you made a great point, Dan, on Rathesburg. I've heard some, like, people picking him a little bit this year, but I think the decision making has been the difference. I'm

with you. He has not been making those dumb throws. He's been just going for what's there, and he's played really well, just kind of keeping them on schedule. He's looked great in the games I saw before this week, but the one little area, and I wonder if today just proved that to be a small sample

size, some of his deep shots, His deeper passes were, seemed to be kind of like overthrows, just more off target than I'm used to with Big Ben. But it wasn't a ton of throws. I don't know. Was he, did he solve that issue today? That didn't register to me that he was struggling with his deep ball, but maybe on a closer watch, I would see that.

I thought, you know, he led the offense. It was also another weird stat. It was the first time the Steelers had scored 30 points in something like 18 games or something. I mean, last year was a... Last year, obviously, plays a big part of that. But that also, of course, carried back to the end. to the previous season with Big Ben.

I thought you were going to say since 1979, and it's like, what have I been watching for the past 40 years? Our heads explode. Carson Wentz, by the way, I'll just make this last comment. He threw two more interceptions now, and I believe he has nine, which is now well past his total from 16 games last year. But if you watch this game, after a very slow start,

you could start to see the old Carson Wentz starting to come out. And he started getting comfortable, and he developed that rapport, like I said, with Fulgum, who might be a guy. He might be a guy. And when Jalen Rager comes back, maybe they have a one, two, and then he got Zachertz. Deshaun Jackson's maybe a week away. They need the old Zacherts to show up. And Lane Johnson gets hurt.

Even like every Eagles game, someone else great gets hurt. So even when you have some good things happen, it's like, oh. Yeah, and it would be good to get the other tight end back too. I guess I'm out on waiting for Deshawn Jackson to come back and make an impact. Right. That's just kind of who Deshaun Jackson is. He's been in two games over the last two, like two or three games over the last two seasons. Every year it's the same thing on the injury report.

He might be practicing, please. Exactly. It's exhausting. And for the Eagles, obviously this was a big day for them. You don't want to look at it that way, but this is a results-driven business. And Dak Prescott's out for the year. So you are in good position, potentially still to win your division. But guess what?

They got the Ravens next week. So they got to figure out a way to win some of these games right now. They are not. Let's move on. Burrow throws to his left. It is complete to Mike Thomas. Thomas fumbles the ball. The Ravens haven't.

Scooped up in midfield. It's Patrick Queen down the sideline. He's to the 20, the 10, 5. Touchdown, Ravens. Patrick Queen. And with 821 left to play, the Hayes in the barn. Nice job, Sandusky. WBAL to call.

Patrick Queen stepped in front of a Joe Burrow pass. Speaking of AFC North teams that just know what they're doing. Queen stepped in front of the past, took it to the house. Another impact defensive play for the Ravens and a 27 to 3 win over the Bengals. Queen also forced the fumble by Burrow, his old LSU teammate. Just another direct hit in the first round by the Ravens. Greg, this one didn't look competitive from the outside.

No, it wasn't at all. The Ravens defense, and that was Marlon Humphrey, who made one of the best plays I've seen all year, holding a guy up and then punching it out for Queen to return. at humphrey's done that in three straight games he just got a huge contract he's one of the best cornerbacks in the league he did that last week too right horses fumbles on the reg as so three in a row now and their defense played as good a defensive game as any team all year maybe the rams today were in that mix too 15 quarterback hits seven sacks nine tackles for loss they gave up seven points

or no three points they scored seven points they they set up another seven points with a turnover in the red zone. Joe Burrow was hit every single time he dropped back. And early on, it was on the communication and it was on the offensive line. But probably about midway through the second quarter, some of it was just on Joe Burrow having a rookie day and holding the ball forever when they're sending pressure. And even when they blocked it up sometimes, he was just holding it and taking hits and no one's open.

And it was just a bloodbath. I felt bad watching the Bengals' offense in this game. They could have had like 20 drives they wouldn't have scored. I thought we were moving away from those in Cincinnati. But I guess it could happen. When you got a rookie quarterback, these things could happen against great teams. Yeah, because I mean last week was, oh, you know, the Bengals protected Burrow a little bit better. Maybe the offensive line can figure out their act to some degree.

Not the case. And it's a really rough division. Every division is rough to be a rookie quarterback. but when you're dealing with Pittsburgh's front and Baltimore's, I mean, they're going to teach you lessons that are going to be hard to forget. And you just worry about anyone in Joe Burroughs' position. When you say, were you starting to make rookie mistakes? Like, I mean, this is a heady quarterback who can do it all.

But when you're getting knocked around, play after play, game after game, I mean, you could be a shell of yourself by late December. It could be a really long season. And to be clear, his mistakes were really just kind of holding it indecision, not knowing what he was seeing and then taking some hits, sometimes trying to make a play and then taking a hit at the end of the game.

