NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 2021 Week 8 Recap - Happy Halloween

Episode Date: November 1, 2021

A room filled with some heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler and Gregg Rosenthal recap every game from week 8 including the Saints having the Buc's number, the Patriots beating the Chargers and the bongos for the Jets. Nick Shook joins for blowout watch and the heroes recap the Sunday Night matchup between the Vikings and Cowboys. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. The Around the NFL podcast is always ready to go long. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis and come to you from a virtual room filled with some heroes. Greg Rosenthal, Mark Sessler. Oh, heroes.

It's a spooktacular edition of the podcast, a flagship show, Halloween night, and trick-or-treat, as they say, Gregie. And it was a treat for a lot of teams that had unsung, unheralded backup course. quarterbacks in big spots. Yeah, if you were once coached by Adam Gase, you had quite a day. It was a fun Sunday. I mean, because of the surprising results and because we got to do it at home. And that was nice, get a little trick-or-treating in after we watched some of the football was perfect.

There is an immense rager happening about 14 feet from my head out the window at my neighbor's house. I can't decipher what actions are taking place, but it's a very festive Halloween night here in the neighborhood. I'm also glad that we did what we did because we all got a chance to take our kids out trick-or-treating a little bit amid a wild Sunday night football game, if you want to use that word,

but it only capped off not only for the Jets, but other teams, a pretty dramatic week eight. Yeah, the Jets were one of those teams that had an unlikely performance from a backup. When you say that there's something crazy going on next door, because Halloween is itself, there are the parties and things of that nature. And yes, my Vincent Vega t-shirt did come in time, and I had a good time last night at an adult Halloween party. But usually it's about the kids on Halloween proper.

But you seem to hint before we jumped down that there might be something a little bit more zesty happening next door right now. I can only use, you know, the evidence provided audio-wise to my ears. And there is stationed next door to my house, our restaurant. rental house, because we'll never own a house in California ever, a gigantic camper that's continually parked there. And, you know, I'm assuming that, like, older sleepy relatives typically inhabit that vehicle. But what I've been hearing would suggest other events, not involving old sleepy. So when the airstream is a rockin, don't blank a blanking. That's well said. I think you've put it into, no, I'm not saying that's been continuous. There are other things, too,

but there was, you know, maybe that was part of it. Let's get Gravedigger in this car, send him over to your neighborhood, and maybe he can get some like boots on the ground reporting on what's going on next to Sessler's house. So we'll continue to track that situation. But yes, there were many a football game played on this Sunday, Halloween Sunday. Let's start a great scene down in New Orleans at the Superdome where the defending champions ran into a buzzsaw.

Time to throw. That one is picked off. Picked off on the right-hand side. And it's going to be a touchdown, New Orleans. What a play. Pick six. Happy Halloween. Mike Haas with the call for WW.

I don't know if it was the fact that it was Halloween and, you know, everybody's in a good mood and a little, you know, dressed up in costumes and maybe getting a little loose at the stadiums. But there were some great vibes at some of these stadiums today. And the Superdome, that place was rocking after PJ Williams intercepted Tom Brady, returned it 40 yards for a touchdown with just 124 to play. And that was the key play. And the Saints, 3627 win over the Bucks. So a huge win for the Saints who really, you know, that's what you call the old statement win,

saying we are a true conference superpower who can beat anyone, including Tom Brady, in a big spot. However, there was the bad news of James Winston, who got pulled down on a horse collar type tackle in the first half of this game suffered a left knee injury. Ian Rappaport reported after the game that it's an ACL injury and also potentially MCL damage. And when Sean Payton spoke on the injury after the game, he had this to say. Yeah, I'm going to get an update here. I think it's significant. He felt something, and he's on crutches right now.

I don't want to say until I have a chance to talk with the doctors, but, you know, it was something, you know, when he got up and then had to go back down, you know, you were a little concerned. So as we tape this, Greg, you know, we're bracing for the news that I think a lot of people are expecting that James Winston's season ended. tonight or today in New Orleans. So it is a bittersweet moment for the Saints, the biggest win of the year, but also the biggest loss of the season injury-wise.

Yeah, it is. And I don't think they were letting it get them down. I know that even James wasn't letting it get him down. You know, they did their club Saints thing in the locker room afterwards and Mark Ingraham's on the IG stories. And it's the most Jamest thing ever that I will remember his Saints season as a starter for swinging his crutches around while he awkwardly dances on a torn ACL after just a ridiculous victory, which got kick started by like an unreal throw on his one touchdown of the day

to Treyquan Smith as he was getting hit. It like gave you that that window into maybe what could be. And it's just a reminder maybe that the Saints defense though, maybe they are one of the only defenses that matter. And I was thinking even as this game, you know, the bucks were going to put 24, 27 up, but they have Tom Brady's number. Like, at this point, I feel like we can say that. They are the one defense, Dennis Allen, that consistently scrambles up Tom Brady. First team ever, or maybe the second team ever since the Peyton Manning Broncos to beat him three straight times in the regular season.

Yeah, I mean, I thought Jeff Duncan, one of their great beat writers, put out this amazing stat that Brady with the Buccaneers versus everyone else in the regular season throws an interception every 83.9 attempts, is, you know, relatively very good. But in his, in his three games in the regular season versus the Saints, it's been one every 16.2. And that, you know, they put it on him last season. They did it again. They have found a way to track Tom Brady and unseat him at times. And he looked uncomfortable. And it just goes back to me that I think that along with a defense that might really be a difference maker, Greg, I think that in Sean Payton, and this is not breaking news,

but he is one of those coaches that not only, you know, the way the whole, whole defense operated today. You know, they had Trevor Simeon have to come into the game, and we've seen a lot of bad from Trevor Simeon and some good. And what the Saints did with them, I thought that they didn't change their game plan. They threw aggressively. I feel like Sean Payton could get NFL editor David Ely to go 15 for 21 for 184 yards and two touchdowns if he needed to.

He's just one of those coaches. And it completely changes the way that I feel about the Saints because it was Dan. You've got the old. It completely changes from Mark's stamp of approval. Really? Even without a quarterback? Well, no. Here's the thing. I mean, obviously, obviously like their fortunes are dimmed big time. But I just have total respect for how they're run from top to bottom from Sean Payton on down. I mean, it's like they are a totally resilient team. I thought they were going to be a Hammondegger this year. And they've not been, things changed without the quarterback.

Well, that's the kind of, that's why this is such a bittersweet game because I think could be wrong. because Sean Payton's a great coach and there's some really good players on that roster still. I think they're cooked. I think, you know, if you lose Drew Brees to retirement and then you bring in James Winston and I think we all get kind of robbed some of us more than others.

Sneaky Saints fan Greg Rosenthal, all the real Saints fans. I mean, this was, but even just football fans, such a compelling story to track James Winston in his redemption season in this incredible once second opportunity to kind of put a stand. stamp on his career. So if this is the end of his season and who knows where the Saints go once

the offseason hits, man, that's really tough. I just don't, I mean, I've seen Trevor Simeon play before. We know basically who Trevor Simeon is. I thought, you know, he was pretty lucky in this game. He had a horrendous pick that was wiped away by a penalty. And I just think they're going to be very limited with him. Now, you have Taysam Hill, obviously coming back from the concussion, maybe as soon as next week. And then you can get into that business. If you you talk yourself into this offense being able to score points with Taysam Hill. I am definitely more on the side of a pessimistic on that. So that is like the bad side.

I don't want to be the doomsayer here because they do deserve a lot of credit because I think even the staunch of Saints fans thought this game was lost once Winston went out and once Brady got hot and they wiped out that 16 point second half deficit. Brady did throw four touchdowns, by the way. So he was doing things in this game. So to be able to step up on defense and do just enough on offense, really nice moment for the Saints, even if it might, in the big picture, mean the end for them. Right, might be the high point of their season. And, you know, there will be a lot of teams that won't have a high point like this.

A raucous Halloween where you beat the defending champs who they really hate. I did think Gronk going out after five plays with another back injury was significant just for the long-term. Ominous. health of the of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. All right. Before we move on, I just want to, just the overall thing, because Tom Brady is such a larger than life figure.

It is, it did cross my mind at one point that the Saints fans just going nuts and enjoying beating Tom Brady. Like there's a whole other segment of sports fan or NFL fans that are getting this treatment now that he's in the NFC in a different division. So it's just Brady, the tales of Brady. It's just, you know, he makes things more fun when he's around Tom Brady, win or lose. All right, let us move on.

So there you go. The Bucks go down. The Saints with the W, but they lose their quarterback. Let's head to another big division matchup, this in the AFC. Randy Bullock. Snap. Set. Kick.

Yes, that was so good. And the Titans. with a treat at Lucas Oil Stadium. I've called nearly 500 of these games, and I've never seen one like this. Hey, Mike Keith. Sell it. Paint a picture, Mike Keith.

WGFX with a call. I like the idea that we're going to get a bunch of these, Mark, a bunch of Halloween references within each final call of big plays. We're two for two so far. How many more? I'm going to set it at four and a half. Do you think we'll get the over on that? I think we'll get the over.

I think that in general, the play-by-play man as an entity cannot shy away from it on any level. Lean into it. I'm banging the over. Just like Kevin Byer lean into being a hero. He picked off Carson Wentz and Colts territory in overtime, setting up Randy Bullock, Big Bone Randy, for a 44-yard field goal. Wild ending to this one at Lucas Oil Stadium. And it ended with a 3431 win for the Titans over the Colts. And, you know, just like we talked about Greg leading into this game,

this was a very dangerous game for the Titans, Mark. Hats off to you, get the lock. But this kind of played out how I thought it was going to play out, a desperate Colts team fighting every inch to try to stay alive. How about actually take your hat off when you say that? You're wearing a hat right now. Take it off when you talk about me dominating the lock competition. You can't tell me what to do.

