NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 2021 Week 3 Recap

Episode Date: September 27, 2021

A room filled with some heroes - Dan Hanzus and Gregg Rosenthal recap every game from Week 3 starting with Tom Brady's first ever loss in Los Angeles. Nick Shook joins to talk about the Vikings win and then Kevin Patra is coming atcha! Stick around for another amazing SNF game! Dan and Gregg talk about a miscommunication that halted some traditional male bonding. 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 trying to outlast Brady's career. From the Chris Wesleyan podcast studio, it's the Around the NFL podcast. Dan heads is here, joined by Greg Rosenthal. It is the flagship program, Greg. Week three, Sunday is in the books, and we are here to recap all of it. And it was a interesting Sunday here, Greg. I mean, it's interesting if your voice makes it to the end here, you put some honey in,

you're drinking some tea. I'm more concerned now than it was a minute ago after hearing it. But it does feel like the season kind of started today, just as like a bigger picture of you. You know, I do that sometimes right at the beginning. You like that. Okay, Steelers, one and two, Chiefs, one and two. Patriots one and two Seahawks one and two

These are some you know bucks get a loss These are some you know Teams that have been regularly in the playoffs Are big name teams Under 500 now Some with concerning losses Some less so

And it's like okay now we're starting to sink our teeth into things That was the point I was going to get into But you're helping me with my voice No Mark Sessler here of course And if you saw on Twitter This morning Mark gave a little update on his situation He's continuing to have some of those issues, health issues that it occurred last month and they're back this month. So we're without Mark now for our second show.

And hopefully we'll have him back in the not too distant future. But time will tell. But Mark's doing okay. We're in contact with him. He's getting better. Now, am I getting better? I don't know. We're going to see.

Got a lot of podcasting to do today. And a lot of games to get to. And yeah, you set it up well there because the fact that the Bucks got humbled. I think it was their first loss since, what, November? Sure, yeah. The Chiefs get beat again. I mean, those are the top two teams in football. Everybody kind of sees them that way.

And it feels like maybe things aren't that way. Maybe like you're saying, the personality of the season is starting to come into focus in week three. And we're going to go through every single game, including, yes, I know our fans really do love the kicker club. I hear about it all the time in my mentions. And this was the most important. night in the history of the kicker club in terms of just like all the nights just start yeah just like the scope of the celebration is at a level that it's almost impossible to kind of put it in perspective i mean uh as we're taping this i feel like it's just going off tucker's in the corner and uh it's gonna be a long night it's gonna be a lot of a lot of fun it's like i remember being at ray lewis's final game when the raven's uh outly

lasted the 49ers in the Super Bowl and being in the locker room. And, you know, all the, all the jernos, all the other teammates. Everyone was crowded around this corner of the locker room for Ray Lewis. And he was just slowly unpealing the tape off his arms and taken off his, like, knee strap and just quietly reflecting on a career. Well, well done. I think that's Tucker right now at the kicker club. It's good. We can get some of our Tucker talk out now because I think we do have Kevin Patrick coming at you with another good.

gut punch of all gut punch lion's losses later. So maybe we don't need to dance on the podcast and it's one of those sad Lions games that really the Lions do worse slash better than anyone. But anyway, a lot of games to get to and we're going to dig into it right now

starting yes with the game that went on just across the sidewalk from us where the defending champs went down. Stafford keeps his Rams out the line. Third down in 10. Well protected. Steps up. Warches deep down the right numbers. All alone, Deshaun Jackson over the shoulder at the 30.

He weaves his way to the end zone. Touchdown, L.A. 75 yards. Welcome home to Sean Jackson. There he is. Our buddy, J.B. Long with the call. ESPN Radio. Long DJ. Long to Sean Jackson touchdowns.

Enjoy them. Savor them, treasure them even. We only get a couple every year, but they're always spectacular. Matt Stafford went off. Throwing four touchdowns, including that rainbow to D-Jax as the Rams kind of had their way with the bucks, 34-24-24 win over the champs.

Greg, being the best team in football in late September, it doesn't really mean much in the big picture. But I think that might be where the Rams stand right now. Yeah, I mean, you got to give them the respect on the power rankings later this week. We'll find out. But it makes sense. You beat the champs.

You beat him convincingly. You do it in a game where I'm almost having. having a hard time, like, taking a big picture takeaway other than, man, Jackson's got that, Deshaun Jackson still got that juice, not just on that 75 or a touchdown, but on another throw up the sideline where he just goes zero to blinding in a couple seconds. So I don't know. He might have a few more of these types of days because Matthew Stafford is so well protected. That's probably my biggest takeaway is that the difference between Brady and Stafford today

was there was nothing the Buccaneers defense could do to bother Matthew Stafford. Stafford. It's not the running games. Neither team had a running game until the fourth quarter when the Rams were just starting to running out the clock here. Stafford on third and long just as like patting the ball. And Todd Bowles is trying to send blitzes. That doesn't work. He's trying to not send blitzes. That doesn't work either. You lose Jamel Dean in this game. That's two of their starters in the secondary position that at cornerback where you felt like they were already thin. And it was just felt like guys are open. and Stafford can find the guys that are open. He can deliver it to any part of the field. And at one point, they had, I think, six straight scoring possessions. It is the first time in Sean McVeigh's coaching career where that happened.

And you did it against the bucks. It's amazing. Pretty good. That is pretty good. I mean, this is exactly what it was kind of advertised as going into the season, that this would revitalize Sean McVeigh and his attack and revitalize Matthew Stafford and kick his career into this like next stage

and maybe to a much higher plane. And yeah, doing against the Bucks is really special. And, you know, they actually, things started off okay. Stafford started one for six. And they were mostly misthrows.

That's sort of a reminder to just how much open guys there were. It was about four misthrows in that one for six and then he went nuts. Yeah. And like you said, they score on the next six drives. And I think with the, with the bucks yeah you're a little concerned about the defense can they hold up in a big spot against a true contender like the rams not today and then i think it's it's time to get a

little bit worried about their running game and i know ronald jones is in the doghouse right now but they had 35 yards total brady was the team's leading rusher that's tom brady 44 year old tom brady 14 yards so brady is continuing to be indestructible he went 41 to 55 432 and two touchdowns added a rushing score but that's not really what you're you want to do. I don't care how good Brady is. You want to have some balance in there and the bucks don't have it. They don't have Antonio Brown. But to me, it's more Brady trying to keep up with this defense. Once they got deeper into the game, you felt like when the Rams made a stop and you give Rahim Morris some credit, you give Aaron Donna, Leonard Floyd made a play. They always

have like a role player make a play. Kenny Young made a couple of nice plays in this game. They've done enough defensively Los Angeles has. Whereas Tampa, like, you know, you Yes, it's going to be there with the greatest passing games in the league, and I'm not too worried about them in general. But they need a little more. The pass rush has quietly been mediocre all three weeks. So it wasn't just the fact that JPP wasn't there today. Today they stepped up in class in terms of the offense that they were facing.

I know they had Dallas week one. They've had some tough matchups. But they just, they weren't sniffing Stafford, pretty one-sided. And because Tom Brady got to 432, I don't know what the number is. is, but it's well under 100 yards. Tom Brady will become the all-time leading passer, Erica, next week, Sunday night in Foxborough, unless he gets injured in the first quarter. I can't think of, like, anything.

Like, it is just going to be such a, just a flame thrower of, like, Gillette or where, no, it's at. It's a Gillette. It's not going to be standing when it's done. Well, yeah, we'll get to the Pats. But this, yeah, this was about the worst. that they could go into it because the Bucks will be, they're a champion and they're going to be licking their wounds and ready to bounce back.

Angry Bucks team, Tom Brady, who's already known for having laser focus that no other athletes ever had in the NFL. Yeah, I don't like your team's chances next week. Yeah, we don't need to get to that. It's got to get pumped up. I like it. You keep trying to push back that conversation until it's gone, but it's going to pop up. It's a week from today.

And by the way, good job by the Wesleying Brothers. Whoa, locking up. Oh, that's nice. Locking up the Rams to beat the defending champs. Yeah, they were in their building the Rams, but still to beat Tom Brady and the Bucks, who were 2 and O and had it lost in forever, that's a nice lock.

Last quick thing is that the Rams crowd is a thing. It's good. It's almost like they were lucky. They would never, of course, say this, and it's not really true, but it's almost perfect that they're entering. in the stadium with Stafford. You know, they've done a great job.

The Rams really have to be given credit. You know, the personnel moves that they've made. They're all paying off right now on both sides of the ball, what they did this offseason. But also that they got this stadium built. They slowly built this fan base up even more than when they got here five years ago, six years ago with Jeff Fisher. And that place was rocking.

It was a real home field advantage. And I think that's something we wondered about. Lakeisha Wessling was in there having a great. great time saying it was just going bananas and they delivered her a great night. I mean, that's the optimistic way to look at it. You could also say, oh, so they used for like three decades Los Angeles as a pawn in leverage to get teams to build stadiums instead of giving Los Angeles professional football throughout the end of the 90s, 2000s. Oh, yeah. There's a lot of missteps along the way. I've just said for this current Royams organization, man, it just does feel like they timed this perfectly with the fans in the crowd.

And I was impressed. I was a little surprised just how loud it was in there. And another big game for Cooper Cup. That is a lethal connection, Stafford to Cup. Let's check in on the other Super Bowl 54 participant. Takes the snap. This is the game. Mahomes now retreating, climbing the pocket.

Let's it fly toward the left. It is going to reach the end zone. And that is incomplete, and the Chargers win. No flags. The Chargers. come into Arrowhead, force four turnovers, and get out with a 30 to 24 lead. Ah, Matt Money Smith, 30 to 24 win it was because the Chargers defense, Stonewall, Patrick Mahomes in the final quarter, and Justin Herbert threw four touchdown passes, including the game winner, you heard there to Mike Williams.

And a 30-24 win at Arrowhead, Herbert outplayed Mahomes in a game that felt like a statement of intent, by the Chargers and Greg we know that Justin Herbert is a savage in the pocket but according to his head coach there's another way to describe him clearly we need to um have it be even a bigger emphasis because we can't play like that we're fortunate we have a you know a gangster quarterback but we got a coach better a gangster quarterback and and brandon staley who I thought really did a nice job in this game and in general seems to have his have his finger on the pulse of his offense and his quarterback more specifically that there were multiple points, including at the, you know, the most important juncture of the game where he could have

been a little bit more conservative, but he said, no, I'm going to put my faith in Justin Herbert, who he said for the second straight week was the best player on the field. And Herbert did not let him down. And he said Mike Williams was the second bester that was close behind him. And Mike Williams goes 122 and 2. He is embracing the. this new role. You love to see players put in a position to maximize their skills and just like Mike Williams is the same player that he was the last four years. But now he's a way more productive and you have to look at coaching as as the number one reason. If you win the turnover battle though, four to nothing and the chiefs have been pretty sloppy, including Mahomes

with the ball this year. Like you better win. I mean they want they won turnovers four to nothing. That is how you beat maybe a more talented team. And wow, Chiefs 1 and 2, are you worried at all? A little bit. Not really. I mean, they killed themselves again in this game with turnovers, and it started with three trips into Chargers territory that all ended with turnovers and Clyde Edwards, Alair, who otherwise played a very good game.