And it's a brutal game for the Bengals because they ended up losing DJ Reader, their big free agent signing. It sounds like for the season. AJ Green left with a hamstring. At this point, oh, come on. I don't think that really hurts

the way their offense was going. Sam Hubbard also, who's played really well in their defensive line, got hurt, and that one looked a little dicey. Their defense played amazing. I know it's hard to imagine that. This was one of the worst games of Lamar Jackson's career. I think he would admit that.

That's two in a couple weeks. He had three yards rushing. He could have had about four or five interceptions. They struggled to move the ball. I think they scored, I counted it up. They had 10 drives, you know, that started, you know, not in the red zone. They had one that, you know, they kind of got a layup. And they scored 13 points in those drives.

And the one touchdown they had, they had to really work hard for on like a 15-play drive. So the Bengals defense actually has played great in this game and has played better this year. But then they lose three starters and there's not much good to feel about it. There's a number of games you could point to with Baltimore now where it's, huh, they just don't look themselves. They don't look as explosive and their stars aren't on offense operating to that degree. I mean, we asked a couple weeks ago, you know, Lamar Jackson was asked, like, has your offense been diagnosed? And he said, yeah, it's sort of the Titans thing. Like this other, you know, another team came in and did the same thing.

Is there any of that that seems like it's carrying over? Or was it just a bad game? Yeah, I think they shut them down. The fact that they shut down their running game so easily, the only runs they had was like a Devin DuVernay kind of trick play early. It's putting a lot of pressure on the passing game, and that's been a little erratic. Let's move on.

Here's a playfake sets up to throw. He's going vertical. Deep down the left side, and it's Robert Woods. The catch of the 20. He goes in. Touchdown. You wanted more top-shell serving. There it was from Sean McVay, Jared Gough, and the Rams.

That's a pro. That's a bro who's a pro. J.B. Long with a call for KSP.N. Jared Gough threw two touchdowns, including that long strike to Robert Woods. And Aaron Donald matched a career high with four sacks as the... I mean, can we appreciate Aaron Donald's greatness? As the Rams coasted to a 30 to... 10 win over the Washington football team.

L.A. needed just five games this season to complete a sweep of the NFC East. Mark, I'm guessing the Rams are a little more fun to watch this week compared to last Sunday's slog in the swamps of Jersey. Yeah, I mean, it was, there were three teams in this game. It was Washington, the Rams, and like the hideous rainstorm that, you know, basically changed this into one of those games where it's hard to kind of evaluate what was happening to either team. Those can be fun sometimes. No, I like, I like weird weather. as much as the next person, but it didn't help the second quarterback that came in the game for Washington. It was the story of the day for me. It was Kyle Allen got helmet-to-helmet

hit with Jalen Ramsey and was removed from the game. And Alex Smith came in. I don't know if we have the sound of that, but if we don't, I can just tell you that it was, you can find it all over the place. It was a pretty amazing emotional moment. And one of those things that I, you know, I can be pretty cynical about the NFL and football in general, but it kind of cut through a lot of that because there were these scenes of Elizabeth Smith and their young children up in the stands. You know, they had a few fans in there.

And just, I think Erica, Ricky tweeted, that it was as gripping and kind of anxiety-ridden to watch Elizabeth Smith responding to every play. And one of the reasons was that you're dealing with Aaron Donald on the other side. And it's like you want Alex Smith to have a nice, game where he doesn't get, please no one hurt him and just let him operate. And instead, Aaron Donald is becoming an absolute nightmare. They had eight sacks, as you mentioned. I mean,

it was a really rough game for the Washington offense. They just, they, they've got a long way to go. And at one point, Kyle Allen was healthy enough to come back. And Ron Rivera refused to do that. But Alex Smith, you know, he had about 37 yards passing in this game. I mean, their offense has many issues. Weather was a factor. It was a nice return, but this is another one of these NSCE's teams that's, you know, telling themselves, we're going to win the division, and we'll have probably two wins by the end of October, but we still have a chance to win one of the worst divisions we've ever witnessed with our eyes. Everyone is, was the same way, really since the injury to Smith, which was almost two years ago, Alex Smith, and, you know, how gruesome it was.

and then the ESPN special Project 11, I believe it was called, where you just saw how insane the recovery process was, how he almost lost his life. And then when he gets activated and moved up to backup quarterback this week, there is that feeling of kind of nerves around it because now everyone's invested in this idea of this guy completing this comeback, but also like now that we've seen the documentary, we've been following the story, we know that he has a wife.

We know he has kids. We know he's a nice guy, and it's like, oh, my goodness. So, you know, on Twitter, I had no viewpoint on this game other than what was going on on my tweet deck. It was like all of football Twitter was like Apollo Creed's wife in Rocky 4 when you see her in the crowd when he's fighting Apollo, fighting Vondrago. And you just see her getting more and more nervous. And then I can only imagine that's how like random football fans feel.

And then this woman, Elizabeth Smith, I believe you said her name. She's actually on camera reacting to this moment in real time. And apparently, according again to Twitter, one of the first snaps he takes, Aaron Donald, who's, you know, 6'3, 275 pounds of pure muscle, jumps on his back and puts all that pressure on the rod in his leg. My goodness. Well, and he hadn't been experiencing contact and practice. So that's the first hit he took in 693 days.