I'm suggesting it. it's not a colloquialism, actually do what you say. I decline, but maybe at some point I'll take my hat off to you when you're not expecting it. How about that? There it is. Anyway, this is a game, Greg. They got off to a 14 zip lead, the cults, and then the Titans did their Titans thing. They clawed back and find a way. This was a great game. They got to put this on the NFL Network primetime little setup. You got to put it first up in your game pass. You look at the score and you think the defense, didn't play that well, but actually, both defenses held the opposition, I think, under five

yards per play or five and a half yards per play. They both made a couple of big turnovers. The overtime was essentially four straight defensive stops, including the Titans setting up a long field goal to win it, which, you know, Big Bone Randy just barely snuck it in there. And we could be questioning Mike Ravel, you know, getting very conservative at the end, but I don't blame them. It was two defenses that basically were daring the other quarterback to beat them. They were daring Ryan Tannehill to beat him, and he started out with two ugly interceptions in the first half, but then played well in the second half. And the Titans' defense dared Carson Wentz to beat him, and he beat the Colts. This was the Carson Wentz game that you were afraid of, not just the ugly interception at the end of the fourth quarter and then the ugly interception in overtime, but missed throws, which led the Titans back into the game, just inaccurate throws, where guys,

were open. I couldn't believe how much guilt and weight Frank Reich put on himself and that the writers that I've seen put on Frank Reich for the play calling in this game when I'm like, his play calling's why they're in this game. Carson Wentz is missing these throws. And it was just kind of a nightmare game and especially a finish for Wentz. I don't like that with Wentz, you know, the interception that came on a terrible decision to unfurl the ball out of his own end zone was just it looked like someone that had, you know, just been introduced to the sport at the position to me. I thought it was just a terrible move. The thing that stuck with me, because, you know, I was kind of watching this while all the stuff was going on. Ryan Tannahill really

was in a really rough spot early on. Made a couple big errors, and they could not kind of get, find their groove. There is this element of toughness to Ryan Tannahill, though. I mean, his teammates were having, he got hit a bunch in this. His teammates were pulling him up off the turf at one point, and he battled and he fought. There is just something about this Titans team that mistakes aside, they were more resilient. I was wrong about the cults, though. They are not.

I called them, I think, sleepy and boring on our NFL network show. They were not today, but they are not the class of this division. I mean, they're done. Well, they're record. Why? They're game out of the AFC wildcard. They're done in the division. They're done in the division.

They're three and five. They can make a wild card maybe, but they're, yeah. Tennessee has a three game lead through eight games and the tiebreaker, courtesy of the sweep. So barring a major injury to one of the principal players of the Titans, they will coast to the AFC South title. That's how big this game was. And that's how much it has to just kill Frank Reich. And, you know, Carson Wentz, who, you know, maybe it was knowing how much the game meant that led to the two interceptions at the end. He's pressing a little bit. I think we have the audio from the cover your ears, Colts fans,

but we wanted to hear the indie call of that left-handed pick six deep in his own end. One of the worst passes you'll ever see, especially given the circumstances. Play action wins. He's in his own end zone. Has to throw it away. And he does. It's picked off. And it's picked off by Elijah Molden.

And that is a touchdown. This game cannot end like this. God, I'm sick to my stuff. This game has been too good for it to end like that. Absolutely. 126. Come on, guys. 126.

It's not over. You've disappointed Matt Taylor and Rick Van Tury of WFNI and Greg, too, Wentz's credit to the Colts credit. They go down the field to get a big PI and score to tie it. Maybe they should have went for two there. Maybe they should have because yet they were getting so many calls in the second half of this game. This game had a lot of luck going in each direction.

I mean, you didn't watch it and think like, oh, the Titans are a better team. They just sort of, they made the play at, you know, they basically didn't have Carson Wentz on their team, but it could not have been more even. The Colts got so many lucky calls in this game, but the Titans also had this incredibly lucky sequence where Tyquan Lewis picked off Tannahill on a third down play and blows out his knee while running the ball back and fumbles the ball right back to Tennessee at that point. I think it was 14-0, and then A.J. Brown had a long touchdown, the very next play. It's similar to when it was 14-0-0.

The Colts got aggressive and went for it on fourth down, and I really remember that sequence well, where Wentz missed a wide-open hilton streaking down the field for a touchdown that would have made it 21-0-0. Then they go for it on fourth, and everyone's killing Reich for going for it. It's like, Wentz missed an open throw. And that, like, I don't kill him for being aggressive at all.

They shut down Derek Henry. He had 68 yards on 28 touches. Jonathan Taylor had 122 yards on 20. 20 touches. And you kind of, if you're a Colts fan, start wondering, like, why do we throw the ball 51 times and run at 16 with Jonathan Taylor? Like, that's what the Titans were asking for, and that's what they got. Yes, five turnovers between the two teams, a bunch of wild swings, two touchdowns in the final 86 seconds of regulation, 20 penalties. It wasn't a beauty, but it was a lot of fun to watch. Let's now move on to another big division.

game. This one, uh, in Cleveland with the Steelers looking for some revenge. Fourth and goal at the two. Here's the snap. He's back. He pops. He fires for the end zone. And it's juggled in the back of the end zone. What do they call? Touchdown. Pittsburgh. Pat Bramemoth, the Penn State rookie and the Steelers forge ahead. Oh, was that a sweet play? Bill Hillgrove and Craig Wolfley with the call for WDVEE, Ben Rafflesberger. He knows how to get it done against the Browns, who had the advantage of the Steelers losing their place kicker, which caused all sorts of issues for the Steelers and led to them to do things like going for it in that instance. And it led to the Pat Firemuth touchdown that put the Steelers ahead.

They stayed ahead getting some stops on defense, 1510, the fire. final Steelers over Browns. And Mark, nothing's going to wipe away the playoff glory of last January and that great win for Cleveland over Pittsburgh. But what happened here today is too familiar a script over the past 20 years. I think it wipes it away. It wipes it away for me because like that was meant to be the start of something where there's continuity. And the Browns proved today that they really, you know, they kept talking about it as big brother, little brother. totally fair comparison. They are the little brother.

And like the credit goes to Pittsburgh because I think this began. It was a culture win. Nick Shook mentioned that in his write-up, and I really agree with that. The Cleveland's still figuring out their culture. But I think Mike Tomlin set the tone early this week with a furious press conference where he basically blew up any concept of him going to USC, but also talked about the Browns in this game in a way that I think set a tone for Pittsburgh. And, you know, it's like everyone wanted to wonder, can Pittsburgh's offensive line do this or that?

Their offensive line, I thought, helped them win this game. Cleveland made key mistakes, which if you go to track Cleveland's games, they have, they have issues with penalties. They have issues with key mistakes. It came from Jarvis Landry today with a terrible fumble caused by former Brown Joe Schaubert. OBJ, who is just lost in this offense, had one catch for six yards. and you nailed it with Chris Boswell going out early on a fake field goal pass attempt that went totally awry, knocked it out of the game. And I think Pittsburgh showed we can rally around anything that happens to us,

not only in the microcosm of this game, but in the macrocosm of this season, where they came in with weaknesses, and you see them getting a little bit better each week. And they're figuring out how to win. And they were the better team today, no questions about it. I think it leaves the Browns in a really rough. spot. And I, you know, look at, I understand that someone like Miles Garrett A, who has 10 and a half sacks and leads to league in sacks, likes to have fun with putting gravestones in his yard and walking into the stadium with a cape about every quarterback he sacked. But that's not what it's about.

They're form four and they couldn't get it done. And, you know, this is not a Baker Mayfield lost the game type of game, but it was a total team melt where guys like Nick Chubb didn't do what he normally does. They got away from who they were. They've done that in a couple of their losses. And I, you know, talk, if I had a hat on, I take my hat off to the Pittsburgh Steelers, because I think they basically nullified and largely erased what happened last January by telling Cleve when you're still not us. Oh, man. I mean, I still, I know it hurts today and it stinks, but this is a four and four. It's a four and four team. Take that playoff win and run. I mean, that is a memory that, you know, that's something that you're waiting for your whole.

What Mark's saying is that what happened in January was supposed to be the springboard to the start of a whole newer era, not just for the Browns, but in this rivalry. So to be right back where we are now, that is annoying. It is. It also like comes down sometimes to, you know, it's more than one play. But the way that the Steelers offense is, you know, Fryermouth made a unreal catch on that fourth down. You know, the Browns might win that game. if Fryermouth this rookie made a couple big catches like that in that first preseason game, I remember.

Yeah, I think that was at the Hall of Fame game. I don't even remember. And here he is showing up, like hasn't been huge this year. But if he doesn't make that catch, I don't know if the Steelers go score another touchdown in this game. This was a defensive game. Did you have, there was some Mike Tomlin sound, Mark. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, let's throw that on there. Let's tee it. Hey, any of you guys, know, Ben, that unchange his mentality. he plays like we got no kicker anyway he's a Ohio boy man he trying to win when he comes home that was awesome um see like I would just say one thing I really I like that common the reason I wanted to play that was because he basically said you know he said big Ben plays like we don't have kicker all the time and this isn't the old big Ben but um it felt like the old brown Steelers games to me in many ways and back in the past before we did this I would go after a game

like this and watch like three movies back to back to back in like a discount movie theater you know, and start to think that there are still great books to read. There are still things to do. There are still luscious people out on the street. But I had to forge on and watch like a Washington football team game in the middle of this. I was in a hot, irritated mood in my garage. I don't want to feel this way again. They unplugged me.