He put it on the ground. There was a Tyreek Hill fumble. There was an interception that went off hands that led to another turnover that hurt them. And then what happens with the chiefs is when you make those mistakes as the Kansas City offense and when you have those turnovers as the opponent, you better take advantage of it. And I thought the charges did a great job. They did not get any points out of the first turnover, but then they turned the next two into touchdowns. Got that 14-0-0 lead, which is what they needed to get comfortable, get into the groove. And when the chiefs inevitably went on their run, when they took over late in the second quarter, got a field goal.

and then started second half. Touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, to seemingly take control of the game, they had built up enough of a lead, the Chargers early, that they could weather that storm, and then they outplayed Kansas City the rest of the way. So I thought that was very,

very important to take advantage of Casey mistakes, which have been more plentiful than I expected on offense. I'll put it that way. Yeah, I do think, you know, they don't have a ton of dimensions to their offense beyond Kelsey and Hill. We'll see if, like, the weight of carrying the entire franchise starts to wear on Kelsey Hill and Mahomes

or if the rest of the guys get better. But it's very uncharacteristic of the Chiefs to get outscored 10-0 in the last three minutes of the game. That's the opposite of what they did last year. But it's a reminder they made it to the Super Bowl last year by winning close games over and over and over. They have not been a truly dominant team since earlier of the 2020 season.

Yeah. No, I think that's certainly fair to say. and Andy Reid, another subplot after this game, we learned that Andy Reid was taken to the hospital after the game. And I'm looking at the ESPN reporting where we are now. But he left the stadium in an ambulance following the game. A source close to Reid told ESPN's Jeff Darlington that the coach was in good spirits when he departed for precautionary observation after he felt ill.

So you have, obviously you have this situation going on now. Reed is 63 years old and it's something to keep an eye on and hopefully everything is okay. I'm sick of hospitals. I don't want anyone going to hospitals. I don't want anyone doing anything. Come on, Andy Reid. We need you. We need you, Andy Reid. But yeah, that's kind of where I come down on the Chiefs because the same thing happened last week in Baltimore against Baltimore where they're winning that game if they just don't shoot themselves on the foot. They did it repeatedly in this game. But even though that happened early in this game, I thought it was very interesting and very, telling in a positive way for the Chargers that they basically got this game back to even and then outplayed

the Chiefs and Justin Herbert outplayed Mahomes who threw the big interception that led to the game winning points. So, whoa. Good job Chargers. After they charged it up last week in Dallas to get this W, that's a big one. Let's move on.

Josh in shotgun. Takes the snap, looks to his left, looks, nobody comes open. Josh rolls to his right. Takes a look, going to keep it. He's going to run in. Touchdown Buffalo. Josh Allen. Josh Allen from two yards out. Touchdown Buffalo. John Murphy with the call, WGR. Turns out Josh Allen is still good. The Bill's quarterback through four touchdown passes ran for another. Bill's embarrassed their opponent for the second straight week. This time it was the Washington football team. No chance. Forty-221 blowout

at Orchard Park. Greg, Buffalo has a cooking on both sides of the football now. I was so impressed by this Bill's team again. The defense swarms to the ball. It was somehow a misleading 43 to 21. It didn't feel that close because if you break down the three Washington touchdowns, one comes on a screen play, you know, unbelievable play by Antonio Gibson. He wanted that end zone. It was one of the best plays of the game.

But it was called at a perfect time, great individual effort. Another touchdown on an extremely short field on what amounted to was an onside kick. and then one deep into garbage time. Josh Allen set the tone on a third and I think it was a 15 on the first drive, beautiful throw on the outside of the Sanders, and then an even better throw out, you know, escaping the pocket for 41-yard touchdown the Sanders on that drive. And from then on, it was just like Josh Allen firing bullets,

misdigs like a couple times streaking down the field, but otherwise, Sanders has added so much they had no problem whatsoever. At one point in this game, they were almost tripling up Washington, in terms of yardage. And they are now the NFL leaders in score differential along with the Broncos. And I just think of this defense. And granted, they've played three shaky offenses,

but if this defense can play close to this well all year, to me, they are the most complete AFC team. There's a lot of good AFC teams. But I think on paper, they're the one team that has the chance to have a truly great offense and a truly great defense. Yeah.

And especially seeing the, Bill's really come to life on defense last week with the offense starting to fire up. And then this week, and I didn't get a chance to see this game, but hearing the way you're explaining it, this sounds like last year's attack, maybe with less Stefan Diggs still than we were expecting. He still goes six for 62 at like 10 targets. He just missed him a couple of time. That was on Allen. But on the same day that the Chiefs, again, look mortal for the second straight week.

If you're a Bill's fan, you're thinking yourself, oh my goodness, this really is set up well for us to potentially make that push to get to the top of this conference. And that has to be extremely, extremely exciting. What did you see from Taylor Heineke, by the way, in this game? Because I really, I liked how he played against the Giants on Thursday night. He had the moxie. He made some big plays. Doesn't sound like much well here. Same stuff. I mean, if I think if you look at a week one, too, he did make a couple plays. I mean, his touchdown run was unbelievable how he like, you know, sought out the the pilot. Like, he's going to make plays. I don't think he played that poorly. They picked him off a couple times one one was a little lucky but it there's not much sustaining element in this I don't

think this is a team that's like going to go up and down the field on other good teams they didn't protect that well and yeah your boys young and sweaty they were definitely quiet today what is going on with his defense I don't know it's been one of the worst defenses in the league because I really when you look at that first chargers game they they got a couple turnovers but they couldn't get a stop this team has barely forced to punt all season in three games that's a trend They're in trouble. They're lucky to not be 0 and 3. So Buffalo has, I don't know how the Steelers beat the bills in week one after what we've seen since,

but they have that one loss and now they are back in a groove and we'll see the Washington football team and a lot of these in there, the New York Giants, we'll get to a little bit, but there's some issues in the NFC East right now as there was last year. Let's keep on moving to Greg, your favorite place in the world, Foxborough. I mean, it's not my favorite place. It's only been there, like, twice. Third Narnia. Third, three times.

It's pathetic. Taysam will remain a quarterback, and James is wide out to the left. Power run, right side. Taysam Hill will walk into the end zone, and what a play. And what a drive by Taysam Hill. Hey, Taysam alert. The Saints backup QB, Gatchett Boy, rushed for his first score of the season, helping the Saints shake off.

Their Grizzly Week 2 loss to the Panthers in a 28-13 win. Over the Pats, yes, in Foxborough, Gillette Stadium, the big ball. Greg, the New Orleans defense brought the goods in this one, intercepting rookie QB, Mac Jones, three times. The Pats have some issues. They have issues and they play consistently the most boring game like on every Sunday slate. That's a problem too. Like I'm glad we're taping this at night. So I have sort of had the stench of this game off of me because it was.

It's just a slog. It's similar to the Jets Pats game yesterday, where if you take the three turnovers away, it's like neither passing game could get going. They both didn't look great. But the Saints kind of do what the Patriots want to do, but I think they do it better right now. And what I mean by that is offensive line getting it done.

They lose Tehran Armstead. They're all pro at left tackle early in this game. Doesn't matter. They protected Winston well. Alvin Camara had a very hard-earned, I think, what was it, 1208 yards from scrimmage, something like that, 118 yards from scrimmage. But yards that I don't think other running backs were going to get.

On defense, they try to mix it up a lot. Dennis Allen's, I think, very creative, has guys up front, and they got after Mack Jones. They dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. And I think that's what the Patriots were hoping to do coming into this season, but they can't do it. They're not running the ball well. Their offensive line's not playing well.

And the defense is, eh, I mean, they look okay if you look at the stat sheets, the Patriots defense. But to me, they're just like, eh. They can't make up for a pretty boring offense. And, yeah, we saw this last week against the Jets. The Pats did very little on offense. And in this game, there was some Sean Payton history, Greg. 252 total yards for the Saints, the fewest in a road win in the Peyton era for New Orleans. So the Pat's defense did enough.

See, that's true. and it's the third straight week that the Saints have had 150 yards or less passing which is like, whoa, that is tough. They had only had 110 yards net today and James Winston had two touchdown throws one of which was a play

he tried to throw out of the end zone and he was hit and it turned into a James Winston pop-up but Marcus Calloway comes down with the ball it was that kind of day for the Saints. They got a couple breaks but you can't, I don't think you can keep winning that way yet when it really came down to it, and it reminded me a lot of

week one, Dan, was the Patriots defense got on the field at the end of the game with a chance to get the ball back, one possession, and give it to their offense. And what do they do? That's the moment that the Saints marched down for a 13-place, 75-yard touchdown drive,

you know, capped by that taste and play. It included a third and seven early in the drive where Jamis was protected perfectly. So when it really came down to it, the Patriots defense like didn't make a game-changing type of play they couldn't get a stop all right and i guess that's fair i mean they just need more balance and the offense is just not there yet and i guess we haven't had any interceptions by mac jones before this game he was very clean notoriously

um notoriously clean he was in the preseason slate when we were just going nuts about that um were you concerned at all by his play in this game or is he just put in tough situations leading No, I thought he played better than the Jets game. He didn't get much help. But the thing I'm concerned about is they tried to go deep. You know how all week everyone's like, oh, they're not going to go deep. Two of the first three plays of the game, deep, deep. He must have thrown a lot of shots downfield in this game.

I don't know what the number is, but it wouldn't surprise me. He was 7, 8, 9, and he couldn't hit any of them. So that's a little bit of a concern. The three interceptions, one came on a ball where he's standing in the pocket a little too tall, kind of like Cam Newton gets hit while he throws. one was the last play of the game and another was just on a drop by Jonu Smith. So only one of those was really

on Mac Jones, but I'm going to put a lot on Jono Smith. I mean, this is one of the worst games you've ever seen. I don't know. Four drops. One killed the drive. One turned into almost a pick six and Nelson Aguilar and Johnu Smith combined for 14 targets and 21 yards. So all these offseason

additions that they did on offense, Hunter Henry hasn't done much like it's that part's not working right now yeah i mean it is a reminder it's still early but how much was made of all the money they gave those two tight ends and what have they given them through three weeks uh they'll get better i do think they're a team that will improve as the season gets along but i think they lost james white um to a hip injury which would could be a long-term injury by the sound carded and immediately ruled out never a good sign the the patriots lost each of their first two home games for the first time since 2000 belich's first season five and eleven and i will just say this and now brady i have yeah and now tom brady

enters uh for his first game it's it's almost uh what is the word i'm looking for it's almost too uh symbolic or it too perfect that the last time they were in a funk like this in their building was right before he came and now they're back in this place as he returns oh greggie if my team wasn't so miserable i'd be really enjoying this They are very much another team. Maybe the last time they were like this was on to the Cincinnati week where they were one or two and everyone got crazy and they went on to win the Super Bowl. The difference is they don't have Tom Brady on their team anymore when they're playing in Foxborough. He's going to be on the other team.