So welcome back to the NFL. And I mean, if you want an NFCE's champion, how about the Rams? They've just swept the NFC East. Right. I mean, the numbers for this game are outrageous. Washington had 52 plays. They gained 108 yards. So that looks like it, too.

That's in the clubhouse. That has a chance to be the worst offensive performance in NFL team has all season. To average 1.8 yards per pass play. That's insane. So it couldn't have been a tougher spot for Alex Smith to, come into. Mark, did we get a Ron Rivera white flag moment for the fourth straight week? Did he do something that clearly, you know, telegraph that he wasn't trying to win on any level? I mean, the whole game looked like they weren't trying to win on any level, but it's, I do think that, you know,

you're on to your third quarterback. What happens to these teams? It doesn't go well. And they look like a team that's disorganized on that side of the ball is to two incredible heights in 2020. If Aaron Donald was a quarterback and did similar things, he'd be the biggest star in America. He plays on the defensive line, so it's different. But four sacks today, like I said, three tackles for loss, three quarterback hits. He leads the NFL with seven and a half sacks this season. He's on pace for 24 sacks. And longtime listeners in the show, no, there's one thing that I want more than even the Jets being respectable again.

And that is the NFL all-time sack record to get its dignity back after the evil Brett Favre slid at the feet of Michael Strayhan in the most heinous act of 2001. I like to call it. Take back. Take, I said what I said. Take back the dignity of the sack record because that's, I think that's the last thing

Aaron Donald needs to maybe get more love is get the sexiest stat record that a defender can have. I know nobody thinks sacks are important sometimes, but that comes with some glory. I hope it happens because it would just be another notch on the belt of an all-time great let's move on let's come and gets it off the last minute touchdown by annie what a throw bresden william ryan fitzpatrick does this ball get hit right in

the chest and puts it right on the money what a beautiful throw what a day for ryan fitzpatrick Jimmy Cephalo, WQA.M. with Jason Taylor. Jason Taylor. How about that? Fitzmachic refuses to be contained three days after the old Zeuser predicted Ryan Fitzpatrick would be making his final start before two a time. The Harvard grad. Threw for 350 yards and three touchdowns with a nearly perfect passer rating and a 43 to 17 destruction of the 49ers. Who apparently aren't as close to takeoff as this podcast thought?

Greg, the big story after this game was Jimmy G, benched at halftime after an ugly two quarters. Here's what Kyle Shannon had to say after the game. I mean, just the way the whole game was going. I mean, just kind of watching how we were playing as a whole, how he was playing. You can tell he was affected by his ankle. I mean, you can ask him more when he gets in, but I know he doesn't normally throw the ball that way. And I think he was struggling a little bit because of it. And the way the game was going that I was going to keep putting him in those positions.

And knowing we were going to have to throw it a lot to come back. Did you sense that, Greg, in the first two quarters, that he was not being able to play at a level that would be conducive to success? Yes. His throws were off target. You know, it's not like he was limping around there, but the ball was fluttering. He ended up seven for 17 for 77 yards and two picks. I found the end sequence of that first half, fascinating. They got the ball back with about 30 seconds left.

Right after, you know, the Dolphins had scored to go up 24-7, after Jimmy Garoppolo threw one of the worst interceptions anyone's throw it all year. That was awful. So then Jimmy Garapolo gets the ball, throws it for no gain on first down. It's got 75 yards to go. He couldn't be playing worse. Kyle Shanahan takes a time out right there. It says, like, in a kind of like, we want to go score.

And it almost felt like he was testing Garapolo. Like, what do I have right now with Jimmy G in this game? The announcers were like apoplectic, throws on second down, bad throw, throws again on third down. Again, all you got to do is run the ball and go to halftime if you want. And he throws maybe an even worse interception than he did the first time. Now, these were terrible throws. They were also, they were even worse decisions. Garoppolo just seemed scrambled.

But I thought that was a really interesting coaching moment because I really do think he was kind of putting Garapolo on the spot, deciding what he was going to do for the rest of the game. And I think he was smart to take him out because they're all. offensive line. Now that's two straight weeks where the communication isn't there. And that's been a big part of the problem along with the quarterback play. Their only touchdown with Garapolo came on a drive where they literally didn't throw the ball. It's crazy. I was like I want to get to the Dolphins, but I was I was thinking they were going to manage this part of the schedule well enough and then get all their players back. I think the last two weeks other than Dallas have been

worse for the 49ers than any team in the league because they just lost to the Eagles and the dolphins in this fashion. And now their schedule gets absolutely brutal. Rams, Patriots, Seahawks, the Packers are in there. The bucks in a row. And we glibly kind of set up going into this game. Like, oh, it actually kind of worked out for the 49ers because Nick Mullen's stunk out the joint in week four. But now it clears the path for Jimmy G. And it clears any potential controversy. Now, Jimmy G will go back to being an efficient passer and the Niners offense will go back to being one of the top attacks with the great Kyle Shanahan. Well, none of that works if Jimmy G is either ineffective or injured or both because then it all

implodes on itself because then you have a compromised Jimmy G. You have Nick Mullins throwing the ball all over the place. And then you have Beat Hard going in there for the second consecutive week who's not going to win any titles either. It just got a lot sloppier. Yeah, but I mean, like it doesn't change what I think about Kyle Shanahan, for instance. I mean, this is another team onto their third quarterback. And, like, they gave Jimmy G. a monster contract based on a small but completely fascinating sample size. That was a calculated risk. And Jimmy G. had some really good games last year. He takes him to the Super Bowl. But I think there's this sense that we've never really gotten that Jimmy G. since. Well, he wasn't healthy enough. I don't think to play today.