I'm not doing this again. Nobody, nobody's going to ever. Go over that camper next door. You see what's going on there. I'm going to go right over there after this. Nobody's ever going to feel sorry for us because we're very lucky to do what we do for a living. But I will say this, like, and Mark, you are just like me, super passionate about our team, and it kind of sticks with you more than, you know,

you're a typical sports fan, just put it that way. And when we have a particularly bad loss for our teams, like for me last week with the Patriots, Jets game, with this game, when you have to stay locked in the NFL world for another nine hours and talk about it on a podcast that people listen to, that is the hardest, that is the hardest part of an otherwise amazing job. yeah like i like i tweeted something that i really felt um in the middle of this nonsense and also at one point i did predict correctly that jim nance and tony roma would be highly annoying um jim nance had his little Halloween like is this going to be a trick or a treat for pittsburg on a play

where they're going like 45 yards to the end zone i mean but i basically said female assassin don't walk run because this this basically again i'm not getting involved with this team for a long time i'm out they unplugged me imagine mark doing a trick or treat tonight with the kids just like just take the almond joy just take it's take it right now i tried to work out of my mood i saw i saw a create i don't know if it's true or if i missed it because it popped up real quick on my tweet deck but i think the browns are oh and six on romeau nance games i told you like it is it is they are it is they are it boils down to this they try to shove the browns into the big moment and outside of that playoff game they are not

ready for the big moment you got to go back and figure out who you are right now now you are floating. I think these two teams just quickly are similar, though, which is that the AFC is a morass right now. This lower wildcard group is just a big jumble, and they all got a shot, and probably none of them are real Super Bowl contenders, and they're both in that mix.

You know, the Steelers are now in that mix. You can't say that they're... Morass is a great way to describe it. It's so great that an insane person like me thinks about my Jets team, and I'm like, hey, if we could beat the cults on Thursday, three and five. Sure. It's not crazy.

Sure. You can get some mic, wait, magic. Look, see how quickly they wrote me back in. All right, Mark, I'm sorry that this game turned out the way it did, but hopefully brighter days ahead. Let's toss to a break and then get to that Jets classic. Hey, this is Matt Jones. 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 to 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. What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from scouting reports and player development to team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters.

Every week, we study the tape, talk to decision makers, and share the insights you won't find anywhere else. It's the kind of conversation that connects the dots, from college football prospects to the NFL stars of tomorrow. We break down the draft, analyze matchups, and evaluate how teams put it all together on game day. Plus, we dig in the coaching strategies. roster construction, and the trends that shape the league year after year. Whether you're a diehard fan or just love understanding the game on a deeper level,

we give you the full picture. If you want insight that goes beyond the box score, this podcast is for you. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Lev Florio, and together we host. the NFL fantasy football podcast.

Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL fantasy football podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet, we've got the insight to help you crush your opponents. Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL.

Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Takes the snap drops back, looks right, looks left, fires in the back of the end up in his crop. He's got it. That's a jet touchdown. Tyler cropped all alone. Mike White finds him for the go-ahead score with 3.45 to go. Unbelievable. Oh, yeah, Ricky.

Give me the bongos. I'm back, I'm back, I'm back, I'm back, I'm back, I'm back, I'm back, I'm back. I wish I could quit you, New York Jets. Bob was choosing with McCall for WEPN. He's a great play-by-play guy. We don't get to hear a lot from him on the show. Mike White, Mike White threw for 405 yards and three touchdowns, and caught a two-point conversion pass on a Philly special, Markey.

the go-ahead score and two-point conversion and the Jets come back from two scores down late in the fourth quarter to beat the Bengals 34 to 31 at the Meadowlands. Another building was going off. And I'll tell you why that building was going nuts at MetLife Stadium today. It has been, and I was talking to Keith Hanses about this after the game. It was the rare, such a special win and memorable one that you got a call dad. It's not just, it's not a text one, it's a call. And if you, aside from the 2015 Ryan Fitzpatrick 10 and 60s and that didn't even produce a playoff bid, that was the last time anything like remotely special happened with the Jets.

A game that was truly memorable. I know there were little flickers of hope in the Sam Darnold era, but nothing truly memorable for. for anyone outside of Jets fans. This is a straight up, like, great, like, classic Jets win. And it's been so long since it's happened. And the fact that it was Mike White, a guy that's just a complete unknown, a former fifth round pick out of a non-bigtime school, bounced around, was with the Cowboys, didn't make that team,

lands with the Jets. And for him to just kind of be fearless in this game was really something special to watch. Mark, you grab this game in the draft because I was on a break. And that break lasted as long as the first Jets drive when they scored their first touchdown of the season in the first quarter. And I said, okay, they look like they actually showed up to play a football game. And that's exactly how it played out. And they got to win as a result.

Yeah. And I had this, you know, late in the fourth quarter, I had a text that I was going to send to Dan that said, why don't, you know, I covered this and I'm happy to chime in. but this is something greatest happening here. Do you want to maybe have your thoughts out there, obviously? And then I was like, wait, when do I send this? Because I waited until it was completely over because it was such a bizarre game. But I thought that it had a special feel to it early on.

By the way, it's supposed to be fun watching your team play a sport, at least once in a while. And the Jets fans have made that real tough. But Mike White was kind of like, I don't care about the history of the Jets. I don't care that no one in Jets history has thrown for 400. yards in 327 games since Vinny Testaverty did it before the Y2K scare. It's like, let's make this thing enjoyable for Jets fans. He starts 11 for 11.

At one point, he hit another nine in a row. He went totally off. And they'd pan over to Joe Flackle on the sideline. It's like, why did you sign that guy? Mike White is going to start on Thursday night, number one. He should. I'd like the idea that Mike LaFleur is up in the booth. They kind of said that they thought that made a difference in this game, that he was

just where an OC should be, where, you know, totally get it that when Zach Wilson, a rookie quarterback is there, he's down on the sideline with him and stuff. But it just seemed like the offense found a little bit of a comfort zone. I also thought real quick that an early goal line stuff by the Jets after a Jesse Bates interception where this thing could have gone totally off the rails basically showed me that this Jets team is still playing really hard for Robert Sala. the defense, I thought, showed some spice. They made plays down the stretch. Burrow had a killer interception late.

By the way, that's his fifth, fourth quarter pick this year. It leads the NFL. He's been awesome, but it has been an issue for him. And, you know, the Bengals could have won this in a variety of ways, too, but the Jets refused to stop fighting. And look, they've beaten the Titans. They've beaten the Bengals. So when you talk about them is on the fringe of the playoff race,

it's not because they knocked out two total, you know, ghost ham and egg. like they are not they are something about them can be a little spicy you'd like it to have been with zach wilson it was with mike white take it how about sol after the game they asked him you know is what's going on with mike white going forward is he have a chance here to to run with this and of course this is not this is zach wilson's team but sol at least said hey you never know well you know he's going to of course play on thursday he said anything can happen anything can happen could mike white be the franchise court he's like anything can happen yeah i like that answer Even if it's not going to be the case most likely,

and maybe Mike White comes down to Earth, Greg, as soon as three days from now. But you can't take away this game from him or the Jets of the fans. This is the most first downs they've had the Jets in a game since 1986 I saw. I mean, this was completely out of this world. And what does it say about Cincinnati, Greg? I mean, it says that Spicerack had a beat on them being like, oh, they're going to lose this game.

I was like, what? You mean cover? It's like, no, he's a lot. they're going to lose, I think they're going to lose straight up. They can't handle, like, a situation like this. That's shocking to me, but it's shocking the way it happened that they give up over 500 yards. 32 first downs the Jets have, you know, the Jets lost the turnover battle by two, and they won the game, which is, you know, extremely rare in the NFL and usually only happens if you're like a vastly

superior operation. It's wild. Flacco is so pissed right now. That's all I could think about it. Because in his quotes on Friday, he was like, oh, I came here to play. play. And I was like, well, you should have come here on Wednesday then, or, you know, right after you got traded, because you would have played, I think, this week, if he had showed up. But they really got some good fortune to have Mike White play because we don't,

we don't need to see Joe Flacco on Thursday, and that's for sure. We will not. And yeah, like I said, MetLife Stadium was jumping, and they were chanting Mike White, Mike White, Mike White. I, you know what? The football gods, I feel like a bone was thrown to me and many other Jets fans don't give up hope uh you could still have fun watching your team and i had a lot of fun watching the Jets bad a bad loss so bengals because it's one thing i mean any loss to the Jets is bad but uh what did they have a 10 point lead in the fourth quarter at some point they were in total control of this game and just they let it slip away uh all right now the team that destroyed the jets last week uh they were on the road here in los angeles and uh they

continued to look like a playoff team. Shotgun snap to Herbert. Brer's back fires right. Passes intercepted by Phillips rises from the turf, runs left side 10-5. Pick six. His second interception of the day. And it's a touchdown

for the Patriots. I like this. We're just rolling through all our teams in a row. Bob Sochi with Zolak grunting. Like a shet, the sentient Gatorade bottle in the background. W.B. safety Adrian Phillips intercepted two passes against this former team returned one of them for the go-ahead touchdown as the Patriots rally to a 27-24 win over the Chargers. You know, I felt so good about the Jets.

It didn't even bother me that the Patriots ended my lock streak by beating up on the Chargers team. That might not be actually that good. Anyway, Greg, it's become the go-to cliche. That's fine. Can't hurt me. It's become the go-to cliche of the post-Bradie Patriots whenever they have a nice win. Hey, that was a vintage Patriot-style win for Belichick. But this kind of was.