So you don't get the feel that they could bounce back like that. I do think they can bounce back somewhat. Two things. The AFC East, which we were honking a lot about entering this season, is not looking so hot right now outside of Buffalo. and two, the first round quarterbacks are really struggling pretty much across the board unless I'm missing someone

but Mac Jones had a tough time of it. Zach Wilson is really struggling. Trevor Lawrence is making big mistakes week after week after week. Justin Fields, we will get to that. This is what I get for like investing in the preseason. I had this whole like idea in my heart like, I don't know, Wes is gone.

I'm going to like really try to like like love football and like really really focus have like a good season personally and I'm going to really like watch all these preseason games I'm going to take all these notes like none of that shit man anything no seriously from the preseason I can I have thought about this a lot the last couple weeks like almost everything I said about anything that happened in the preseason has almost gotten the opposite way of what the regular is it's almost like you doing your job in a hyper professional way actually hurt that's what I'm saying next year I'm Remind us all.

Let's not put it much on any of it. All right. We'll recap the Vikings big performance against the Seahawks with Nick Shook right after this. Hey, this is Matt Jones. I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL cover zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts pretzel?

That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh, my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more.

Seattle blitzes again. Kirk steps up. Flips it to the end zone. Touchdown. Vikings. Adam Thielin with his fourth touchdown. this season has cut the lead to 1713 Cousins feeling boom the Vikings needed a big week Vikings fans needed a big week paul allen let's be honest he needed a big week

kf a and they all got it Kirk cousins through three touchdown passes before half time including that hookup with adam feeling and then did great clock management on field goal drives in the second half to help close out a 3017 win over the Seahawks, the first one of the season for the Vikings, their first win over the Seahawks in 12 years. Yes, Nick Shook now joins us. And Shook, always be wary of the wounded animal team. But winning without Dalvin Cook made this even more impressive. Yeah, let's give a tip of the hat to Alexander Madison, why don't we?

You know, I mean, who needs Dalvin, I'm just kidding. We definitely need, you definitely need Dalvin Cook in Minnesota. But I mean, 26 carries for 112 yards. It's pretty solid day. And what was most important about that, in my opinion, was it gave them the balance they needed to effectively execute their offense because the number one threat for that offense when Cook is out there is Cook. And if you don't have him, well, let's focus on stopping the past. Syke, you got Madison instead. Her cousin throws for 323.

Is Shook bringing Syke back? I like that. Yeah, why not? It's been a solid 20 years. It's time. It's cool when I was a kid, a little kid. So, yeah, it works out. but what's going on shook with kirk cousins because i know he's everybody's favorite punching bag

and here we are week after week now on these sundays you look up and he's playing mistake free ball he's airing it out he's throwing a bunch of touchdown passes now they get a win out of it but this team could easily be three and oh and if they were it would be a huge story because cousins has been playing some of the best ball of his career i know he's been playing like they are three and oh i mean statistically um he you know he leads the league in in like for example passes of 10 plus air yards. Nobody's got a better passerating in that instance than Kirk Cousins. Think about that. He hasn't thrown an interception. He's playing great football. It's just a matter of they lost a close one in overtime to the Bengals because of a fumble that, you know, could have or didn't

end up going their way, but could have potentially gone their way at the end of the Bengals game. Then they lose because Greg Joseph can't make a game winning field goal. I mean, this team, I was thinking about it today before they won. This might be one of the best 0-and-2 teams, granted, you know, that I've ever seen. Sure. It's because of Kirk Cousins. Yeah, I think he's played great. I think KJ. Osborne, I know he only had two catches today, but they were big catches.

He's been like a third down, third down conversion machine. He's given them a little something that you didn't expect. Conklin goes seven for 70 as their tight end today with a touchdown. And then what I want to ask you, because you watch this closely, was, man, like Gary Kubiak, he's now in year two only of being the solo coordinator there. And I thought that running game last week was like vintage Kubiak. type of running and they dominated that game against Arizona. Did you see the same thing in Seattle who's supposed to have a pretty good, you know, front in terms of stopping the run?

Yeah, you know, they ran kind of at will almost. I mean, if you had changed jersey numbers and told me that, you know, Madison was wearing 33, but you told me that was Dalvin Cook. I would have believed you on some plays. I mean, he had three carries of 10 or more yards. I mean, so they were ripping off some runs in between there. And he did his job definitely. And you're right. It was like a vintage zone scheme where they pound it.

And then they catch you on the play action. Yeah, they are. And they were today. On the Seahawks side of things, how concerned are you now? They got the cults in week one. And we knew that was a cults team that had all sorts of issues. But they got the road victory. But now back to back weeks, they've given up 30 points.

And it's just that's not going to be good enough, especially the type of ball they like to play on offense. What are you seeing with their defense? what's not working? I mean, today it was all about the short game. Kirk Cousins didn't have a single deep pass attempt in the entire game, like according to next gen stats, not one, and ended up throwing for 323 yards without doing that.

So they have to be better underneath. I don't know if the way they played Jamal Adams necessarily helps them. They love to bring him up on the line and send pressure and everything else. I'm all in favor of having a box safety, but I'm not necessarily all about bringing my safety up the line as frequently as they do because it does leave you a little susceptible to rely. and other guys to then get that underneath stuff taking care of. But my biggest concern with them isn't even defensively.

It's the fact that they can't score any points in the second half. They scored six points in the second half last week and ended up losing that game to Tennessee. They score zero points in the second half this week and up losing this game by 13. It's a matter of our other teams making good halftime adjustments against them and they're just not responding or can they just not figure out who they want to be. It reminds me of that offensive struggle period that they went through down the stretch. last year where they couldn't figure out who they wanted to be. That's what they look like in the second half these last two games. But in defense of like Russell Wilson and, you know, Shane Waldron, they really only

had three drives in the second half. Now you went punt and downs, but their defense not getting off the field back to back weeks and giving up these long drives and kind of being run over. At one point in this game, the Vikings drives were nine for 90 in a touchdown, 12 for 66 in a touchdown, 16 for 50. That is some old school stuff. 11 for 70 and then 12 for 88. So that's like five straight drives where you're a Seahawks defense.

You just can't get off the field. And I'm sick of banging the same drum. But they've been a mediocre defense for about five, six years now. And it feels like it's getting a little worse, not getting better. And the Adam's point you made, Shook, is really interesting because we know what he's about. We know he's not a coverage guy. He has two interceptions his entire career. But you just gave him all the money in the world.

So it's like you have to use him to what he does best. But if that's not exactly helping your defense, you're kind of caught in between. That's an interesting point you made. Well, yeah, and they redirected a lot of their money to paying him and they haven't really spent a lot of money in other areas. And I think it's starting to show as a, you know, as a group in whole. I mean, nine for 14 on third down, Minnesota was today. That's not acceptable for you to try to be able to come back. I mean, you went to halftime with a 17 to seven lead, couldn't put any points in the board, couldn't really get the ball. You know, Greg, you talked about that. I think three of those possessions

they had, two or three of them, five plays in total. I mean, you're right. They're not giving their offense any chances when they did have the ball they weren't doing much either. They got the 49ers and the Rams next. Seahawks Twitter is going to be on fire this week. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. We might have to get our friend on from the athletic again to check in on the Seahawks world

because it seems like a chaotic place. All right, let's head on now Shook to a AFC South showdown. Tana Hill looking, firing complete to McNichols at the five. Did he get in? Yes, he did. Jeremy McNickle Touchdowne Titans.

I mean, how come my voice is going, and Mike Keith can do that? He's fine. WGFX. Ryan Tannhill threw for 197 yards and three touchdowns, including that hookup with McNichols, leading the Titans to a 25-16 win over the free fall. Colts in Nashville, Shook. Tell us how the Titans smiled as they put a nail into the coffin of the cult season.

maybe not the final nail I didn't say the final nail I mean I didn't say the final nail I said it's a nail on the coffin you need like 10 nails there's about six or seven in there now do they still put nails in coffins anymore I don't know I feel like the dirt

would take care of it but well the nail in this game was a missed Rodrigo blanket ship field goal I mean they were they were it was kind of like it wasn't quite a sad field goal but they still need to get the ball back again to be able to have a chance to go ahead and then he just misses it and it was like well

that's that like time to get out of here because they can't even make the field goal when they're down by nine points but um i mean if you want to look at uh somebody who symbolizes a nail in their cough or yeah a nail on their cough at this point the season it's cars and wenz the guy cannot move he's playing with massively taped ankles not the ben rothusberger oversized shoe but it looks kind of similar and he just simply could not move to the point where it was obvious that he knew he couldn't move there were a few times where he could have evaded pressure if he were healthy and instead he just throws the ball directly into the ground And then at one point, he tried to scramble for a conversion on third down. And he thought about scrambling, got about two steps up in the pocket and then realized, oh, wait, I can't run right now. And out of the corner of his eye saw Naheim Hines over in the flat, tried to backhand pitch the ball to him and didn't even come close. And it was just like this is what they're working with right now. This just feels like roster mismanagement from the cults because as banged up as Wentz is,

you would think there's got to be someone that gives them a better chance to win. But it doesn't seem like their quarterback room is built that way. between Brett Hunley and Jacob Eason. So it's send wince out there, and he's just lucky to get out of this game with another injury. We don't even know that's true. They're leaving him to be feasted upon. I mean, Tennessee pinned their ears back.

Harold Landry had a career high 12 quarterback pressures today. I mean, it was, you know, he's still through for 194 yards, but it was all in the short game. And the thing that I really hold against the Colts more than anything, and partially, you know, this isn't entirely their fault, but they show that they can move the ball with the quick game, whether it's just dumping it off, running screens, that type of thing. They just didn't stick with it.

and tried to push the ball down the field late. And that was before they were even down by nine points. And, you know, when you have a guy who can't move who's clearly not super confident on the messed up ankles that he's playing on, the last thing you want to do is give the defense more time to get after him and not get the ball out quicker. So I thought schematically they kind of failed in the second half because, I mean, it was a close game until the fourth quarter.