So I think that was a bad decision or whatever it was. That's a problem for them. I know Dolphins fans are out there thinking, like, talk about us. I really want to because sometimes blowouts are fun. I stand by that take. This was a fun blowout to watch. They blew the doors off them. It was as good a performance as any team I think has had on both sides of the ball.

I know the competition, San Francisco is banged up in the secondary. But Fitzpatrick saw that. Every time Robert Sala tried to cook something up, and he left his cornerbacks out there one-on-one, Fitzpatrick said, okay, I'm going to bomb it on you. And every time it was right on the money, and Henry Hudson's boy, Preston Williams, is making plays. Devante Parker's played like a number one receiver.

Fitzpatrick's throws in this game were just, like, amazing. And Flores is throwing. Once they get ahead in terms of the down and in terms of the game, he's so good with those blitzes and people don't know where it's coming from. And it was just kind of wild to just see them stomping out. the 49ers, even deep into the second half, like they're doing fake punts up like to score. I mean, I don't know. It was a lot of fun in this Dolphins team.

They're well coached. I don't know if they can keep doing this. They know how to put people away. I mean, what will Dolphins fans do when Miami in the off season decides to trade to and sign a de-aging Ryan Fitzpatrick to a seven-year contract? He seems to be getting younger and more ferocious and more lovable by the week. Well, with the whole schedule change, they have the Jets next week, so they got a pretty good chance to go to three and oh and i apologize to chan gaily for everything i said about you know i think

at one point you said that he hadn't been an offensive coordinator since 1993 byron jones being back for the dolphins changes their defense by the way he's kind of their gilmore and it sets up everything else and and i think they could be a problem maybe i'm overreacting but i really do here's a stat that a lot of good stats today here's one that is another stunning one. It speaks to the times and how passing is much more hyper-driven than it used to be. But still, according to

Pro Football Reference, which is peerless, please visit Pro Football Reference and they're not paying me for it. Today is Ryan Fitzpatrick's 12th game with 300 plus yards passing and 3 plus TDs passing John Elway's career total. That is outrageous. I have one

more crazy stat for this game. There are people that believe John Llewe is the best quarterback ever. Just a heads out there. So insane. I one more crazy stat. I just, I have to bring up that yeah, Tim Posey looked in the mirror, locked up the nine point favorite 49ers

here and extended her winless streak to 0 and 5. And I just want to, I'm not trying to bury but I'm just trying to imagine a situation where the situation was reversed and I'm going to be much kinder than Erica would be to me in that situation.

Erica. What is happening? I am, I'm at a lot for words. Like, when I flipped over to the game and saw what was happening, I literally, I think on the network, I was like, if the, if the, watch the dolphins win this, like, I'm going to have to drive my car off a cliff. And I was like, I said that on TV. It was 14 nothing within like 35 seconds. Oh my God. It is, it is, I, I don't even know what to say.

It's getting special now. I think you should lean into it. And it's getting, it's getting important. How about this way? I'll go from this angle, Greg. We don't condone this, although I know the restrictions of loosened up in our country, but we don't condone this. And, you know, sometimes, you know, suspensions can come out of nowhere.

So I just want to be careful with the wording here. But if you're not watching our Thursday program, or either listening to our Thursday podcast or watching our NFL network preview show on Saturday mornings where Ricky makes her lock of the week, if you're someone that's looking to make some money, You're right. Erica's telling you who's going to win. She's not picking the winner, but she's telling you what's going to happen.

She's like a reverse Biff from Back to the Future, too. It is unbelievable. Like, I got S-H-I-T from people online being like, you locked up the 49ers. Like, how cool. Like, so I thought, like, people were getting mad at me saying that, like, oh, you really stooped low to get a win. But Erica, I mean, I have to ask you, your dad was ready to unplug. cable and not have that extra expense. He's kept NFL networks simply to hear you make these picks.

And, you know, you are, is he disappointed, a little embarrassed? I haven't talked to him today. Your dad had to sell off one of his helicopters to have that direct TV. Okay, yeah, let's get on to the Jets game, Dan. All right, let's move on. Shotgun snap to Kyla Murray from the pocket, deep pass. Left side going for Hopkins. Get a response.