It was because, you know, they got contributions from all three phases. Their quarterback didn't play well. That's not too vintage. I thought this was what Mono Mac Jones's worst games. My biggest takeaway was that they had 75 plays to 48 for the Chargers before the Chargers went on a 10-play kind of garbage time. drive. I guess it's the defense. They cooked up Justin Herbert pretty good. After a couple early touchdowns by the Chargers, they had four three and outs forced and a four and out and two interceptions in their neck like seven out of the next eight drives. But it wasn't like a game I looked

at where I felt that much different about the Patriots. The two interceptions that they had were both either drops or miscommunications by the Chargers. Kind of felt like a lucky bounce game relatively not to get like not to put too much damper on it but just like they look like the same fine team that they've been it's Greg like I'd ask you real quick because if you look at I think we all think that obviously Justin Herbert is like already a star and all those things but last two games he's 54% completion percentage three touchdowns three picks I mean he obviously had troubles against Baltimore today you know not a pristine effort like does does it concern you at all that people are just getting more tape on him or is it just like not at all just

keep rolling he's going to be no a little bit just you know ship him to canton a little bit with how they're you know defending him a lot of like changing the snaps post look a lot of blitzing uh the offensive line did not handle like the pressure that they sent they got after herbert pretty good but like i said the two interceptions one was a drop by eckler and the other one was like the classic Jared Cook play of all Cook plays. Like, you know, I have like a text thread of just like another friend who like finds it funny that Cook just like always ruins the teams he's on a couple games the year. And like there was a game where he had a penalty where he took away the game winning

touchdown for the charges earlier. And this was one where he just didn't turn around and pretty sure it was on him. And that was the pick six. Not to take away what the Patriots did well in this game because Mac Jones hit a couple throws deep. He really struggled in the first half and got it together in the second half, which was nice to see because he was eight for 22 at halftime in this game. And they ran the ball. They've settled on an offensive line. Like they are a physical team. They know what they want to be.

And they're four and four. And when they get the right game plan defensively, like they can make problems. They got Carolina next. Like that's a chance to go to five and four. We talked about, you know, the idea of Belichick, you know, beginning to trust Mack Jones more. You saw things earlier in the season and how they, they game. planned and how they handled certain down-and-distance situations when it was very clear that he was a rookie quarterback that they had on a tight leash. And this game was interesting to me because I feel like they were throwing more than they should, especially early in the game. And Mack Jones just didn't have it. I think that's why I was kind of impressed by

the Patriots to be able to go on the road, even though it was like 40,000 Patriots fans at SoFi Stadium, including Ricky Hollywood, to get a kind of relatively bad game from your quarterback and still find a way to win. That's impressive to me. And I think in an F.C, I still think it's the Bills Division, even though I don't think they're without any concerns right now either. But I think they're going to win that division. But I think the Patriots are absolutely a team that needs to be seriously viewed as a wildcard contender. And on the charger side of things, you know, in four of their seven games, they have 20, points 17 points six points they had 24 in this game but it's really 17 that was a garbage time

kind of a miracle catch at the end so it has been a little hot and cold of this offense and of course the game before this two games skid they put up 47 against the browns and looked invincible but there's some inconsistencies here that if you're a charges fan it's on your radar at this point uh the offense specifically it took herbert making some great plays against pressure to get those touchdowns early too. Like, there was not much in the flow of the offense. You're right. I thought the Patriots would wind up blowing this because when it was 14, 13 or 17, 16 chargers, it was like the Patriots felt like they should have been up by 20. They had a first and goal at the two or at the four. And then, you know, third in goal at the two, couldn't get that in, kept throwing the ball like

you mentioned, had another time inside the 10 where they settled for a field goal and then fumbled the ball on the way into a potential other touchdown. It felt like they should have been steamrolling, and yet the Chargers, like, could not muster anything. I am curious, Ricky, you were at the game. You are, I don't see you here. But what was that experience like there? It sounded like a Patriots crowd.

It was a Patriots crowd, for sure. The stadium wasn't even sold out. And, I mean, granted, it's such a big stadium. But I have a feeling that if it was a Rams game, it would have been. They sell out of their game, yeah. Yeah. I mean, everyone, first of all, everyone talks about how, like, amazing that stadium is, and you don't realize it until you're in it.

Like, it is absolutely unreal with that screen that they talk about. I mean, there's not a bad seat in the house. So I was just so blown away by even being in it. And it felt like a Pat's home game. I was super excited to see Justin Herbert. And, like, you just sort of said, I was like, this kid is, like the real deal and it just kind of felt like they they couldn't get it going which was great for me i had a ball yeah best day ever he's missed a lot of throws lately he's missed makeable throw even

though the two picks weren't on him in this game he did not i don't think he played well in this game um i don't think it was nice of jet um to keep calling mac jones fat jones and that he was blowing the Patriots game and that's yeah that's not very nice does she text you that because she was saying that That's a little cruel. You were texting, you texted me that, but you were probably drunk at the time. You know, since. Yeah, I don't remember. Wait, Ricky, like, what did you purchase at the concession stand?

Like, was there any notable sort of sofi food item that you, that you bought here? Yeah, no, I just got bottled water, Mark. Yeah. But bottled water. And it probably was like the glory days of when Ricky was a teenager watching the fourth quarter. Because as someone who had a front row seat to this, uh, Hocum for years, they get the big play on defense. the pick six to go ahead and then really they go on the 14 play 54 yard seven minute field goal drive that ends the game and they do over and over just oh we're staying in bounds

we're making the right decision that was that was that was that was the drive that made me feel good that was like a lot of a lot of running a lot of patriots that was yeah that was very on brand so anyway if you're a pat's fan you're feeling good the glory days are gone they're not coming back because Tom's not here. But you have a team, I think, that's going to be relevant in December. And if you're a Chargers fan, it's okay. I mean, you're okay. I want a Judon jersey.

I'm just putting that out there. You have a what? Judon jersey? I want a Judon jersey? I want a Judeon. I might go Barmore. Man, I love me some Christian Barmore. Now Greg is buying Patriots.

They're a rookie defense attack. I'll see how this works. I'm just saying that he is the best, he is the best interior defensive player. They have drafted since, I don't know, at least a decade. I can't. can think of it they haven't had anyone he's he's good he's i need you to go um like the full red sleeves underneath the judan jersey if you go down that road yeah definitely all right let's now move on another uh division matchup in the nfc panthers falcons somebody had a win we can go shopping

after we go to brooks brothers mark you'll be fine billmore and jacks in the corners matt ryan in the shotgun with davis to his left asked for the snap he's Got it. Davis stays into block. Ryan hit the intercepted. Over the middle, Gilmore at the 15-yard line. Ah, old friend of the New England Patriots, Stefan Gilmore makes the big play. The Panthers, and that's

Mick Mixen of WBT. The Panthers leaned on their defense to snap a nasty losing streak. Shaq Thompson was a star in his return to the lineup, and yes, Steph Gilmore had the game ceiling interception in his Carolina debut, a 1913 win over the Falcons. This was a, I mean, I wouldn't say that I enjoyed this game and this game was happening at the same time as the Jets were playing their first, like, fun game in about, you know, 37 years.

So was I enthralled by what was going on in Atlanta? No, but I was tracking it and I will give Carolina credit here for getting off the mat here. And like I said, it's Cust their D because Sam Darnold, He goes out with a concussion in this game, but they're not really moving the ball much at all, at least through the air. They lean on their run ground that went over, a run game that went over 200 yards led by Chuba Hubbard,

who overcame an early fumble and finished with 82 yards and a touchdown. Donald had 66 yards himself, but yes, it was the defense that shut down the Falcons. I mean, this was Matt Ryan's one of the worst games I've seen from Matt Ryan ever, 146 yards passing. He was sacked three times. He got his hand stepped on and was gushing blood at one point super gross in Halloween. And the Falcons finished, Mark, with 213 yards of total

offense. So Carolina's D steps up and gets it done. You know, I wonder like with Atlanta limited because you've got Calvin Ridley out and he, you know, he's tweeted about the fact that he's dealing with, you know, working on some mental health stuff. He's, he's been unavailable and they don't know when he's going to come back. That obviously helped put an extra guy on Kyle Pitts, like his torrid pace slowed down a little bit. And when you mentioned, like, Carolina is just going to need to win with their defense. And, you know, like Shaq Thompson coming back, just the way he's been playing, I look at some of their, you know, they were coming off a four game losing streak. They lost to the Eagles, a pretty junky team by three points. They got nipped by the Vikings

at the end. I just wonder if their fortunes would be a little bit different if he had been available because he wasn't in in those games um but yeah i think you are what you are with the with pandas at this point because when before darnald left with was it a concussion like you know he didn't have the ugly turnovers but you're still getting the darnald experience with the endless wide receiver drops they're not helping them at all yeah 129 yards with and 24 throws they they ran the ball 47 times and threw it 25 you know which i think rule basically said that it was a close game you know it wasn't like it was a blow yeah rule said after the game this is what I should have done last week. So you knew he's desperate to get away from Sam

Donald. And, you know, uh, so that's just where they are now. The Falcons and if you have that defense and if you have Zane Gonzalez hitting 50 yard bombs over and over it was kind of a kicker game. Koo, who missed a short one. Yeah. And, you know, Christian McCaffrey, I believe is eligible to come off, uh, the injured reserve next week. So if, if he's back, you know, with Stefan Gilmore now on this defense, with Shaq Thompson back from the. foot injury and playing well. You can again start to look at Carolina as a team that maybe has a run in them and can go for a playoff spot. But that's where I stand on them. I don't, they don't

wow me. They don't excite me. And Donald keeps the ceiling on this thing. But hopefully he's okay. And they get back on track here. Atlanta, I mean, I think you set it up, Mark, on our TV show on Saturday that Atlanta was sexy now and all this stuff. I told you I didn't buy it. And when you I said, I said Arthur Smith. I know, but you and Rosenthal were getting all hot, hot about the Balians. They were becoming fun to watch, which is all I'm asking for. But this is who they are. Apparently not when they play the Panthers.