And that's really when it fell apart. I thought they might take it easy on Henry just at least a little bit after 41 touches last week. but he goes for 31. He really does break every rule there is about running backs. It's just kind of amazing. And Tennessee has to be loving life right now. I know this was a home game.

And so you want to kind of knock that one out and beat the Colts. But man, just looking at that division, they should feel pretty good at 2 and 1. It might not take that many wins to win this division. Yeah, especially with the way that the Colts have started this season, the way they look so far. Even in the close games, they haven't been able to pull it out. So yeah, I totally agree.

And you would think that. You know, I said it's the sixth or seventh nail that they got to put in the coffin. Sixth or seventh, they've only played three games. That's two nails per game. Some of them were two nail games. And now I look at their schedule at Miami, at Ravens, Home Texans, at Niners. So they're on the road for three of the next four weeks. They're still all sorts of messed up on offense and banged out, banged up.

And that's why, that's why Greg, you and I both locked up the Titans here. So Big W for both of us. How about that? Dan's having fun because I, for some reason, and switch the lock right at the last minute to a loss. Because you know, because you really got to be worried when you can get Carson Wentz, but like make them not mobile,

that's what you really got to be worried about and change your pick. This is the third straight week, right? That you've switched out of a winner to a loser. I'm three and no on switching out of winners to losers. So I deserve it. It's all, you know, you want it all to happen in the same season. Bring it.

Oh, you got to save that for the next. We get to use it twice. We get to use it twice. We're talking about nails in your coffee. It's nails. It's nails. It's your nail game. The nails are in my back.

Shook one more game and it was a great one in Vegas. Good snap. Good hold. Jackpot, baby. The Raiders become the first team in history of the NFL to win their first. three games against teams that all won at least

ten games the previous season. Whoa, that calls for bongos. See, I like when the springs come in there. It's just a banger. Yes, the Raiders did it again. They're three and oh.

They very nearly let this one slip away. Jake Brisket with a gutsy scramble with seconds to play and then converts the two-point conversion to Will Fuller to force overtime. They trade field goals. But shook, Derek Carr, as he's been doing all season, just making money throws in the biggest moments. And that gorgeous shot to Edwards that set up the game winner was one of the best throws of the year.

Yeah, I mean, Derek Carr is on fire. There was only one mistake he made this entire afternoon, which is an ill-advised throw into the hands of Elan and Roberts who took it back for a pick six. Other than that, he was pretty precise for most of the game. And the thing you really have to like about his development, I think from last year to this year, is taking what the defense is giving him, picking apart defenses, and spreading the ball around the field as a result. I know they spent a first round pick on Henry Ruggs, and he is getting more involved. You know, he had that touchdown pass or reception last week.

And he did have four catches or 78 yards today. But he's not just relying on him or just relying on Darren Wall. He's throwing to everybody. He threw a touchdown pass to Alec Engold today. That was his reward for saving them from fumbling away a red zone opportunity on the previous play. I'm convinced. You know, they were just like, hey, dial it up for Engled. They just bailed us out.

Dump it off to him for a touchdown. This was the best game of the day, I think. This was a great football game. These teams only play classics. I can only think of three, this one. The Sea of Hands game. Remember the Sea of Hands game? We weren't born yet, but it's a classic.

And then the Fitzpatrick game of. course, at the end of last year that ended the Raiders season. I mean, Jake Brisket, you know, through 49 times for 250 yards. Like some of these... Four and a half yards in a 10th. Right. Some of these reception numbers, like Waddle caught 12 for 58. It's a little wild.

But when Puss came to shove, he had a fourth and nine where he had to fit it into a mail slot. Got it. Fourth and 20 with the game on the line in overtime. On the run. Got it. So he added a lot of value, a lot of fun. I don't know if, I don't know if Tua puts up 28 points.

You know who would love to have Jake Briske right now? The team that originally had him, the cults. How about the Patriots? No, I don't know. Mack Jones is good. I'm kidding. I'm kidding about that. But seriously, like this is the dolphins, you could get on, if you're a

Dolphins fan, even though they fought back here and this was a nice comeback, you're one and two and you're disappointed with the start of the season. The one thing that they've been smart enough to do, and other teams year after year aren't, Because we need to get a dependable backup in the building, Ryan Fitzpatrick, the last couple of years, Jake Brisket. Now, these guys are not stars, but they are hold-de-fort guys that can save your butt if your starter goes down. And that's what nearly happened today. Yeah, and you know, you have to be encouraged by that because, I mean, they got their doors blown off last week.

And yet they come back and play against a team that's on fire. I mean, I know it's only three games, but the Raiders are playing good football. Even their defense has really come around. We already know about the front four and what they've been able to do. and getting you after the quarterback. So statistically, if you looked at it on paper going into this game, you're thinking, man, this is a terrible situation for Brissette to walk into. And yet, Jake Brisket, avoiding pressure, stepping up in the pocket,

extending plays, scrambling and putting his body on the line with two seconds left in the game, and then converting the two-point conversion, like you said. I mean, it was gutsy. They were handed a lot of points. It was like a short field. It was a pick six. And then, you know, Brisket also made the history books by being the first quarterback to, complete a pass for a safety.

So that was pretty regrettable. I don't blame us for that. Yeah, that was a bad, bad situation by everyone. This offense is just good. I mean, Peyton Barber goes for 111 yards on 4.8 yards per carry. No Josh Jacobs again here.

Kenyon Drake, also in the mix, obviously, there. But the pass catchers, with car playing at this level, Brian Edwards is a player. Henry Ruggs, a couple more great catches today. He really is blossoming. Hunter Renfro, third in Renfro. Darren Waller, of course, has been maybe a little quiet.

after the last, after the week one explosion. But that's a great four pack. I mean, Ruggs had a play early where he looked like the error that you sometimes got in Tecmo Bowl, where the guy just flies off the top of the screen. There was like a special way you could get that to happen. And that was like Rugs. My God, they should just throw like Alley Ups to Ruggs just because it was fun to watch. He has to have one of the highest verticals in the league.

And then Renfro had one play where he did like a quadruple move. and literally spun around Zavian Howard and AllPro like a top. These Raiders are, they're bawling. Yeah, Renfro had a great catch. You know, we talk about third in Renfro. It was second in Renfro at least once today. A fantastic catch on the sideline. It basically put me in this moment where I was like,

who is his comparison? Because he's short, you know, he's the gritty receiver, whatever you want to call him. And I want to say he's like maybe a Welker, but he's not that type of athlete necessarily. But he is a guy that you can depend on. to make those catches over and over again. And it's fun to see how Carr involves him,

but really involves everybody. They're just a really fun offense to watch overall. They're now a team that I look forward to watching on a week-to-week basis. Shug your live via satellite from Cleveland in your home office. And I'm looking right now behind you over your left shoulder. It's the NFL helmet with the Big Shield logo that you only get at the NFL if you leave the company and then they put the helmet on the table in the newsroom. They say, hey, everybody sign it.

Wish Nick well. Of course, Shooki went to the Browns and then came back. So Shook managed, Greg, to really pull something off here. He got the helmet where everyone said, you know, you're an amazing guy. Best of luck to you. Kept the helmet, has it on display, left the company, and then came back. It's having your cake and eating it too. Right. It's like double dipping somehow.

He's probably still getting paid by the Browns, like all the other ex-coaches they have. Maybe some hush money there with the Browns. We know that was a mysterious exit. You know, you know, if I, if I hung around there long enough, my first stint there, I'd have two of those helmets at this point. I mean, you're living the dream. Like, you left, but you're still on this podcast. So it's perfect.

Like, you got, you got your cake and you're eating it too. You know, it worked out. You don't have to come up to the studio. You're just at home. And Greg, you don't, I don't even need to ask. We know there was no goodbye from the Browns helmet. Just put it that way. Yeah.

No, it was, uh, we'll see it in a week. It's like one day, showed up that just like, key card didn't work um pretty much we'll see in a week when you're covering us for somebody else by the way one more game with shook i misspoken and that's a great thing because i can't speak head to pittsburg joe and the gun catches the snap fakes to p rind throws it high and deep down the left side line chase has it in the end zone touchdown bangles what a throw by joe burrow to jemar chase who extended his arms and reeled it in for the 34 yard skis Gore. He's like, Greg, he's like, I got to get out of that lock.

I got to get over to the Ben Rafflesberger Steelers in 2012. I know, I had a good day with picks, too. I don't even know what happened. Dan Horde and Dave Lapham, WC-K-Y, Joe Burrow, threw for a buck 78, but with three touchdowns, including two more strikes to Jamar Chase. Hey, that's working out. Speaking of stupid summer storylines, yeah, Jamar Chase can catch, and he catches a lot of balls in the end zone. Bangles are now two-on-one after a 24-10 win over the Steelers shook. We knew Pittsburgh was up against it, potentially

without T.J. Watt, their most important player. How big a difference did it make in this game? Massive. They recorded one pressure, the entire game. Their lowest pressure percentage pressure output in the next gen stats era for the Steelers. I mean, Joe Barrow had all time

all day to throw. There was one play in which he actually was hit and it was a very questionable roughing the passer call which actually set up the first touchdown pass to Jamar Chase just before half time. Basically, It was a matter of Burrow could pick apart the defense to a degree and kind of just work with whatever he had. And the Steelers, knowing that the Steelers couldn't move the ball quickly at all, that they

could just kind of take their time. But, I mean, the second touchdown pass to Jamar Chase, he again had all day to throw, was able to roll out right, wait for Jamar Chase to break off his route, come back over into the middle, a wide open portion of the end zone, just throw it to him. I mean, it made it look easy. It was at one point a commanding lead, if not bordering on a blowout before, things kind of settled down to this final score that you see here. I think if you're a Steeler fan, you're stunned.

Maybe not because of, you know, considering who you didn't have on defense, but if you're a Bengals fan, you've got to be riding high, man. This is a team that won the division last year. This is a statement win for your young Bengals. I mean, it will never get old beating Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh if you're a Bengals fan or a Browns fan or a Ravens fan. That's just how this division goes. And teams are going to be lining up to kick the Steelers when you're down.

I know I didn't watch this game closely, but sometimes I think the box score can tell you a story. And the story here is that Najay Harris got more targets as a running back than any running back in history, I think, again, in the next gen stats era. And that's like that tells you about their offense because the Steelers had 35 more plays than the Bengals, which is usually a good thing, you know, in many more yards.

But the Bengals were able to hit some big plays, whereas Nick, the Steelers are going on like seven, eight-minute, long field goal drives when they're behind. And so to me, that, tell me if I'm wrong, but I have a feeling that is the box score kind of telling you the story of the difference between these teams. Yeah, it absolutely did. I mean, the Steelers only scoring drive that produced a touchdown the entire afternoon. Eight minutes and 32 seconds, 15 plays to cover 96 yards.