One hand and catch and a touchdown. DeAndre. Hopkins was blanketed by a jet, but it don't matter. Hopkins makes the catch, and the Cardinals may have just put the Jets to sleep. Go, Dave Pash with the call. K-T-A-R. Kyler-Murie set a career high. We've 30080 yards passing.

And the Cardinals coast to a 30 to 10 win over Joe Flacco and the New York Jets. Another blowout for New York. Mark, there's been cause for concern about this Arizona attack in recent weeks. Are the Jets just the perfect remedy for any team in need of a fix? They're a perfect remedy because here's a team, you know, we know that Jets are not good, but they are specializing in almost just not showing up early on in a game like this. Two straight three and outs. Their third drive is a five-play 15-yard march that ends nowhere.

Three straight punts. The next March, they get down to the Arizona. Arizona 13 yard line. It is a third down call, third and short. They hand the ball off to a third string tight end named Trevin Wesco for no game. So in 2020 fashion, they go for it on fourth and one. Levy on Bell stuffed, turnover on downs. And here's the thing. I don't think Arizona looked very, very good in this game until the offense opened up down the stretch. I know that Kyler Murray threw for more yards than he has in any other game. You go watch this and tell me. if it looked that way. I still see an offense trying to figure out how they can be what they want to be. And Kyla Murray, he's going to do Kyla Murray things. And I mean, they are giving the ball to D'Andre Hopkins at an incredible rate at this point. And Hopkins had a Hopkins game down the stretch. And, you know, you didn't have to do much against this Jets team. But I would look, the Cardinals to me are not that fun to watch just from a, if you were just sitting there casually

checking them out compared to what I thought they would be. I think they've got a ways to go. Kenyon Drake, to me, is a hot and cold act. I mean, it's October, and they do not look like a finished product. And they might have lost Chandler Jones for the season. That's probably the biggest thing that came out of it for them. Whoa. So that's another big one. So you get Kirk and Edmonds more involved, which I think people wanted to see.

You get 28 first downs. But losing Jones. Look, this is a team that's only won eight games in the last two seasons combined. So being three and two, you don't sneeze at that. But yeah, I think the ceiling feels a little. a lower than we thought with this Cardinals team. And if you listen to our preview show for the first time in my 10 years in NFL media, I did not draft the Jets in the preview.

I didn't watch them really on Sunday. Wasn't it better? I had in the corner of my eye. It was a much better experience, but obviously not, I'm not going to, you know, fill out a dossier like West did and quit on the Jets. But I'm not going to watch them if it's an Adam Gays coached team. with Joe Flacko at quarterback. There's nothing there for me to learn.

There's no entertainment to be had. And I much rather watch the Steelers and Eagles and the Raiders and Chiefs in the early slot. Just the way it's going to be, the Jets have failed. And I've said this too many times over the past five or six years on this podcast now. The Jets are failing. And their only real job is to provide entertainment

to the fans that pump millions and millions of dollars into their enterprise. They can't even put a competitive team on the field, so why should any Jets fans support them? And I choose to support them from a distance. I support Sam Darnold, and I want to see him back on the field, and hopefully he'll be back on the field next week, although that's no given. But here's, before we throw it in the next game, just some stats to tell you how bad this team is, because this is the worst Jets team I've ever seen, and that includes Cotite Jets. They've been outscored 161 to 75. They've lost every game

by two or more possessions. Their offense has scored more than 17 points. Once, their defense is allowed at least 27 points every game. That from Connor Hughes of the athletic, dark, dark days. And Bill Parcells ain't walking through that door. Let's move on. On third and four, Atlanta Blitz is in. Maybe Joe Brady? Bridgewater goes left wing, Cox.

50-yard line, down the sideline Moore, 40 to the 30. DJ Moore's got a convoy and he'll social distance into the end zone for a touchdown. Does a Forrest Gump right down the tunnel. He continues to run right on site. What a great play. What a great play. I needed this. Bring me.

Bring me back to life. Bring me. Bring me back to life. Please. Calm, con, con, con, con. Mick Mixing with the call WBT. Teddy Bridgewater delivered another solid performance and DJ Moore and Robbie Anderson combined for more than 200 yards receiving,

including that Longmore TD in a. a 23 to 16 win for the Panthers over the house cleaning Atlanta Falcons. That's three wins in a row for Matt Rules Panthers without Christian McCaffrey. And we're going to get to the Panthers and give them their Just Duke's. They're playing very well right now. But let's start with the big news that came down Sunday night. The Atlanta Falcons, something that a lot of people were expecting to happen, maybe even sooner than this, but it happens now after week five.

Dan Quinn out as head coach. The team has also fired longtime GM Thomas Demetroff that leaves CEO Rich McKay in charge of the football operations. Welcome back Nick Shook as well. Start here, Shook. The Falcons, they just, they needed a win. They couldn't get it going this season. And Quinn saved his job with a strong finish last year, but there was no saving it this time around. Yeah, I mean, it's a situation where things were kind of about to go off the rails are pretty close

and this appear to be the final blow in that pursuit. And it's kind of sad because the Falcons last year, you know, they finished the season pretty strong and looked like they were promising and maybe they'd be able to turn a corner going into this year and they just haven't been able to do it. I mean, whether it's been blowing leads, which they've done twice, or just not putting together strong performances, it just hasn't reflected well in it. Well, they do that every year, finish strong. It's the story of the Dan Quinn era.