Or when Calvin Ridley's not in there too. I know, but they've been fine without Ridley. He hasn't done anything all year. I'm just trying to build a case, Greg, for you as well. My point being the Falcons are one of those teams. Like, all right, if you don't have, if you cook up a good game plan against Matt Ryan at this stage, it can get really ugly and things get slowed down and they become very hard to watch

so that's where we were again with Atlanta was more like the beginning of the year. I think I just froze up because the TV lights were on me. It was too big of a stage and I started to say crazy things. Anyway, Carolina back on track. We'll see if Donald will be ready and Christian McCaffrey as well when they play again.

All right, in other realms. Let's head to Soldier Field where the Niners are trying to get off a losing Schneid. Cheyne Sun Cheyne My Liam Nothing is Shine Shine

Shine Jimmy your Apennel's got a second touchdown of the game Touchdown San Francisco There you go, see You know, Greg Poppin Tim Ryan for KNBR Has been a lot of fun watching the Niners for large swaths of

of this season. So when they get hot like they did on Sunday at Soldier Field, you can enjoy it. Jimmy Gropolo threw for 322, ran for two touchdowns. The Niners beat a bear's team missing their coach, Matt Nagy, and other players, including Kille Mack, 3322. That ends a four-game losing streak for the Niners, and San Francisco just got squirching hot on offense. This is what we've been waiting for that was expected of San Francisco. I believe they saw. scored five straight times in the second half. Grappolo led three touchdown drives in the second half. Another possession ended with a field goal.

And when he scored on that run in the fourth quarter to put San Francisco head 30, 22, he fired the ball up in the stands. And you could tell a weight had been lifted off him because everybody knew the pressure was really on at this point. And Kyle Shanahan even said as much, Mark, after the game, Shanahan had said, coming back home, this is Gropolo's from Illinois, his back against the wall for him to step up and play the way he did today was huge. So with Trey Lance maybe waiting in the wings, Garapolo definitely bought himself some more time in the starting lineup. Well, and maybe limited

the idea that a Trey Lance package today, like near in the red zone running could become bigger and, you know, it's something that just become a larger part of the offense until he just inevitably starts. And he will, but there's something still a little depressing about it because we already understand that Jimmy G is, you know, he's fading. He's on the way out. And it's sort of, it's, it's nice to see him play well and they needed it. They needed this. Um, it still just delays the, the inevitable. Yeah, but I mean, see, when you watch this game, you'll see there's, it was huge because it wasn't like the, you know, a mirage. It felt like, okay, maybe this is, because you remember Garapolo, he's always been kind of hot and cold since that initial aroma of San Francisco. But he could get in these grooves in the Shanahan era where he would look really good and be. And, moving the offense and it kind of reminded me a little bit of that. So let's see maybe this is something they build on. Maybe he's healthier now and he, you know, he wasn't, he's playing in the rain last week with the bad calf. Maybe he gets on some type of run here. I thought it was extremely big in a, again, a wide open playoff race. He's probably one bad start away from getting

benched because Ian Rappaport gave him the, the kiss of death Sunday morning news bomb. That's like, Trey Lance's time may be coming, which is like he's getting benched to day if he struggles the first three quarters uh you know he did get you know an 80 yard touchdown on like a swing past the debo samuel where debo does all the work uh and samuel is now just putting together a season that's relatively under the radar considering he has more yards in his first um what is it seven games than jerry rice ever had uh and is just at an outrageous pace right now like he he is a top three receiver in in terms of production and it's just a beast If they can just get Kittle back, then, you know, they average over eight yards per play.

I know Kaleo Mack wasn't there, but that's impressive against any NFL defense, especially a decent one like the Bears. It does sound like it was Justin Fields' finest performance. I mean, you know, doing kind of everything you'd want Justin Fields to do, you saw elements of it. Is that true? Yeah, there was a, he ran for 100 yards in this game. He had some nice plays as a passer as well. And, of course, everybody going nuts on Twitter because Matt Nagy, he's got the COVID, so he wasn't

around to be involved with what was the best start of Justin Fields pro career to this point so you kind of damned if you do either way naggy because this you get the L on his win loss record exactly exactly but there was a there was the first kind of eye opening okay here we are this could be something moment and it got them it should have tied the game but there was a mixed extra point but it was a fourth and one and kind of a botched play execution initially and then fields with his athleticism was able to dodge some tacklers reverse field and not only convert the fourth down on a busted play

but get in the end zone. And it was just like, whoa, okay, this guy, this is why he's special, why he's highly touted, why he was a first round pick. So hopefully there's something to build off there for the Bears and hopefully Matt Nagy, wherever he was on Sunday, saw the things that worked. And so it didn't work and maybe learn from it

and isn't too hard-headed about things, although I think he's kind of a hard-headed dude. So we'll see what happens whenever Nagy resurfaced. Now, he's like Kingsbury. He was already working on the next opponent. He's very competitive, I think. And we had one little run in. I'm not going to get into details where he seemed a little peeved Matt Nagy

that another head coach was in the room. And just like, that guy over there thinks he's so great. It's like, whoa, these guys are, you know, they're temperamental. But do you think that he actually was doing the Kingsbury thing? Or was he watching the game? Like, I would just watch the game. I think you revealed a little too much of that stuff. but I also we could keep it right there and let people you know put a pin in it I've never I don't

even that's that's just do that it's up you know Nagikin we'll see if he brings it up when he's you know working at NFL network and that sounded mean oh my goodness all right let's head back to the aFC east where the dolphins and bills did battle Alan takes to throw it down the middle caught by digs at the five cruises into the end zone touchdown Stefan Diggs, a 19-yard strike from Josh Allen. Touchdown bills. Having an annoying fantasy season, and I got Stefan Diggs, and he's driving me crazy with all these.

Good, he scored today, but 40 yards every game. What are we doing? He's supposed to have 119 catches for 1,500 yards and 37 touchdowns for me. That's why I drafted him. He'll save it. I think it's coming. I think the explosion's coming. John Murphy with the call WGR, Josh Allen led the bills on scoring drives

In each of the Bill's final, I believe five possessions, a late flurry of scoring that was more than enough against the feckless dolphins. Final score, Bill's 26, Fish, 11. Buffalo stays ahead in the AFC East. The dolphins are on a seven-game losing streak, all low now in the cellar in the division. Greg Buffalo took a while to get going here, but they took care of business. I thought it showed maturity from Josh Allen. He keeps checking these boxes as he gets older. they had five first downs in their first five drives. They were dominated.

I mean, Miami was handing it to them. He was so frustrated, but after the first drive of the second half, because they just couldn't believe it. Miami should have had a lead at that point. It was still 3-3. Miami blew some chances. And then he kind of started taking what the defense would give him, whether it was his legs, making good decisions on third and long.

Beasley, Cole Beasley had a great week. He deleted his Twitter, smart. and then he converted a third and 14 third and 13 you get the jab a third and 11 i don't know yeah i don't think he got the job i think that's why he deleted his twitter he was sick of here it about he goes over 100 yards and it's like just every big play when you thought miami could get a stop they just don't have a pass rush uh without blitzing jalen phillips the first round pick hasn't done much and then when they do blitz Alan was figuring it out in the second half and i just thought you know, as bad as it was for the first five drives or so, for him to kind of solve it and then go

touchdown, touchdown, field go touchdown to end is pretty awesome. I view Greg and Cole Beasley as sort of ideological twins. So, you know, I thought that it was a nice day for him. Similar body types, no doubt. Hair. That's all I'm offering. What was it? Was there a setup there, Mark? No, that's all I'm offering. I mean, I like I, I, I, I, you know what? The dolphins, I'm a little, I'm there, they're another team that depresses me right now and the bills like you know have thumped this dolphins team so hard that people were like oh well is it going to be it's not a good great game because it's not 35 to nothing it's like i i respect buffalo working themselves out of the fix they were in early they were they were yeah this felt different it felt like a game even in the

fourth quarter you didn't know how it'd go and but buffalo came through and we get you know we're going to get to the texans a little bit later but since the dolphins are connected directly to everything to sean watson related the report came out on Sunday morning that now the belief is that Deshaun Watson won't be changing teams ahead of the trade deadline on Tuesday. So just file that away with Tua, who will get most likely what he absolutely deserves and what the Dolphins should want, which is a full season audition. They're going nowhere. They're one in seven now. So at least turn this season now over to a full developmental look at your young quarterback so you could decide what you

want to do next, even if that means bringing in a highly problematic passer currently wasting away in Houston. All right, Buffalo in control the division. The Pat's getting better, though. So a little heat there. Let's take a break and then hit the rest of the games. Hey, this Matt Jones. 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 to 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. What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here.

And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from scouting reports and player development to team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. Every week, we study the tape, talk to decision makers,

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Your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet We've got the insight to help you crush your opponents Listen to the NFL fantasy football podcast on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Hertz gives Boston Scott, pushes, shoves into the end zone, Boston Scott.