Get this, Greg. They went no huddle on a few of those plays in that drive. And it still took that long. And they have explosive players. I mean, I want to point out, by the way, it's not. just Watt out, it's Watt, it's to it, who's probably their next best player, and Aluallu

and Hysmith. That is four of your top six you know, front line players. So it's, on defense, that helps explain it. It is the, with the Steelers offense and it's, it's, you know, you don't want to make it too on the nose and connecting

the things, but it felt that way last year with them down the stretch where the field felt like it was 120 yards and they were going uphill both ways. And here we are again. Judu Smith's Shoester went out with an injury in this game. That doesn't make things any easier for Big Ben, but it just seems like to me that the Steelers are, A, a full step and maybe two below the actual contenders in this league, and B, their only chance to have a successful season, i.e. playoffs is if the defense dominates because the offense, I don't just, I don't think

they're going to flip a switch. I think this might be who they are as a team in it. That's not a very optimistic viewpoint, but I feel like we're starting to get a handle on this team a little bit. Yeah, and it's becoming a recurring theme. It starts the offensive line. The fact that they've got a bunch of new guys up there, and they're still just not playing effectively enough to really help that offense move. Now, really, it shows up in the run game more than anything.

When you try to hand the ball to Najee Harris and he consistently has nowhere to run or very little space to run, and then it comes down to the Steelers trying to force feed him the ball through the air because they want to get him involved and they want to get the return on their first round pick. While also, we all realize that they didn't spend that pick on a quality lineman that they might have been able to use at this point now instead of,

finding a replacement level or better running back instead of spending it first round pick on Najee Harris. I mean, it's just they're stuck in the mud. They're trying to do too many things. None of it's working because they can't really protect all that well. And they, I mean, the Beggles defense surprisingly got after a little bit today. They've been good all three weeks. And they've got a home TNF game.

You know it's big time when Colleen Wolf is heading to your town. And it's against the Jaguars. You can get the three and one here, Cincinnati. Have a little bit of a moment. And then you're, you got the Packers next. Okay, that's tough. But then you got the lions. Like, they got a chance here to have like a nice little four and two type of star.

All right. Let's do this, Cincinnati. Beyond the fringes of the playoff race by Thanksgiving. I mean, any Cincinnati fan would sign up for that. So they have that in front of them to get set up well. And I think just in general, if you're a Bengals fan, a lot of optimism after week one. And then everything felt like in week two that it might have been going down the path of what's been too familiar. over the last few years

and now you get this win and all of a sudden you're like okay maybe we're making progress here maybe maybe Zach Taylor's getting through to these guys maybe there's something cooking here so we'll see if Cincinnati could build on this and the Steelers are a team to keep an eye on here because you know we talked about it

all through the off season that they felt like they had the biggest disparity potentially between ceiling and floor and right now it is not trending well despite the fact that they went on the road in week one beat the bills but look where they are now shook look where you are now Yeah, high ceiling, high floor, high motor.

And the top of your head's pretty high, too. It's like it goes to a nice, it's very high in our screen. Yeah, yeah, let me lean back a little bit here about that. The feelings are pretty high in here. Somebody said, I saw somebody on Twitter a few weeks back that was like, oh, Dan talks about Shook's head and baldness too much. It's not nice. And I never thought it to be a thing where I was being mean or anything,

but I'm going to just stay away from the commentary on your head. I think you did a nice job with the decisions you made and people shouldn't read into it anything else other than that. One of the decisions I made today, shaving my head. There you go.

I mean, bald is beautiful and I enjoy being bald, so it's never an insult. Beautiful job, Nikki Shook. And you are a lifesaver for us every Sunday, but especially this one. There goes Shook.

Back into the Cleveland night. And up next, the Jets, right after this break. Hey, this Matt Joe. Now, I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL Cover Zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different.

Did you see the Colts Pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh, my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL.

Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Double tied-in set plus a fullback on first and goal at the one. They hand it off running left side. Gordon hit and runs through a tackle and prances into the end zone with a Denver touchdown. Well, the highlight is the Broncos had two one-yard touchdowns, a bunch of field goals, and the Jets isn't scored. So what am I going to do? That's all you can do.

Dave Logan with the call, K-O-A, the Broncos. continues to feast on the top of the 2021 draft class one week after shutting down Trevor Lawrence. Denver picked off Zach Wilson twice and a 26 zip shut out over the jets at mile high. The Broncos are three and oh for the first time since 2015. Their opponents this season are combined 0 and 9, but hey, can only play your schedule. The jets provided zero resistance in this one, Greg. And I tweeted about it and sometimes I tweet, from my feelings about being a jet fan and I wonder if there could be a pushback, but I don't care because I'm just angry about it.

Jets fans were not looking for any Cinderella playoff run this season. We'd take it, but that's not what you're looking for. You just want something to look forward to on Sundays. You want to have some whiff of progress, just the idea that there's maybe some hope. But this organization, it's such a low bar. It's just above the floor and they can't clear it. It's really just they did not put up any type of fight against the Broncos. And I give the Broncos credit.

They executed. They're in their building. They're feeling good about themselves. So I don't want to make this a Jets conversation, but it's hard not to because the Jets are not competing. And any team in the league was going to beat the Jets. The Broncos are just lucky enough today to have them on the schedule. Yeah, through three weeks,

they've got a pretty strong argument for the worst team in the league along with the Jaguars because they haven't really been competitive in any of the three games. Um, they had a moment, I guess, in Carolina late, but, but really they're, they're pretty outplayed. I'm not surprised with this Broncos defense, but it just shows you like, they're down some players. And, um, I don't know. I just, I think the whole season is about Zach Wilson's development and he got a, a tough draw. We didn't know how good that panthers defense is going to be, but it looks pretty good. I think you got a tough draw with these first three games and you're just hoping, uh, for some progress.

And if you're Denver, like I said, you're leading the league in point differential right now. Yes, they've played bad teams, but stomping bad teams, according to football outsiders, is literally the most predictive thing you can do to make the Super Bowl. Like that is the most predictive thing

of a great team is stomping bad teams. I'm sure there's data that backs that up, but that's ludicrous to me. But okay, go on. Basically, the thinking is, when you're playing other great teams, the game's probably going to be close. And so a sign of a great team is

you don't keep them close against the bad ones. I actually think the Broncos have to be a little discouraged coming out of this game just because they are weirdly one of the most injured teams in the entire NFL. They had three starters lost in this game, two on the offensive line. They're now down three starters on the offensive line's injuries. We'll see how serious they are.

And then KJ. Hamler, the receiver, had an injury, which we'll see how serious that is. The initial word is maybe it's not as bad as it initially looked and it's going to just be multi-week instead of season ending. But they, you know, Chubbs on the IR, I'm just saying that they're down about six, seven starters from three weeks ago. And that you would think is going to start catching up to them now that they face the meat of their skin.

Right. Dalton Reisner, Graham Glasgow, foot and knee injuries, respectively. KJ. Hamler had the knee, which looked really bad in the moment. but hopefully not too serious. Yeah, I mean, I don't know how much to take out of this game other than to say that they could handle these teams. Not my boy, Teddy, look. I mean, he's doing exactly what you'd want out of Teddy.

Teddy's fine. He's been perfect Teddy. But he's like, again, I want to see him against better competition. They got the giants, the Jaguars, the Jets. Now they're going to get the Ravens, the Steelers, the Raiders, the Browns. Okay, now let's see where Teddy is. But if you're asking how he played today, it was well. It wasn't a dynamic performance, but he made some really nice throws.

And when you're playing a team as bad as the Jets are right now, you just don't want to do anything to gifrap the game, pick sixes or anything like that. But the ball on the ground, he didn't do that. He's going to be stuck in games against Derek Carr, Justin Herbert and Mahomes, where it's not going to, where you can't just like kick field goals. And so that's going to be the challenge for Teddy. But what a start. I mean, it is.

You could argue this was the softest start to a schedule that any team has ever had. I mean, record wise, it is. It's 0 and 9. Well, you can't take the 0 and 9 because three of them are against the Broncos. But yeah, they're 0 and 6 otherwise, you know. Put it this way. When I do the power rings on Tuesday, I think the Giants will be 29, the Jaguars, or the Giants will be 30. The Jags will be 31 and the Jets will be 32.

And that's where they got 1, 2, 3 in the schedule. Again, you can only play your schedule. But I want to see how they do against the Ravens next week. That seems like a really good game, a barometer. Let's move on. I'll get mad to me, Broncos. That is what it is. Spot kick is away.

You can only play who's on the schedule. Good. And the ball game is over. Speaking of... What are you? West Durham with the call, WZGC, Young Way, Koo, kicked a 40-yard field goal. Time expired.

Matt Ryan threw two touchdowns. The Falcons topped the Giants 17, 14, and the always vicious, nasty. Claws out, double-wounded animal game. That's right. The Giants had a seven-point lead after Saquan Barkley had a TD dive from one yard out, and Daniel Jones then followed up with a two-point conversion, 14-7. Got Eli Manning ceremony at halftime.

The Giants specifically set this up. Let's get a dog team into our building when the weather's nice in September, make it a homecoming type game when Eli there. He does his speech and then we roll. But guess what? The defense could not make the seven-point lead stand up. the offense couldn't do anything in the final quarter after that touchdown and a falcons offense that had struggled mightily in the first two weeks came to life just enough to beat

a Giants team that might be very bad the fact that they're winless in what feels like a little bit of a softer portion of their schedule as they now get into the teeth of their schedule bodes very poorly for New York and in general there have been there have been times when New York football has had bad seasons Jets and Giants together. this one could be as bad as any has ever been. That's where it's trending right now. Well, maybe they were trying to honor the last four years of Eli Manning's career, you know? Oh, don't hit out, Greg.

You know? Because it's a whole lot of losing then, too. Man, that is absolutely brutal to lose in this way. To the Falcons, like... Falcons stink, by the way. You'll watch this game. Like, okay, the Falcons won. And they actually, their schedule softens up a little bit now, and they have a chance.

chance to kind of get things together, but I don't see the Falcons as a good team at all. The fact that you let this team beat you in your building is a very bad sign. Well, and you set up the halftime ceremony, and Eli Mani was emotional this week talking about it. He was really almost not surprised,

but like it meant a lot to him. I've rarely seen him talk like that. And to boo the owner, John Mara, during that halftime speech, the crowd is booing Mara. I just go back to the year. I lived in New York a decade.

And the reverence with which the New York football Giants fan base in media and a whole city, it's really a giant city, as you know, like in the city, held the Maras was, was annoying, frankly. And at the time, because I'm. Especially for you. Yeah, as a Patriots fan. But also just like, I could imagine, you know, they just got amazing coverage. And it really shows how far they've fallen the last five or six years or eight years, I guess, that he's getting booed. I don't know.