Start bad, finish strong, not overcome your injuries, and it's tough. You feel for him. He's obviously a good dude, Dan Quinn, and Thomas Dimitrov took over in 2008. First draft pick was Matt Ryan. You do wonder about his future. Dimitrov, you know, led them to easily the best 12 years in the franchise history. It's not even close, but Arthur Blank, who's at the game, of course, he comes down at the sideline. How can he not help but compare his?

sideline to the Panthers who have a brand new head coaching staff and they're much more efficient and well run on offense. And then I think about the Panthers defense who lost four starters during this game, Gross Matos, Brian Burns, Dante Jackson, Kwan Short. And you know what they did? They hold the Falcons to 16 points. They're resourceful. They can overcome injuries. It's not like, okay, that's the excuse for their team. And you feel for Quinn because, I mean, at some point, He just had terrible luck. I mean, he had terrible luck in the Super Bowl. It was luck and design.

He had terrible luck this year, too, with some of the onside kick and the way those comebacks came. But that luck is part of the game. And ultimately, they just were pretty mediocre for the last three years. And it gives Arthur Blank a head start. Pretty interesting. Rich McKay is there picking the next coach. Man, talk about a survivor.

He got fired for Dimitrov to come in. He's like, you know, he's like Easterby before Easterby. Well, I mean, he got nail. for fake crowd noise before fake crowd noise was a league mandated essential heading into this season. But I would say this about Dan Quinn because, you know, I know that he was a fascination of mine when he became their head coach. Chris Wesleyan fell into that spell too. But I don't think it's a spell. I think he's a good, he's like, it's the kind of thing like these guys, Dan Quinn knows more about football than like 99.9% of America. And it, and, and Thomas DeMitchie.

It tracks back to prehistoric days with Bill Belichick's Browns, who we talked about. These guys are not lacking for knowledge or skill, but the marriage of GM head coach and head coach, the path of a head coach is very unpredictable, no matter how good you are at it. And I don't think Dan Quinn is someone that players disliked. It was the opposite. And he was someone that owners all around the league wanted to interview. And there's people this year that will pop up in the same way. And they'll be highly regarded going into year one, year two, and year three.

But you don't want to run into Matt Rule because Cliff Kingsbury told you last week, Matt Rule got him fired back in the college days. And now you've run into Dan Quinn and he mows down these guys. But on a serious note, I just think that Dan Quinn is a good coach who couldn't deliver on. But here's the thing. We always pull these head coaches from mostly successful programs. This is the defensive coordinator of the Super Bowl winning Seahawks. But then translating that and taking that to the next place tells us more about Pete Carroll than it does about Dan Quicks.

I mean, it's not easy to duplicate. He did well. He made it. He almost, he should have won a Super Bowl and he won a couple, you know, won a playoff game the next year. But he's a defensive coach whose defenses were never good. Why are you like giving me this like? Yeah, he was. His defenses were never good.

And he's a defensive coach. What is your look, Dan? It shows the cyclical nature. of the NFL, like, just like Bill O'Brien fired this week. Once upon a time, you know, he was the guy that, you know, saved programs and was the face of a very difficult situation, was championed in Houston as this guy that's brought life to the organization. And Dan Quinn was the head coach.

I know Kyle Shannon got a lot of credit for the Super Bowl run, but, you know, he was a scene as a great hire at the time and everybody loved him. And it just, you know, these firings remind you that you're hot. And then for nine out of ten guys, you're eventually not. And everyone thinks you're nothing. So it's, you know, it's a tough situation for Quinn and Demetrov, who had plenty of time there, but also tough for him, obviously, that it's ending this way. And yeah, you have to wonder with Matt Ryan.

there getting a little older and obviously this seems like a franchise ready to hit the reset button what comes next there they they're a very interesting 2021 and beyond they could trade a lot of people i don't know if they would trade matt ryan before the trading deadline which is in a few weeks uh but tack mckinley's a free agent i i don't think they would but i'm just saying would you think would you think about it um but they have a lot of veterans too that they could trade and they they are the you know ultimate candidate to trade some veterans away at this point And we should give some credit to the Panthers who are absolutely thriving right now. And they're, like I said, 3 and 0 without Christian McCaffrey.

And right now, Matt Ruhl has this team on a very good path. Yeah, I was so impressed. You know, they lose these defenders. Matt Ryan makes some mental errors and misthrows and an interception in the red zone with, you know, about 11 minutes left. and the Panthers then just go on a six or seven minute drive where it's Mike Davis on fourth down. Mike Davis has 361 yards from scrimmage the last three weeks. Teddy Bridgewater and this team are so fast offensively.