Boston Scott is so powerful. All right. Merrill Reese with the call. Nikki Shook joining us now. technical difficulties took the man out, but the pipe always finds a way to bash his way back in. Boston, Scott, and Jordan Howard each scored two touchdowns on the ground in place of Miles Sanders and the Philadelphia Eagles dominated the Lions

and a 44 to 6 win on Sunday. Shuki, we talked about it on the, around the NFL broadcast, the boys and I, It was a little weird. Everyone was getting excited about this is the game. The Lions were going to win. They did not even compete. What happened here? Yeah, I actually picked the Lions to win.

That was a big failure on my part. I wasn't alone. I was not alone in that regard. They didn't really show up. You know, we've looked at this roster all year and seen that, you know, it's pretty talent poor. They lack weapons offensively. They lack a lot of, you know, blue chip level players across the roster.

and it totally showed today. I mean, not only do they not show up, they had nothing in the tank to really mount much of a comeback effort. I mean, before, you know, halftime at 17-0-0, and it felt like it was 35-0-0. The Eagles dominated up front. They won the Battle of the Trenches.

A week after letting Kenyon Drake run down their throats for a touchdown against the Raiders and kind of being the lions in that game and falling way behind and never having a chance of coming back, they then became the team that was the aggressor. and just dominated at the point of attack on both sides of the ball. They sacked Jared Gough five times.

It got to the point in the third quarter, I was like, man, if there was an opportunity to simulate to the end or to forfeit the remainder of this game, this is the game for this to happen. Let's get a running clock or something going. It was that lopsided.

It was the worst showing of the Lions in the Dan Campbell era. We got to pitch that mark to the competition committee. We've had that cooking for a couple of years. Oh, yeah. We have games for just like a 10-minute runoff at the end when they're just this, this, And again, you couch it Chucky as player safety.

That's what it's really about. But what it's really about is Gibroni's like us being able to move on to the next game. Yeah, exactly, pretty much. I mean, in a nutshell, it was an unexciting affair. It was inspiring for the Eagles because they didn't have Miles Sanders and they ran the ball really well. And you didn't need too much from Jalen Hertz. And he's fun to watch no matter what.

So, you know, a nice little bounce back win for them. And I think a low point for these lines. I mean, the lines have been competitive in the majority of the games. played today was not one of them that simple and it's like a week ago they were you know tortured by matthew stafford darius sleigh had a what a fumble touchdown in this um there was a bit of a narrative killer for the eagles after you know we we were going to run the ball less than any team in NFL history they had like 200 136 yards and it was a narrative killer uh for the listeners who locked the lions let's get your act together on on these fronts let's think about what we're

doing this that's a collective group It wasn't one single drunk person making a terrible, you know, life decision. There's a group of people that agreed on the Lions, please. I think we got sucked into, and I didn't pick the lines, but I see why it happened because we got sucked into how hard this team is playing and how they seem to be, you know, playing their hearts out. And the Eagles just seem like a team that was ripe to be picked off. But that's just not what happened, Chuck.

No, it's the exact opposite of what happened. And I was in the same train of thought. And I definitely wasn't drunk, Mark, when I sent my. takes in on a Tuesday afternoon. Give Fletcher Cox, like, you know, a little love here because, you know, he basically went after the defensive coordinator, Jonathan Gannon, for, like, not being aggressive, not mixing things up, not blitzing, and, you know, according to the Philly reporters, they did all of that.

So maybe, like, maybe sometimes it takes, like, a player leader, just be like, let's go, let's go. Especially a player who's kind of playing out of position in this defensive coordinator scheme. I mean, statistically, it's not like he blew things up, but as a group, yeah, they did. They're going to mess up the score differential. thing in DVOA with these blowouts because they've now outscored their opponents this year

because of week one and this, you know, by like 10. So you're pointing out, though, some people are slavish in their love of DVOA that it could be manipulated by scores that are out of whack. Yeah, it loves big, big blowouts, you know, who doesn't?

Unsound and unscientific. Well, you got to go, you know, got to go EPA too. You got to mix it. DVOA exposed. Last word on this game. A.F. I don't have the last word in this game. Let's just move to the next week for the Lions because it was bad. Yeah, Detroit Safety Tracy Walker said, if this doesn't get better, we're going to be 0.17. Yikes. All right. Let's head to Seattle. Shotgun formation, play fake, looks far side. Throws, puts the ball up, reaching up, making a catch.

D.K. Mencalfe. Touchdown. Seahawks. Hey. Hey. Steve Rable. K-I-R-O Gino Smith ran for one score through four a pair touchdown passes to D-K-MetCath and the Seahawks beat up on the Jaguar

31 to 7 ending their losing streak. Big win shook for Seattle. It doesn't matter of the opponent. They needed a W and Gino got it done. Yeah, the wins all count the same. I think they lucked out getting Jacksonville the week after their most recent loss to the Saints in prime time.

But I'll tell you what, if you want to choose a non-lock situation to play the Price is Right Losing Horn that we're so fond of on this show. Play it for me in my game assignments this week because this one was also about as ugly. There it is. It was about as ugly as that Eagles lines here. I'm sitting back watching this going, man, I'm just getting all the blowouts.

I was one blowout shy of just hitting the trifecta. But I mean, yeah, from a Seahawks perspective, you're happy to see Urban Meyer lead his team out of the tunnel, knowing that this is another talent-poor roster that all you got to do is not screw up too much and hopefully Gino plays well enough for you to win a game. It's not like they dominate on the ground. They didn't. They rushed for 69 yards total.

But Gino Smith did what pretty much anybody with a brain would do in that situation. Throw the ball to D.K. Metcalf when you're inside the opponent's 30-yard line. He had two touchdown catches. One was a great catch right in front of the inside pylon. The other one just inside the pylon on the opposite side of the end zone. and they did their job, and the Jacksonville Jaguars often can't get out of their own way, save for that game in London. I mean, they committed 12 penalties today.

They had three turnovers on downs when they reached Seattle territory. And the funniest thing about it is the Seahawks got short fields a lot as a result of that. Their touchdown drives started inside their own 30. So, you know, the challenge wasn't as great this week, and I know it's any given Sunday in this league, and we all know these are the best 1,400 football players on the planet, but there was quite a talent discrepancy today. Yeah, but like, everyone was ready to just like slam if it flipped the other way that, you know, blew it. I mean, you're kind of underselling it here.

He's 13 out of his first 13 for a couple touchdowns in 133 yards. And I couldn't help but notice D.K. Metcalf with a little bit of a sub-tweet of his starting quarterback after the game saying, you know, I haven't, you know, talking about the jump ball touchdown that he got saying like haven't really gotten a ball like that since I've gotten here. You know, that takes trust from my quarter. back and I like I like seeing that I was like no Greg let you have this yeah I like let you have this Greg that's the thing is Greg I couldn't get into Gino because this is your thing you know we got to we got to leave some a layup for you an alley up there right I'm just looking for you to you know I haven't watched this 25 quarterbacks closely yet but I'm looking for you to like accurately analyze you know what's happening on the football field as

Gino Smith just cashed a 2022 check in the NFL with this performance that's happened He's going to make it one more year at least now. He's going to spend every one of those dollars proudly. And you know what else is going to be happy after this one, Tyler Lockett, who has not really been involved in their offense in recent winks. He had 12 catches for 142 yards. He probably ended up on a few fantasy benches this week, and myself included, are probably like,

ah, I should have played him. This is the one week where they actually did something with him. But, you know, it all spends the same. I'd like to see Urban Meyer purchase a book on Amazon called, here's what you actually are supposed to do during a buy week. I mean, how do you come out this stale and this putrid after you've had a chance to go tinker with your offense? They put Trevor Lawrence. Oh, I know.

Yes. Well, Dan, you were high on Trevor Lawrence coming into this game. Not really. He did you wrong. I was asked to come up with like a thought or some type of hot take for the TV show that I didn't believe in. My take is that Urban Meyer is not good at this. And that's why things didn't work out. That take feels correct.

I mean, when Dan Arnold is your leading receiver. I mean, as I watched it, I was like, I mean, I don't even know how to really analyze Trevor Lawrence because I just don't really believe what he's working with. I mean, I like Marvin Jones, but I mean, they're still lacking a lot. And Trevor was very up and down. There are times where he misses open throws. Guys right in front of him. He's putting it in the dirt.

I think he's in a bit of a Tim Couch situation right now where he's just, he's on a team that lacks, you know, talented players, and this is what it's going to look like for a while. It was a revenge game. It was a Pete Carroll and Seahawks fans revenge game against. Darrell Bevel and Brian Schottenheimer, like the ghosts of annoying offensive coordinators passed on the opposite sidelines. Speaking of DVOA, after this game,

Seahawks, folks, I can't remember exactly who it was. Somebody from the Seahawks was like, hey, see the DVOA numbers? We're pretty good. I think it was Pete Carroll. He was like, we're better than our record shows. Just look at DVOA. Grandpa Carroll said that? He did.

I was kind of shocked by that, yeah. And Greg, you're right. because Gino failed miserably the first three weeks where he's going in. He literally covered the spread three straight weeks and played two great defenses the first two weeks. Unbelievable spread work. But he needed it. If you bet Gino, you could be a rich man by now.

I know, but his job is not to cover the spread, Greg. You do it's like from a different angle he's supposed to do a little more than that. Don't let him get you, Mark. He's trying to reel you in. Seattle hits the by now and then Dangerous probably is going to be back, but we don't know, but probably will be. I mean, unless they decide to go with Gino because he's, you know, According to Scouting reports, he goes.