That amazes me. And then I'm sure it's going to be on the back page of the post and the Daily News tomorrow that I guess there was a photo captured of a garbage can that the owner kicked over after the Giants went down. And maybe it got kicked over because he got booed at halftime. Either way, I mean, listen, if you look at what the Giants had done since they won the Super Bowl. 9 and 7, no playoffs one year, 9 and 7, 7 and 9, 6 and 10, 6 and 10, 11 and 5 in 2016 under Ben McAdoo. I don't know how that happened, but then they had the boat thing and then they got wiped out in the playoffs. 3 and 13, this is now 2017, 3 and 13, 5 and 11, 4 and 12, 6 and 10, and now 0, 0.3. So the fan base is, as a Jets fan, I see at them, oh, they're spoiled, but you understand because you expect results when you run very well for a long period.

time and they just the results are not there and they're very banged up right now and you have to factor that in because Daniel Jones did not have Sterling Shepard who hurt his leg Oh, that is a killer loss for them. Darius Slayton, he left the game in the first half of the hamstring injury. We know Evan Ingram and Kenny Golliday are both banged up. Blake Martinez, who's a very important part of their defense, he got hurt in this game. So they are not at full strength for a roster that doesn't need its core players. to be disappearing.

If we want one bit of good news for the Giants, I think Saquan is getting closer to being Saquan again. He had lead back type usage in week three, so I think the restraints are off him. But an Atlanta team that went into this game being outscored 38 to zero in the fourth quarter through two weeks to let them come back on you on this day, that's why they're booing.

I mean, you got to give Youngwick Koo a nice corner table in the kicker club tonight. I know it's all about Tucker, but Koo's coming off that Pro Bowl. he hits the game winner. He's the man. Cordarelle Patterson, maybe invite him. He seems like he'd be fun at a club.

He's a leading receiver. They've unlocked CPAT. Someone's actually done it. I don't think this can last the whole season, but someone has finally unlocked the offensive weapon, Cordarelle Patterson. These are different circumstances, but I hope it tracks on some level.

It's like you remember on June 25, 2009, when Michael Jackson died, and then Farah Fawcett also died that day, And nobody talked about Farah Fawcett, who was an icon in her time because Michael Jackson was that big. Justin Tucker is Michael Jackson and Farah Fawcett is young Waco. Is that track at all? Yeah. I mean, he'll take that, you know.

RIP. People had some posters up of those people. Fawcett. All right. Let's move on. Fields wait as the Browns load up, snap back. He's got it. Here comes Coromoa.

Here comes Gareth. They got him again. Miles Garrett. four and a half sacks on the afternoon. Oh, Jim Donovan with the call, WKRK. Miles Garrett, he's here now. You were wondering where he is, where he was, he's here now. The super pass rusher set a franchise record with four and a half sacks

as the Browns took down Justin Fields nine times and a 26 to six win at the dog pound. Now, to talk about. about the game. We welcome in an old friend of the Around the NFL podcast, a legend, the great Kevin Patra, Kev. How are you, first of all? Pretty good.

How's it going? Look at you. You're looking great. You're wearing a Dodgers hat. I mean, a firefighter sweatsh. You're a real man there, Patrick. Yeah. Beard's not that long.

Gristle beard, the whole thing. Patra's with his dad. Patrick, this was an interesting game to get you back. And we're going to talk about the lions if you're okay with that a little bit later, Kev. But embattled coach, officially in front of Matt Nagy's name, you have to say embattled coach, Matt Nagy, was left to try to wrap his head around the ineptitude of his offense after this game, an offense that managed a single net yard of passing in four quarters. Here's what Nagy had to say after the carnage was through.

You know, this is not how we wanted it to go. You almost can't even make it up. It's that bad. But we got to get to the film and we got to make sure that we're hard on ourselves and we understand the wise and really just go from there. Patrick, you almost cannot make it up, he says. I just don't even understand how you can be such a failure coming from where he came from. Patrick's back. And, like, what heck was your game plan?

You take Justin Fields, one of the most athletic quarterbacks in the, the league and trying to make him a pocket pastor, like, did he forget that Andy Dalton was out this week? It didn't make any sense. The game plan, like, as bad of a day as it was for fields, and it was a struggle. It was 10 times, 100 times, a thousand times worse for Matt Nagy. He, I mean, I don't know how he survives another game like that. The only thing is by the grace of the ownership who doesn't seem to want to make any changes. But it was just piss poor, if I can say that from a managerial standpoint of how you ran this game, what the GM put in front of your quarterback,

the offensive line couldn't block a soul. Miles Garrett, you know, whipped Jason Peters. Anybody who thought that that was a good matchup was fooling themselves and how they didn't have extra protection, Justin Fields had zero chance in this game, zero, zero chance. He was pressured on 55% of his snap of his dropbacks, like literally one out of every two times. And every other time, no receivers were open.

There wasn't one scheme, easy throw out in the flat, you know, whatever. Where were the wide receiver screens? And Nagy will probably, Leo, we only had 16 plays in the first quarter. Yeah, because you couldn't do d-with it the ball anyway. So that's why you only had 15 plays. Just from a coaching perspective, this was a disaster. An absolute disaster. Patra, it is so good to have you back and have the fire here.

And I was going to say, if you could give me a little bit more perspective on how Nagy failed in your opinion. And it sounds like, where there are a lot of deep drops for fields as opposed to plays to try to get the ball out of his hand and get the offense moving in a different way? I think I counted like one through three quarters. There was,

he moved the pocket twice. Like, where were the rollouts to generate easy throw? Where were the split the field in half and he's got to go here? Boom, boom. Just quick. No thinking about it. Like, you're asking an offensive line who can't block anybody to block one of the best defensive lines in the league.

And after the first six sacks, you'd think you'd have changed something. But no, it was the same thing over and over again. It was the biggest ineptitude, and I feel bad that we're harping on the negative side when the Browns played out of their minds. And the credit should go to them on a certain level, but it just surprised,

I don't think anybody thought that the bears were going to win or most people should not have, but to be embarrassed in this fashion with your rookie quarterback, you know, just put out to pasture basically. I mean, the number, we should point out, some of the numbers. They finished with 47 yards. In the first quarter? No, that was the whole game.

47 total yards. They finished with one passing yard. Passing yard net was one. They averaged 1.1 yards per play, which I saw was the second lowest of this 21st century. I'm amazed that 47 yards wasn't like the all-time record. The shocking thing to me is that, you know, Fields finishes 6 for 20, that he only runs three times. And so as much as all of this, it makes sense, is on Nagy. You have to give the Browns defensive line a lot of credit. And you have to at least understand that Justin Fields' instincts are

not at the point right now where he can come up with something because he took nine sacks and he only ran three times. Sacks, to me, are partly a quarterback stat. And so it's a combination of everything, isn't it? Yes, absolutely correct. of those 47 yards you mentioned, 41, they had net 41 yards in the first half, which obviously isn't good, but then you only got six in the second half. So where were the adjustment? That's what my question is. And to your point about running,

he did try to get up, he, a couple of those, I think three or four of those sacks were him just not getting back to the line of scrimmage and then therefore it goes for a sack. He was escaping the pocket and the lineman did a good job of corraling him before he slipped the tackle last week to seal the win. He couldn't do that this week. That's how good the Browns were. How do OBJ look? Because I saw something just that he was very efficient. His five catches all picked up first downs were big plays.

They ended up with 418 yards. So they were plus, you know, 350 and yardage like that. 36 to 6 in first downs, like had the running game going. But how did OBJ look? He looked good to me. He looked. I didn't see any like hesitation on his cuts. He went up for a ball.

His best catch was an OBJ type. a ridiculous one out of bounds where he's falling in if baker had kept it in bounds a little bit more it would have been a ridiculous it would be on all the high lights already like he squeezed that ball and it was like you're like how did he come down with that he just couldn't couldn't drag his toes but that was that that to me was the play like that showed like okay he's good he's back like he might not have been in bounds but i don't care like i think he's still got it and the total yards margin of minus 371 for the bears was the worst since week seven of So we're talking historic disparity here between two teams. It should have been, it should have been worse. Honestly, if the Bears defensive line didn't get five sacks early and forced to turnover on downs early when Stefanski went for it on fourth and short and they got stuff, the Browns got stuff. This would have been a complete laffer.

It should have been a 50. It should have been a 50 burger. There's no doubt in my mind. They couldn't, Hunt was unguardable. The Browns, to me, to have like the best green game in the league right now. the hunt screens are just they can't tackle him he was pinballing off guys and then the combo with chub just just they just ground him down and to make matters worse naggy kicking a field goal when you finally got down and the score was still 10 point game and he kicks a field goal

and you're like why the hell you haven't you got in the red zone once luckily luckily once that you got there and taking a field goal against the team that's we'll gladly are you becoming a bear's fan how you've lived in chicago now how long osmosis I you know you know You know what? You know what it is? I am so used to rooting for schemes that I just, you know, it just warmed my heart. You speak. You speak for a angry fan base. And I know Bears fans, as hard as it is to listen to today's show are happy that you're here, Patchell. Let's get off this game before your head explodes and head to Jacksonville where another rookie quarterback struggled. Good job, Brownies. Lawrence takes turns gives to hide it's a flea flicker pitching it back to Lawrence he's in trouble jump ball pass picked off near side by Murphy at the 30 running it back to the left of the 2010 five touchdown Byron Murphy after a horrible mistake by the rookie with a pick six and the cardinals are back in front oh Dave Pash with the call K-T-A-R a lot of ominous moments in that call leading up to it flea flicker He's in trouble. He throws it up.

Byron Murphy intercepted two passes, including one he returned for a touchdown. Following that botched flea flicker, Cardinals rally to beat the still very bad. Jaguars, 3119. The Redbirds are 3 and 0 for the first time since 2015. Patra, Arizona was able to overcome a catastrophe. That special teams will play that in a minute. But what are your thoughts on this game? I think that good teams win on the road when they're not playing well. They find ways to make plays.