You know, Robbie Anderson and Moore and Teddy, and they play fast with a tempo, but they can slow it down too. They're pretty, they're an interesting team. They can speed it up. They can slow it down, and they slowed it down right at the end, and they just killed the clock on these. third in shorts in Atlanta was not tough enough for them. It was a fairly decisive victory despite, you know, only a touchdown final score.

It's been a very exciting couple of weeks for the supporters of Joe Brady and anybody who had doubted that higher of a young guy who, you know, coordinated the passing game at LSU and how could he make the transition in the NFL? He has shown in the last two weeks that he is very well suited for this and is a big reason why the Panthers have been able to rip off two wins in a row. But I'll tell you what. Hey, hey, Dan, I got it with some credit. You know, we bury them here at the last game before Sunday night football each and every week.

And now they're even buried in this game recap because a coach got fired. Right, right. Exactly. Hey, but first time, long time. I got a theory here. You know, not a lot of people talking about this, but that McCaffrey guy, I think you might have been the problem, huh? That's the problem.

Good be your theory. All right. Let's go to Sunday night football. You know, there are people that think that, too. Legitably. Oh, Sunday night. Wilson, surveys, fires, and it is going to be caught by D.K. Metcalf for a touchdown. That is an unbelievable drive.

You got to be kidding me. You've got to be kidding me. Al Michaels with the call after a stuff on fourth and inches that kept the Vikings from running out the clock in the final two minutes the Seattle Seahawks take over at their own six yard line with one timeout

and a little under two minutes to play and they go 13 plays 94 yards in a minute 42 capped by that D.K. Metcalf touchdown the go-ahead touchdown, the game-winning touchdown and a 27-26 win for the Seahawks over the Vikings. Mark, that is obviously a great win for Seahawks

and Seahawks fans and Russell Wilson's MVP candidacy. But what a killer loss for the Vikings. Oh, my goodness. Well, I think these are two, like, movie characters playing to script. We've seen this film multiple times. I mean, my takeaway from more like a global level is that the Seahawks are a team that can play the worst half they've played all season and overcome it. And the Vikings are a team that can be against Seattle and have Seattle's worst half and not overcome it.

And, you know, we've like you just take it for granted that Seattle's going to find a way to get down there at the end. And there was definitely, and I know that they're, you know, my friend Patrick Claibon does not like the momentum thing. But I felt, I do believe in it in a little bit, and I felt a momentum shift when Dalvin Cook went out of this game. And what happened? You have them up 13-0. And Seattle just climbed the way back in, and they used Will Disley, Greg Olson, early on,

and they recover the Cousins fumble. They score two plays later. Cousins is then picked off by K.J. Wright, who had a pretty crazy games tonight. And bang, suddenly, it's like, you're, like, if you're a Vikings fan, you're thinking, I've seen this a thousand times. If you're a Seahawks fan, you're thinking, I'm nervous, as always, but I've seen this a thousand times.

But suddenly you're about to cough up two straight long touchdown drives to Kirk Cousins. That was what was crazy after that moment when you stay in change. It wasn't point blank. It's like Cousins, you know, gets himself together. You think they're just going to totally choke, and he has two awesome long drives to put himself in position, to put themselves on the third drive then into that fourth and one situation. And I like that they went for it. It's not just because of the numbers.

It was because of the situation that that night they were winning those fourth downs in the first half that they got are the reason that they were ahead. And they were so good running the ball. And if Dalvin Cook was in the game, he would have just bounced it outside. I mean, the hole was right there for Madison. But of course, they didn't make it. They didn't stop a fourth and ten early. And they didn't stop the touchdown. Greg, you're right.

The Vikings, like, didn't completely, the tent didn't just get swept away by a tournament. tornado, like they were still around. But did you trust that Kirk Cousins and the Vikings were going to win this game when you were heading into the, that's all I'm saying. That's all I'm saying. Oh, I'm agreeing with you there. Of course. And in the minute, even though I thought it was a good idea to go for it on fourth and short, I just were like, oh, they'll probably wind up losing this game now. I'm not going to defend a ship that appears to be taking on water, but I mean, the Vikings showed some serious resilience in this game. I mean, the finish at the end of the first half and then the way that, you know, losing Dalvin Cook and the way that the Seahawks

rebounded, you know, early in the second half, I mean, that would have wiped out a lot of teams. And even though you're not dealing with the crowd in Seattle and everything else, you lose your best running back, the momentum shift like you had mentioned, Mark. And yet they still found a way to take the lead. And they were in position to win this game. Now, some people might debate the whole kick the field goal, go up by eight, even if they go down and score touchdown, they got to go for two, or going forward on fourth down. And you're right. They did miss Dalvin Cook there, but I mean, they do deserve some credit. It's just a bummer that it won in four. I mean, it's going to take a Herculean effort to get back into things.

I mean, it took a perfect play by the two best players in football maybe to beat them in that fourth goal. And that's kind of been their season. Like, they've had some ugly performances, but they've also been in some situations where you're like, I just wish they could get over the hump. And they're one and four. I mean, it's a terrible position to be in at this point. You'd think they would have more wins at this point considering their team, but it's just not there. This was an awesome performance for like 50 minutes of game time. Yeah. They were up 13 nothing at the half in Seattle with Russell Wilson at the peak of his powers.