No, the timing couldn't be better. Let's get to the vibe. Let's get Russell Wilson back in there. Have this be the last. Exactly. Gino had one more chance to make sure he was going to stay in the NFL. He did it. So let's put the cap on another season of everyone's favorite show.

And that was another edition of. Sipping on Vino, checking on Gino. That means frags and her drops can be back. in 2022 as well, and I'm not mad about that. Nick Shook, thank you. Not only did you get two dog games, the taping's different right now because of Halloween night, and it's 1 a.m. where you're at,

and we love you, man, and we will make it up to you somehow, I promise you that. Yeah, I wanted to give you a little bit of inside baseball here. People watching this will notice that I don't have the typical backdrop because it was midnight, and honestly, I wasn't going to do everything necessary to set the table up to get behind that pretty, background when this will suffice for right now. But I will say this. Greg, once you retire from

football and everything, I don't know when that's going to be. Greg retires from football. What are you trying to retire me? Yeah, you'll still have more hair than me. But you also have a great job opportunity in front of you. And that is, Gino Smith's going to run for office and you will be his campaign manager and it'll be like that retirement job that you're doing just because you're bored. Oh, I like that. A high paid consultant's job. Yeah. I could just imagine Gino, you know, you know kissing babies and glad-handed pressing flesh yes so there's one thing I think about gino it's like he's a people person he knows how to connect my baby please the people around him all right there you go nick shook thank you buddy have a good night guys good slumber there he goes

all right we have two more games let's uh let's hit him quick and say good night Denver rushes four again heineke steps on the pocket loads it up home run ball this is going to be out of the back of the end zone incomplete with no time left let me make sure it is over in Denver happy Halloween that's three I think we set it at four and a half mark so we got a problem here Justin Simmons and the Broncos held after a fumble game washing the ball back with a chance to tie the game. Broncos also block two field goals. What a setup.

You know the game's bad when this is the setup of the game. 17-10 win. They stop a four-games losing streak. I feel like 400 teams stopped a four-game losing streak today. Anyway, Mark, tell me something about this game. That's interesting. I would point to the reason that they were saying, like, let's check if this game is really over

because it should have been over a minute or so earlier. and I actually, you know, we in our channel where we can communicate with each other, I'm not allowed to say the actual company's name, I think, but we will send a play that we want to use for the call. And it was going to be the Justin Simmons Interception that ended this thing. But then, you know, this drove me nuts. The Broncos, and this was such a Vic Fangio type of scenario where he was going, he was very annoyed, but they basically just had to get a first down or run the clock out.

And instead, Melvin Gordon fumbles the ball, like within less inside a minute. And this came after Javanta Williams fumbled a few plays earlier and recovered it. Then Teddy Bridgewater threw a terrible wayward pass on second down that didn't take any time off the clock. They almost gave the game away. Point being, I'd go watch that just to see how mismanaged that was. But other than that, I would say this about the Broncos. It was an inspired defensive effort for the most part with Novon Miller in there. guys like Shelby Harris, who I think had both blocks on those field goals, played out of his mind. And you got from Teddy Bridgewater outside of, you know, that one little last minute, which really wasn't his fault,

a really solid kind of Teddy Bridgewater game that you thought you'd get. And Washington, the Red Zone woes hurt them early on. You know, Ron Rivera said after the game, we're basically a team in search of ourselves still. And they are. They're just not there. And the idea that they were going to, like other teams, pick up from where they were a year ago, no this maybe gives you a little bit hope for Denver because if they can get this from Teddy and they can get this from the defense arrow up but I think you just played another average team

this game felt six and a half hours long to me I mean yeah I can't even give the defense that much love when I think Washington had eight drives that went to the 36 yard line of Denver's or further and they finished with 10 points that's almost impossible to do so they lived deep in Broncos territory, and then Heinecke happened. I mean, that last couple of, I did watch the very end of this game, and that's it. The last couple of Washington sequences were unreal, how badly executed they were on offense. And I'm sure it was somewhat good defense, but it was more just bad offense.

Well, it was better than, like, the Denver defense that we've been watching, though. Sure. But it has a lot to do with who they play. Everything did. End this game. All right. I just mean, it was. It was rough.

I know Heineke's doing his best, but it's tough. It was a hard watch. It's a tough sitch. That big stand at the end prevented the first winless October for the Broncos since 1967. Let's take a break and then close this thing out. 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 to nfl cover zero with matt jones and drew franklin on the i heart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast Toyota the official automotive partner of the NFL visit toyota dot com slash nfl now to learn more what's up everybody daniel jeremiah here and i'm bucky brooks

On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from scouting reports and player development to team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. Every week, we study the tape, talk to decision makers, and share the insights you won't find anywhere else. It's the kind of conversation that connects the dots, from college football prospects to the NFL stars of tomorrow. We break down the draft, analyze matchups, and evaluate how teams put it all together on game day. Plus, we dig in the coaching strategies.

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Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner, of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Second and 10, Stafford from the gun. Looking right, throwing end zone. Cooper Cups got it. Touchdown, L.A. An 11-yard strike to the NFL's leading receiver to put this one on ice. Matt Stafford threw for 305 yards and three touchdowns and three quarters. That's J.B. Long, KSPN with the call, by the way. And the Rams dominated. The Texans, 3822.

That doesn't even tell the story. Los Angeles had a 38 zip lead when Sean McVeigh pulled his quarterback from the game. So that is four straight wins for the Rams, seven straight losses for the Texans who are the worst team in football. And there are some bad teams in football. There always are, but I think Texans are the worst. Cooper Cup continues to be on a record-setting pace, guys. that's exciting no i mean this is a tough situation um my daughter really enjoyed it i mean she is

it was fun to be at home and just see how locked in she is the rams game and she was living she was dying she loves the blowouts she's dying when they give up some plays up 38 nothing texans score 22 points in the span of six minutes to get one of the all-time backdoor covers i think the line ended at 16 and a half. They go for two as if they knew what the line was to cut it to 16 and get it. It depends when you know, you pick the game, but if you did it like right before game time, that's an all-timer. I don't know what else to say about this.

Yeah, the Texans side, I think had, what, 77 yards of offense going into the fourth quarter? You're right. You had to run the clock in this game. Right. They're the worst. They are the worst team. Player safety.

We talked about this last week, actually, you know, off air, but that I, totally supported them at 32, despite, you know, that win, they won, they're terrible. Yes. So there you go. And that is the longest losing streak for the Texans since they lost 14 games in a row to end the 2013 season. They stink. And Deshaun Watson will be on that roster until the offseason. It sounds like that is at least a story. I guess if there's anything for the Texans in terms of a reprieve here, yes, you're not going to get Deshawn Watson out of your life. But once the trade deadline passes and it's now very clear that he is not going to play a snap on the field, it wouldn't make any sense on a number of levels. He, this is, that story I think

is going to disappear and then come back with a vengeance come the off season. But the Rams, Stephen Ross was that, I don't know. I still, but there's nothing that could have the story can't move forward after the deadline. Am I right? Right. No, I'm saying I just need to get to the Yeah, we need to pass that deadline. Deshawn Jackson will not be on the Rams, by the way, by the time we get past that deadline. I don't know if they'll find anyone to trade him, but it sounds like they're just going to cut them. They brought in someone I was not familiar with late in this game, Squarnock, who was catching passes down the field. And I was like, oh, he looks okay.

I guess Deshaun Jackson really will never play for this team again. For any team that trades for Deshaun Jackson is he's already passed the window, the two-week window in September where he's awesome. So I don't know, unless it resets when he joins a new team and you get that first month back, I don't know. Or you're building for next September and you're stashing him. He's going to get cut. He's going to sign with someone as a free agent. All right. Before we say goodbye, let's talk the last game that was played on Sunday.

Sunday night football from Minneapolis. Do not ever count out Cooper Rush. Oh, Sunday night. First and gold. to the ends of and it is Hill for the touchdown. Cooper.

Amari Cooper over Cameron Dantzler, 75 yards in eight plays to take the lead. I love this Cowboys team. I do. And I think a lot of people feel the same way. Even people that hate the Cowboys are like,

man, this team knows what it's doing with Dak Prescott sidelined as a precaution with that calf injury. Cooper Rush steps in and looks good. He wasn't perfect. He threw a bad pick. He lost a fumble. But he also threw for 325 yards with two touchdowns, including that go-ahead score late to Amari Cooper after Zeke Elliott had a huge third-down conversion. And the Cowboys drop at 2016 loss on the Vikings mark. I mean, we'll get to the Vikings. it's a brutal loss for the Vikings that really takes a lot of wind out of their sales.

But for the Cowboys, they're six and one in what almost felt like a giveaway game and they went and won the damn thing. It's the kind of win that makes you... I also am really enjoying this Cowboys team and the ceiling feels completely unknown just because, you know, eking out something like this where Cooper Rush didn't know, you know,

shortly before the game if he was going to play or not. And, you know, they had Dak Prescott doing a variety of workouts where I thought he looked spry. It looked pretty good. And it's like suddenly Cooper Rush is in there. And I thought that he grew after a couple, he could have had maybe three interceptions in the first half. He had one that was, you know, ricocheted off someone. I thought he grew more comfortable as the game went on. Obviously made some big passes down, down the stretch. To me, like, the ending was also delightful because, and this was from NFL research, the Cooper Rush, to a Mari Cooper touchdown.

And I know everyone was saying, Cooper to Cooper, I get it, we all understand that, but it is the first time in NFL history where the passer's first name and a receiver's last name are an exact match.

Thank you to listeners who sent that my way. But I just thought it was a win where the Cowboys, I start to think more about Mike McCarthy, I start to think more about the whole coaching staff, the way that they're able to overcome. The analysis is going so well until we hit that Cooper, Cooper. The first time in NFL history.