And that's exactly what the Cardinals did. Talking about another coach who could be on the hot seat and probably took himself off of it, Cliff Kingsbury. This looked like one of those like speed bump games, which as you mentioned, decides to kick a 60-year-field goal, gets return for a touchdown. Jags take a, they're just like running the ball down their throat. this is the best game I'd seen from Trevor Lawrence until that pick and then it all comes crashing down on the Jags and the car just find a way to pull it out and they just steamrolled their way away from it

it wasn't even close at the end it you know they turned a 10 nine point deficit into a 15 point lead like no time it was over and that's what good teams am i that's what good teams do it wasn't kailer murray's best game he threw a pick that i don't even know what he saw the safety it was like basically just the air an arm punt on like second down He said a couple of those this year, to be honest. Actually, he said one each week, like total groaner

that if, like, James threw it, you'd be like, oh, there's James again. But the good thing is every other play, Kyler Murray looks like, you know, an MVP candidate. Right. And he did, and he made plays, he didn't make as many plays with his legs, but he's like, when it's fourth and one,

he's, I don't think there's a team that can stop him. He had one-yard touchdown where nobody was within 20 yards of him, and then he converted a big fourth down to ice the game basically late. And on a day where New Copkins was kind of, was quiet, he had three catches. They just couldn't connect and they had a penalty on that white to weigh one big play. I mean, I thought AJ Green, who I've been a big critic of,

I think he showed what he can be at this stage of his career, possession receiver, and Kyler's clearly not afraid to thread it in the needle. I mean, he had one jump ball, like Kyler under threw it by probably like six yards and he just boxed the defender out like he was getting a rebound. I mean, they had 200-yard wideouts and neither one was hop. A.J. Green goes 5 for 112 or Rondale Moore for that matter. And Kirk goes 7 for 104. They've sort of got the Cliff Kingsbury four wide receiver thing that we were sold on two years ago. They've kind of got it. If Green can do just have pop up games like that. And I thought even his touchdown last week showed like a little bit of agility.

We're like, okay. Now that you're the third most important receiver on this team, like that's okay. You're fine. Bingo. I think, and I think they were over-reliant on Hopkins, too much last year. And I think this is the signs that this offense is growing, which we've been questioning whether Kingsbury can grow this offense. And they're finally starting to show it. And Kyler doesn't have to be wow plays every other play. I think

they showed that. Urban Meyer, oh sorry, Patrick. I don't know. Urban Meyer said of the flea flicker that changed that game, it's going to be a hard one to get out of my mind. I would imagine Cliff Kingsbury, even though they had a victory in

this game, it's going to be a hard to get out of his mind, a play that happened to the end of the first half. Let's listen to that. You know, Gus was bummed when he saw his assignment that he got the Jaguars and he was going down to Duval for the week. But he made a count on that field goal lineup. A bomb field goal was at 60 plus yards, 109 yards the other way. Almost swung that game, but Cardinals were able to correct. It was one of those questions we'll call is that Kingsbury has at least once or twice a game that you're like,

what are you doing, dude? where is your game management? I mean, Jamal Agnew has been one of the most dynamic, if not the most dynamic returner for the last like two years. I already has a return touchdown this year before that. I think that's too for him.

He's like half their offense. I don't understand what the play there was, whatever. They ended up not burning it. But that was a turning point. You thought, holy crap. And then Trevor Lawrence had a great touchdown throw, perfect, perfect pass on probably what I figured was his third read to get them up in the second half

and it was kind of like okay this could be a dangerous game for Arizona because they came out flat the defense wasn't really getting pressure which I was kind of surprised about until late and that pick six really changed the entire complexion of the game

Cliff's funny Cliff King's very funny because he's the type of coach they asked him after the game you regret it he's like nope I don't regret it I wouldn't change a thing you wouldn't change a thing

what are you talking about your kicker didn't reach and you gave up the touchdown like how do you say that you wouldn't change a thing it's like it'd be like the fox executive saying like oh I wouldn't change a thing I would have just kept Gus Johnson on some BS like big 12 game for eight years instead of having him on the NFL what were we doing there for those eight 10 years without Gus Johnson Fox that's a certain that's a certain personality tick in a certain type of personality where you never admit that you did anything wrong

right fully confident in everything you do you're supposed that's projecting strength but sometimes you just want to slap them and be like you know that was wrong you should have just owned up to it but that's what it is hey the longest kick in NFL history involving patrick's favorite team right after this hey this is matt jones i'm drew franklin and this is NFL cover zero we're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different did you see the colts pretzel that was my other big takeaway from that what was that oh my we think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get.

Listen NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. This is going to be an epically long field goal. A 66-yard field goal try for Justin Tucker. longest in NFL history if it's good a 66 yard try Tucker's kick is on the way it is good crossbar and it pumbles through it is good time has expired Justin Tucker with the longest field goal in NFL history that pay is in the barred and it's mayhem on the field

Terry Sandusky great call WBAL it's midnight on New Year's Eve in 1999 at the kicker club tonight. That's the type of party we're talking about. Patrick's not there. Justin Tucker set an NFL record with a 66-yard field goal, bouncing it through off the crossbars. Time expired, 1917, Ravens, over Lions at Ford Field. I mean, the place is going.

Patrick. I don't know how close are you watching this game. Of course, you're famously a Lions fan. I didn't watch one second. Yeah, you're a very busy man, obviously on Sunday. So don't really need you to give analysis on a game you didn't watch. But I just, maybe as a Lions fan, trying to give us some framing, some context on what's the latest kind of stomach punch

in an absurd way in the history's long and tortured history. Perfect law. Perfect law. Couldn't have framed it any better. You get you get a scrappy kneecappers just fighting to the, the bitter end against the AFC power. And, you know, they keep that perfect streak alive to have as high of a draft pick as possible. I couldn't have any better.

So you got that, you got that big picture look. I mean, you, yeah, you weren't in the crowd, though. People were heartbroken. Oh, I know. I understand. The crowd shots. I mean, Patrick, poor Patrick, he's tried to, like, divorce himself emotionally. He's not even covering Lions games on Sundays now.

And then we drag him in to talk about this one. He's helping us. Yeah, you're helping joy. And we're just, like, burying you. I mean, it's amazing they were in this position, though. Like, Khalif Raymond is their leading receiver. And they're almost beaten the Ravens. I know Marquis Brown dropped a couple touchdowns in this game,

and maybe the score would be different. But it's pretty wild that Lamar Jackson had a fourth and 19 from the Ravens 16-yard line with 26 seconds to go. I'd love to see the win probability at that point. And they win the game. And they had no timeouts at the time. And it should be said because Dan Campbell wants you to know. And Lions fans,

like you were just pumping up Lions fans the other day, Greg. They're getting beat 3517 by the Packers and they're cheering wildly for a random play. They're dying because after they pick up that first down on fourth and forever, the Ravens decide to run one more play where they sail the ball out of bounds on an incompletion. bringing out Tucker for 66, but they didn't get the playoff and the officials missed it. It should have been a five-yard infraction and made a 66-yard or a 71-yarder, and then it becomes a Hail Mary most likely and most likely a Lions win. I mean, just that type of game. And if you're the Ravens, you're like, man, we got lucky here because we did not play well in this game.

We almost went to Detroit and lost a Lions team that's probably going to win two or three games all season. And so Justin Tucker bails out the Ravens. It's something he's been doing for a decade now. He's the best kicker ever, ever. And I don't want to hear anything else. You can tell me Adam Finitieri is the greatest because of what he did in the playoffs. If Justin Tucker got that level of chances in the postseason, he would be universally seen as the best.

He's just, he's a weapon at a level that no one's ever seen in the sport. That play, the fourth of 19 and then him hitting that kick. I mean, this really was like, the moment of his career. We said it. Like with him coming out to break the record on a game winner, it should be pointed out, by the way, the Ravens had four players,

all starters. Well, maybe Jalen Ferguson is in a starter, but three starters and Jalen Ferguson all go on the COVID list Friday morning. They had something like 15 guys on IR last week. So it's a, they were, they are, they are scrambling a little bit and that helps put into context what happened here.

But it's still surprising when you had a 13-0-0 lead that you left it up to Tucker, but maybe it's more perfect that way. I mean, it's the perfect Lions' loss at the perfect Justin Tucker moment. Perfect Lamar Jackson ending too for a second straight week.

He comes up with some eroics. And he breaks the Matt Prater record set the 64-yarder in week 14 of 2013. That was done in the elevation, high altitude of Denver. So this was obviously in perfect conditions as a dome at Ford Field, but, I mean, it is the real deal kick

by Justin Tucker. And really, I mean, just save the Ravens from what would have been a really bad, bad, bad loss. I like your theory, though, Patrick, that Lions fans, it's okay to be hurt, especially if you're in that building, you just want to dub you. But when you're picking first overall because of this in April, you'll probably actually say, oh, that was good. That's a healthy way to look at it. Yeah, I think, you know, you still, you want to get one. You don't want to be, oh, and 17. The first, you're already the first team to go, 116, I want to be the first team ever to go, oh, and 17.

And I don't think they will. you take up positive like okay they play they they they battled and they have all season and I think that's what you're looking for that young players are playing better you just hope they don't get the number one overall pick in like a draft without a great quarterback but who knows Eric Fisher yeah like an Eric Fisher type of draft you know there's not like a quarterback right now that everyone agrees on but it's very early and and who know per next gen stats Tucker had a field goal probability of 10.4% there another Justin Tucker stat 16 of 6th of 6th of 6th of 16 on field goals in the final minute of regulation the most makes without a miss in the final

minute of regulation since at least 1983 when they started tracking this stuff everybody sucked at kicking before 1983 so this is the best ever and he's never missed in the final minute of regulation wow i mean it's it's it's freaky stuff first ballot hall fame stuff patrick i'm going to give you i'm going to give you an option here because i when there are these type of things that happen on a sunday i like to hear the other side of it the other radio call But I don't need to subject you to that if you don't want to hear it. You do want to hear it. Oh, yeah, for sure.

All right. And I just want to thank the pain. He likes the pain. It's like him doing workouts too. He's like he likes it. Dan Miller, right? That's my guy. That's the burn.

All right, Dan Miller's call of Justin Tucker's mastery of the kicking game. This will in fact be a 66-yard attempt for Justin Tucker. This game hangs in the balance with the longest kick in the history of the National Football League on the live. Tucker's ready. There's the snap. Spot down. Kick on the way. It is up and it is off the crossbar and through. Oh my goodness. Are you kidding me? Justin Tucker from 66 hit the crossbar and it bounced through. And the Ravens are celebrating on the field. The longest field goal. in the history of the NFL has just beaten the Detroit Lions. Oh, my goodness.

All right, Patrick, thank you, bud. I mean, you're a warrior. And we really, it's great to hear from you and thanks for helping us out short-handed and me not being able to talk today. Good to see your face, Kevin Patrick. Appreciate it, guys. See you, buddy.

I mean, Patrick's been around a long time here when, you know, he was here before I got here. He was like a utility man. He was doing stuff on the production side and switched over to writing. Like, he's a lifer. He's a grinder. He is, he doesn't suffer fools either. He doesn't want to deal with your BS.

I think he broke. He's definitely leading the league in, you know, expletive beeps per minute on this show. I love it. I think he's squeezed in three in a solid 20 minute. I mean, it's like, yeah, he's taking his shots. It's good commentary, good football commentary. And it's Salt of the Earth commentary, too, with Kevin Patra. All right, which takes us to Sunday night football.