It was a brilliant first half defensively, and they moved the ball and up on offense, put up points. And then it goes from 13 nothing, from 10 minutes in the third quarter till 8 minutes in the third quarter. It went from up 13 nothing to down 2113, including the Chris Carson run, where he just runs over the defense. And you just think, oh, it's over. This is going to turn into a blowout for the Seahawks. But for them then to mount an 11-play 77-yard drive for a touchdown, a 15-play 97-yard drive for a touchdown. Get an interception of Wilson in there, get the ball back and run it all the way down to the goal line,

not be able to get the foot, and then give up the 94-yard touchdown drive. Like, that is, to me, like, an unfathomable loss. Two-fourth and longs. And on the game-winning play, O'Hedabo has Russell Wilson dead to rights? And he pulled up because he was afraid of getting a roughing the passer call. And he just had a free shot. Literally no one blocked him on the play. And Wilson delivers just a perfect pass and an even better catch by Metcalf.

I mean, you've got to kind of just give them credit for just being better. Oh, my God. What a game was? It's 40 minutes. Time of possession for the Vikings. What does it add up to? What does it add up to? We spent every preview show. we're saying Seattle can't rush the passer.

They're deficient on defense. They don't have Jamal Adams. They can't do anything. They're a half big defense. And then it's like, it doesn't matter. They still win these games. Everyone thought that, you know, expected them to win this game. But you're right, Mark, because I think this was Mike Zimmer's like dream game.

If you can't win, like he loves being so run heavy. And I was a little worried at half time thinking, wow, they see your point, Mark. They played absolutely perfect. But you're only up 13. Like, you should be up more if you. play perfect and in terms of the long drives and the play count and the time but like that's what mike zimmer wants and you still lose that game 400 and 50 yards of offense for the vikings dalvin cook was eating before he got that one and then madison goes 20 for 1 12 i mean if you play that

game 10 times i don't know how many times seattle wins it but it does speak to the greatest of russell but i think what i think what you're missing mark was like this this was not a typical viking effort from 2020. I'm not saying it's typical effort, but it's not, I'm not talking about the Vikings. I'm talking about the Seahawks. Yeah. Yeah. I'm talking about the Seahawks that we want to credit the Vikings as resilient.

The Seahawks are the most resilient team around. They, whatever happens to them, though, they client you, that's fine. You can worry about them, but like, we're not, we're not labeling the Vikings as more resilient than the Seahawks. They're completely different in that territory. Yeah. Based on end results. And to piggyback off that, too, there's a defining trait with teams that end up with, you know, as a losing team.

And this Vikings team at least twice, if not three times, has built itself early leads, has gotten stops. In week one, they did it against Green Bay twice. And they can't close. And even in this situation, they couldn't close. So, you know, going against a team like Seattle with Russell Wilson, a quarterback, if you can't close against other teams, you're definitely not going to win that game, even if they have to go 94 yards, even if they have to convert a fourth and long, even if they have to score the touchdown, pass on fourth and goal with a guy bearing down on your quarterback, it becomes indicative of a

team you are. And that's who the Vikings are. One yard. Just get the one yard and you have the biggest winner of your season. You're two and three, but they couldn't do it. And I think everyone kind of had a vibe what was going to happen once they got stuff there because you give Wilson the ball back. The funny thing about him was, you knew it. They got to two fourth and long because that was the thing is they do everything possible to raise the tension. It's amazing to me that they got the ball back and then they end like, oh, they only have one time out. They don't even need the time out. They got to the goal without using the timeout. And they didn't get any long penalty or anything. It was just like it's that easy for this offense right now that was

not cooking for most of the game because they didn't really have the ball. Just an incredible win for the Seahawks and a crushing loss for the Vikings. Ooh. All right. Wow. Big Sunday two coaches fired in six days maybe the Jets will get around firing their guy at some point that would be cool it's like week five this is like everyone's in a in a big hurry also everyone's like oh it's corona year we're going to be really these coaches are going through a lot we're going to be real gentle with them you know kid gloves bang like two are gone and it's not even like Halloween all right we'll be back on Tuesday with our next episode, of course. And that will also be a recap of the Monday night. I don't even know what the

Monday night game is anymore. I don't even know what's happening with the schedule. Chargers Saints. We're back to our normal Monday night. No Broncos. So it's just back to just charge of the Tuesday night game or no. There's a Tuesday evening game. Bill now. Yeah, Bill's Titans, which you know, by the time people listen to this, who knows? I can't keep track of this. But we'll just keep covering the sport until it's either not here or continues to stay here. Shook, thank you again for pitching in. We appreciate you as always. Always.

All right. This is Dan Hanzah signing off for Nick Scho. The Quiet Storm, the old boss and Ricky Hollywood sitting on that 0 and 5. My goodness, she needs a win in a big way. Check out the Thursday show for that. Maybe she'll lock it up. Till Tuesday. Thank you.

This is an I-heart podcast.