That's kind of, That's kind of insane, right? I mean, you could think in your head that there would be last name, first name. It's kind of close to Skorigami for me, Mark, to be totally honest. I know, but you know what? There's a pocket of our audience, maybe a very small pocket, like that little tiny, tiny pocket in your jeans where you just put some coins. The cute little pocket in the front there. Yeah, a little cute pocket.

Like some people are like this kind of stuff. Greg, take it from there. Greg, over to you. What a defense. of performance. I mean, I think that's what we're learning. I know, you know, defenses matter based on how good the offense is that they're playing against sometimes, but these were two top ten-ish type defenses coming into the game, and one looked much better. I know Patrick Peterson was missing, but one of them gave up 400 yards to Cooper Rush and a game-winning touchdown

drive when all you had to do was at least just stop, you know, make it a field goal, and at least you can go to overtime. Zeke Elliott, you mentioned, runs through that tackle by Anthony Barr, Cooper Moss's Dancler. I mean, that was just an awesome play. It was not an underrated catch. Everyone knows it was an awesome catch, but that was a difficult catch to win the game.

They held them under 300 yards, the Viking. Kirk Cousins, I think, threw the vault 20 times for 79 yards in the second half. It's like, you got to give him love. It's all sorts of dudes up front, too. It's a Diggy Zua, Michael Parsons. is a beast. Obviously, Gregory's been great, but it's a lot of guys contributing. We all have friends that are Vikings fans, and they are an agitated fan base. And, Dan, I think you mentioned on the last show how the Vikings go to sleep on offense.

And we saw that tonight, and it was embarrassing. I mean, the same thing happened against the Browns a few weeks back, as I recall. They go right down the field on the first drive. Cousins hits Adam Thielen, and you're thinking they're off and running. And Cooper Rush is the other quarterback on the other side. and this is going to be a four-quarter party for the Vikings. And then just a completely different game broke out. And I think Cousins was, you know,

he was pretty amped up and agitated throughout this game, I thought. And Mike Zimmer looked very annoyed with the offense and how it performed in this game. And when you look at, you know, the weapons, Davin Cook was held in check. He wasn't bad, but did not have a big time game. I thought he would in this game. And then you look, you know, feeling did some things. the touchdown, but Justin Jefferson had two catches for 21 yards on four targets. KJ. Osborne, who we've been talking up, he had two catches for 10 yards. And there just wasn't anyone else

that was able to step up and make the big play. So like the, and you know, I've been talking about the Vikings on this podcast. Are they interesting to me? When you have a game like this, it's just like, man, I don't know if this team's ever going to figure it out. They might just be one of those one step forward, two step back teams all year. And then by the time you get to January, you look up and they're eight and nine and being like, I can't believe we let this season slip away. I'm starting to have some real doubts about them after this performance. One for 13 on third down,

another indicator that they can go real, real silent on that side of the ball. I think Mike Zimmer coaches like it's 1989 still at times. It's not entirely on everyone, but I'm with you. They're an eight-win team that, or they're a nine-win team that we're going to, we already, you know how I feel about this, but they're going to get hard ejector seats. out of this situation at some point. And I don't need to put my faith into what they're doing.

I don't need to see it at all. I know what you're saying there, Mark. Sometimes that's one thing where we just have a different viewpoint on football where you will write off a team if they're not going to win the Super Bowl. Like I think not only could the Vikings, despite what I just said, if they found their way to win a couple of games, I think they could take somebody out in January. I still think they are a team that could be a thorn in someone's side and have a run in them.

But this type of loss is just like, man, are you just never going to figure it out? And maybe that's not being fair to the Cowboys, who had an awesome performance, especially on defense and what Rush was able to do. But the frustration is real because you know there is a winning team somewhere in that locker room in Minnesota, and it just refuses to come out. Maybe there isn't. Right. There's some bad luck involved.

I mean, Cooper Rush started this game winning touchdown drive by throwing a ball directly into Bashad Breelan's gut, and then it bounced off the gut into his hand up in the air into Amari Cooper's hands for like 40-yard gain. So it was like the game was over if Breeland makes that play. But they had seven drives of four plays or less. I, we look at, you know, we try not to like think that like it's this prime time or big game thing. But I don't know, man, I've watched every Kirk Cousin's game this year.

This was the worst one, you know? It really was. I know they only had seven points about Cleveland, but this was the first one where it was like, he was a big part of the problem. He was in the Gabbard zone, and it was legit. He was freaking out. I'm glad you mentioned that he just seemed amped up.

It's like it was like the game's bigger, so me and Zimmer are going to be more amped up, and it doesn't seem like it helps out that way. Yeah, Amped up doesn't translate, unfortunately, where it does for some other quarterbacks. There was a play in the first half. I think it was either their, maybe their third possession, when it was a third down conversion attempt

and they showed it on the replay NBC Cousins is going through his progressions someone flashes I believe open over the middle and the receiver I'm thinking based on the reaction does something that Cousins didn't want so Cousins looks away and then dumps it off for some type of dump out pass that didn't get the first down

and he's like screaming and anger as he's moving down to the checkdown And I'm like, who does that in the middle of the play? Like, he was so amped up. Maybe the moment did get too big for him. I don't know. I don't want to have those Kirk Cousins conversations anymore. I knew they drove West crazy as well.

But, man, I see what you're saying, Greg. He didn't play well with a lot of people watching them tonight. Well, how about this? How about right before the half when they were trying to get something going and they had the seconds were running out? And they looked like, it looked like the second preseason game with a quarterback that had been in college three months ago. They couldn't get the snap. I mean, it was just, no, it was just like hyper disorganized. And it's just the earmark of a team that's going to get caught off guard at some point.

And it's going to be, bye, bye. See you later. Check you again in 2022. Marks is trying to cross off teams. Like you're not, this is not like a bold take, Mark. I don't think anybody sees the Vikings right now as a Super Bowl team. Like, yes, eventually they will be crossed off and you won't have to think about it anymore. We're calling them super fun.

And I think the problem is that if you. asked most Vikings fans, it's fun for us because we can jump out of it when they suddenly do this. But if you're following this team week to week, you are being driven nuts. It's like you're running through a field and you got like 80 people shooting arrows at you. You're going to go down. It's not going to work out for you. I'm with you, man. It is fun when they win. It's just really not fun when they lose this team. I don't know. The highs are highs and the lows are low. Good for the Cowboys, though. Man, I got a lot of work to do with the power rankings that beast now begins tonight after this podcast wraps.

I don't know what to make of the top 10 is like very, very tricky. Why don't you do something really like that imagine there's like 12 people doing power rankings, like if not 112 people, but like the 12 main guys, you're in that group, that crew of writers, like do something so bizarre that it's like it catches total fire. Like e-logical. Jets number one, two and three. I don't mean, I mean like. Like someone out of left field.

I don't want to upset Pat McAfee. I have his trust. So I don't want to do anything too. I remember after last Sunday, I was like, put that Cowboys team number one maybe. Yeah, put them right up there. That's nice. They're looking good. I like that.

You got the Packers at 7 and 1. The Rams are 7 and 1. The Cowboys are 6 in 1. Probably one of those three teams are number 1. Arizona is going to drop out of that spot. Put the pass number one. Let's go. Oh, man.

oh man all right rickie i'm glad you had a good time at the game speaking out quickly on uh very quickly you know for the new england sports scene i'm glad you're going to say this great because i was just about to do it but it's oh really you do it no i just want to say rest in peace to jerry remi what what a great broadcaster he was um for the red socks um just bringing like joy no one had more fun Like, I am so happy I got to spend like 20 years just listening to him every day because no one had more fun and made sports more fun than him listening to him every day. So it's sad. He had cancer seven different times.

He battled and was on the air for a lot of it, but lost his life today. But what an influence he had for like a bunch of, you know, millions and millions of kids in New England watching those games every day. I remember when I went to college up in Boston. and, you know, the Red Sox are always on in the background with all the, you know, natives of the region at the school. And, you know, even as a Yankees fan, I love, I love Remy because he was so, he was a real dude. He had a sense of humor. He had that accent. He was a Massachusetts dude through and through, a New England guy.

And, yeah, his presence was really missed. Legit funny, which almost no one, I feel like, not maybe that's not fair, but like legit funny for a rock. That's true. That's true. one of the great rodcasters, gone too soon. All right, there we go. Week 8. I mean, we're all messed up now, Mark,

because of the 17-game season, but we're kind of at the halfway point now of the regular season, and that's... Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it wasn't really... Week 8 never was really the halfway point of anything, and even in the regular, just the regular season to begin with last time.

Just to prevent any tweets or whatever, the end of next week would officially be halfway, because there's now 18 weeks and next week's week nine. So if we're looking for a halfway 9, 18 divided by 2. Oh, man, we've got to go through an entire full week just to get to the halfway point. Now that does feel taxing. That's true. That's taxing.

That's dark. All right. Good stuff. I hope everybody had a happy and save Halloween. And we will be back on Tuesday. It will be the trade deadline edition of the around the NFL podcast or maybe just a regular edition of the podcast. if nothing notable happens on the trade landscape. But either way, we hope you're there listening.

And thank you for always tuning in. This is Dan Hansa signing off for Quiet Storm. The old boss, Ricky Hollywood. There's a happy gravedigger somewhere. The pipe. Good stuff. Until Tuesday. Feed the call.

I just saw Grave digger put on the side. Make the Titans number one. Yeah, that would be bold. That would be bold. Hey everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move to Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters.

We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else. It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning

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