Oh, Sunday night. Crosby to try to win it. And the kick is good to win the game. The 49ers couldn't take enough time off the clock at the end. All Aaron needed was 37 seconds. It's a beautiful sport, isn't it? the the they call the soccer the beautiful game but when when football is at its best as it was on Sunday night between the Packers and Niners it could feel like you're watching a movie and that's what it was like the Niners down six points with a couple minutes to go Jimmy G leads him down the field Robbie Gould hits the point after they're up a point but Aaron Rogers is on the other side and he hits

Two big strikes to his guy, Devante, setting up a 51-yard Mason-Crosby field goal, 10th, bang, straight through the uprights. Packers 30, Niners, 28. And after the game, Michelle Tofoya talked to Aaron Rogers, who was also feeling the beauty of the sport. Matt actually suggested that play on the sideline, that first play, which was something we actually worked on Friday practice, kind of scribbling in the dirt. and it worked out perfect to just put it right over with Fred said got us kind of down there a little bit we need one more play

how could he not be romantic about football man I know you believe that Greg I do especially in a a night like this a moment like that's for Rogers where you're watching one of the greatest ever

at the very height of his powers you know the numbers in the box score 261 and 2 and you think oh that that's a solid game for Rogers this is one of the best game I've seen Rogers play. I mean, there's a million of them.

Easy, they're easy. But he was almost... He was almost perfect from the first throw was a gem to Lazard for 42. The touchdown to Valdez Scantling was beautiful. He had an earlier throw to Devante Adams in the game where it's just like

there's no room there. And then the rest of the game, they're doing all this quick game because that was the game plan and that's working beautifully. Probably the only thing he did wrong and Lafleur can be part of this too was blow all those timeouts

early in the half. You know what it did? It just made it more exciting. They made the degree of difficulty even greater when he gets the ball 37 seconds left. No timeouts and they run those two plays and that first throw to Adams is such a tough throw. It's such a great call against like a cover two

in a two minute situation where they're trying to cover everything and you just can't cover that throw. and he makes it absolutely perfect, and he sets up Crosby, who might not be in the corner. You know, Tucker's getting all the attention, but Crosby, Crosby's hanging out in the kicker club. Again, it's the Thara Fawcett, Michael Jackson thing, because Crosby should be celebrated. Instead, he's getting fauceted. He's getting Fosset is getting turned on him, but he has been nails for them.

And Aaron Rogers said after the game, in addition to the comments you heard that, you know, he sits next to Mason Crosby on every plane flight. they love each other. He respects him so much, and that was such a gutsy kick. Kickers are so much better now than they used to be that when a guy drills a 51 yard or 25 years ago, that would have been unheard of.

But now it's just like, oh, yeah, he drilled him from 51. You could make a case, Greg, that Rogers is brilliant, but how does Defonte Adams, of all people, get wide open twice? He was not wide open. That's where I would argue. The first throw, the degree of difficulty on that, how deep Adams got, how far back Warner was as like the linebacker trying to cover that.

But you know where the car's going. It's going to Devante. But he had to throw that so hard and yet over the zone, like that is such an incredibly high degree of difficulty throw. So I'm not saying he's open at all. And he has to reset his feet moving two feet. I can't remember if it was to his left or is right, right before he threw it because he felt the pass rush going. I'm not buying that at all. I don't know if anyone else in the league makes that exact throw at that moment. It was perfect. I think, yeah, there's definitely something to be said for maybe the defense wasn't perfect in that spot by the Niners,

but sometimes one of the greatest of all time just beats you, and that's what happened. And, you know, there's a bunch of subplots to come out of this game because the Niners are getting shut out in the first half. It's so hard for them to find the end zone when they finally do in the final seconds of the second quarter, It's, of course, Trey Lance who does it on a one-yard run after what had to be a brutally painful sequence for Niners fans that, like, why is this so hard to score? And then I'm thinking to myself as the second half is playing out. And Jimmy G. has that bad fumble that seems to hand the game to the Packers midway through the fourth quarter that, oh, this is going to be the week where Kyle Shanahan might have to make the change because this offense is just not getting it done. And it makes me think what Jimmy G was able to do on that 75-yard drive in about two and a half minutes. It would have been better if it was three minutes,

but that's just the way it is with Aaron Rogers on the other side. Jimmy G really saved his own bacon, even if he wasn't able to save the Niners. But this is the Jimmy G experience. This is why they drafted Trey Lance, because these sort of games drive you crazy watching Jimmy G. Just when you think you're out, you get back in, and just when you think you're in,

he does something that you come back out. But it's still the same Jimmy G., which he is frenetic, his feet. Like, you know, Tom Brady gets lauded for having very quiet fees, calm in the pocket. He's moving only the steps that he needs to. And Jimmy G is patting all around. He's patting the ball and he's turning around. This is the second straight week where he kind of threw the ball backwards because he didn't know where he was. And even on that touchdown drive, I don't want to knock the touchdown drive too much. But Debo Samuel makes an

unreal play. George Kittle makes a great run after catch. Use check makes a great play to score the touchdown. You kind of got to give it up to the teammates too. And I'm going to fall. I don't know. If it's Shanahan or Jimmy G, when they snap the ball, there's 30, you know, there's about 42 seconds left. And there's 12 seconds still left on that play clock. They have all three timeouts. The Packers had left themselves in a vulnerable spot with no timeouts at all. Poor game management.

And I tweeted the second that play happened, they snapped that ball with 12 seconds left in the play clock. Time was not a factor at that point. And it's given me flashbacks to a little. Kyle Shanahan Falcon's Super Bowl. How about that? Oh, you got to bring that up. I mean, that was the all-time. You're snapping the ball

earlier than you need to. But even in that moment, you're thinking there's no need to be snapping it with 12 extra seconds left. Well, that's fair. That's fair. And in general, a tough night for Kyle Shanahan, who there's a lot of drama.

We talked about it in the preview show on Thursday. Now, between the Packers and the 49ers connected to the potential pursuit or the legitimate pursuit. of Aaron Rogers in the off season and how that led now to a potential fracture of the relationship between best bros, Kyle Shanahan, and Matt LaFleur.

Icy Brosgate got a little more pop and sizzle at midfield at the end of the game because these guys were, these bros were icy and they just passed like two ships of the night and then I was watching the post-game presser. And of course, the Niners Beat reporter asks about it and Shanahan feigns ignorance on it. It's like, oh, it's a busy game, end of the field goal.

You know, I don't even really know what was happening, but we know. We know it's icy Brosgate, and I love it. That was some Manjini Belichick stuff right there. I actually was surprised because earlier in the week we said, are we on Handshake Watch here? And it ended up, it ended up delivery. I'm not happy the Packers won because I picked the 49ers. I always root for my picks. But I do think this was the deserved result.

This was a game if the 49ers won that I felt like they stole. I just don't think that they were the better team. I thought the Packers were able to run the ball. The 49ers were not. Rogers was clearly the better quarterback. I thought they had the better game plan. Football is just a game of a couple plays here. You know, the Packers had all these pass interferences too.

A couple calls went against the Packers. And I just felt like they looked like the better team. So even though it was a crazy ending, I think the deserved team got the result. It's funny that you used that word, stall, because when I was in the NFL network, film theater Humble Brack with MJD tonight I said the same thing

when Crosby came on and hit the field goal to make it 2721 is like the Niners I know it feels unlikely but they could steal this game and I would have said it to you Greg but even though I sent you

multiple texts to come join me in the theater you didn't say that you never came and you left me in there and when MJD needed to go to the studio to join Chris Rose for the post game show it was the old Zeuser sitting alone in a movie theater watching the end of this game

and that hurt Okay. This is the most Dan story. I'm the main character in the movie plotline ever. You had your whole setup the whole second half because you wanted to watch Yankees and football. So we weren't in the same place. Do you want to know what happened with that Yankee Red Sock game while we're here? Well, I assume the Yankees won now with a base that a look at your face.

So I'm watching trying to catch up, trying to do things at my desk. Then you send me a text with five minutes left after I'm all set up. I've been doing my notes. And you didn't even say, come over. You just said, I'm in the film room, FYI. I beg you to come? I'm in the film room, FYI. At that point, it was too late.

You know where I was. You could have come to where I was. Let's see, at 805. I'm in the film room, FYI. Mention that MJD is with us. MJD burying me about Robert Sala. And then you wrote Sounds Fun, Slammer. And I wrote, it was just the two of us.

Now I'm alone in here. Ha, ha. At what point is the light go on with Greg? Or maybe just Greg doesn't want to hang out with me. Maybe that's what it is. In a movie theater at NFL network watching the best Sunday night game I'm watching the game at my desk the whole second half You should have come to me you at you were the one that needed the whole setup

I didn't know where you where you were now I know now I really miss Mark Anyway took that despite that it was a great game He wouldn't sit with you in the theater last one no I was the one in there I was I if you had been if we had watched the whole second half there I would have done it That's what I was expecting to do But you wanted to do a different setup At that point

I'm not changing my setup But five minutes left in the game We should say We should do a contest Ricky Like with maybe a listener Will want to sit with me In the NFL Network Movies studio

Yeah I bet a lot of people would Dan Yeah that's not happening This place is locked down pretty tight You can't even get family in here All right Good stuff 3028 and oh Power Rank is going to be tough this week

This is a really interesting week in the NFL. I kind of feel like we hit the reset button now as we reach October. A little update real quick before we go on Andy Reed, the chief's head coach, who fell ill at the conclusion of Kansas City's loss to the charges today. This from the Chiefs came out about an hour ago. Reed was evaluated by our medical staff in the locker room and as a precaution was transported to the University of Kansas Health System for further evaluation. Coach is doing well, currently resting, and in stable condition, okay? That's good.

Stable condition sounds scary, but that's a good thing. So get well soon. Coach, get well. To answer your question, yes, I would like you to beg me. I just, I think sometimes, like, typical male bonding escapes you. And I don't say that as, like, an attack mechanism against you. I'd just say, like, I was kind of opening the door and then you would come roll in and we'd enjoy the end of the game together. The door was open the whole second. It's just traditional male bonding.

You knew where it was. You went to go hang out with MJD. We'll be back on Tuesday. And thank you to everybody for dealing with my stupid voice today. Hopefully that will be better on Tuesday. But get well soon, Mark Sessler. I don't think we'll have him Tuesday, and probably not for this upcoming week.

But we're going to make sure Mark gets completely well before he's back with us. Get better, Mark. So get well soon, Mr. Sessler. and thank you to everybody for listening and let's go week three in the books we're just getting started the beautiful game heed the call This is an I-heart podcast.