NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 2023 Week 4 Recap: Boat Race Regatta!

Episode Date: October 2, 2023

In a room full of heroes - Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, and Marc Sessler recap the Week 4 of the 2023 season. The heroes start off the show by recapping the Dolphins visiting the Bills (02:35), the Rams visiting the Colts (11:14), the Steelers visiting the Texans (20:08) and the Commanders visiting the Eagles (28:20). After the break, the heroes run through Patriots at Cowboys (32:49), Bengals at Titans (44:08), Ravens at Browns (52:47), Falcons and Jaguars from London (01:15:23), Cardinals at 49ers (01:13:35), Raiders at Chargers (1:19:54), Buccaneers at Saints (01:28:48), Vikings at Panthers (01:33:45), Broncos at Bears (01:38:51) and finally the Chiefs at the Jets (01:44:42). Note: time codes approximate. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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I have heroes here. Greg Rosenthal. Mark Sessler, it is the flagship show, Sunday night edition. Week four. And an interesting week it was, gentlemen. It's Woodshed Week in the NFL. I remember that we used to try to come up with themes or NFL prime time would do that. It's like, it's comeback week.

It's crazy this week. Got jacked up. And I'm just looking at the scores here, and it was a lot of teams taken to the Woodshed. Oh, Woodshed Week. A lot of teams taken to the Woodshed up. I like that woodshed week. I've been scanning like the last couple minutes, like the last three weeks prior,

and there have been a surplus of blowouts. What about the boat race regalia? I like that. Maybe we were due for a correction because all last season, all we ever heard, it was the closest margin of error in NFL history, the most close games in NFL history.

And the NFL was really pumping that up. I was thinking like, isn't that just kind of a little random? I don't know. It seemed like every game. saying. But even this week, you have games that end up, like, you think they're over

and it's like, no, they're not. But they, you know, we're destined to go a fifth quarter on two or three of these every week. This guy gets it. Mark, I would like to get going with the show because we've got a bunch of games to get to. But Mark, but Greg had Woodshed week. I had the boat race for Gallia. Bomb drop Sunday, part

four. Okay. Very Mark answer. Bomb drop Sunday. Part four. By the way, we might have to drop a bomb behind the glass. Can we bring in Eric real quick? You know, we love Roberts. What did he do? What's up? Robert, he does unbelievable work behind the glass glass. I try. But I did, there was some snitches out there

on Twitter that over the past week that let me know that there were no bongos in week three. Ooh. No bongos in week three. You said you want to get to the show and you drop this bomb right away. Well, this is important. I don't know how much of a curtain we want to pull back, but we had to do a little reset last week, and it was intended for the Dolphins. Throw me off my game. It was the first highlight of the show.

I was thrown off. I will take the hell on that one. You know what? I'm sorry. Not necessary. It's just important. If this show doesn't have bongos, it has no need to exist. I know.

So this is one of the most important bongo shows in the history of the Sunday flagship show. Who gets double bongos essential? You get credited for two bongos. You got to get it right. It's like skins competition and golf. All right. Let's get to the action. Let's start with the game that everyone had circled.

The game with the. Supposedly unstoppable Dolphins offense heading to Orchard Park to take on, ooh, Eric Roberts' Buffalo Bills. Would the bills be ready to play? Oh, yes, they were. First player to the fourth quarter, three receivers left, Cook in the backfield to the right of Allen, the shotgun. Handoff fakes to Cook.

It's a keeper by Allen, and he's going to sail into the end zone. An 11-yard touchdown run on the quarterback keeper. Oh, the bill's running away now, up 27 with an extra point pending. Oh, oh, Maron. You know, that was with 14 minutes to play in the fourth quarter. Humble pie for the Dolphins, served up by Josh Allen, who threw four touchdown passes and ran for a score. And the bills hand Miami its first lost a 4820 win in front of a delirious soldier. out crowd there in western

New York. Gregi. This was the first overall pick in our draft on Thursday for a reason. It's the game everybody wanted to see how come it turned into a one-sided blowout? Sometimes blowouts are entertaining and a team like the bills put on a show and you can have your 70 point offense

and you can have all the fastest players in the league according to next gen stats but there's only one Josh Allen. That's it. It's one of the all-time Josh Allen games. I just thought the way he started this game, On the very first drive, there was a play where Vic Fangio calls a blitz. And it was a perfectly timed blitz, free rusher off the edge.

And Alan just backpedals, back pedals, back pedals, as if it's not even there. And he hits an opposite hash throw to Stefan Diggs for the first down 17 yards. Like it was nothing. I was like, wow, that's an amazing play. Has a dart for a touchdown later. Fast forward a couple drives. They've already scored two touchdowns their first two drives. his ability to scramble and just continue to buy time, buy time, buy time in the pocket

before finding Diggs for Diggs's first touchdown. Diggs ends up going six for 120 and three. To me was just like- Money performance. It was just like Josh Allen in a nutshell. He can beat you in structure. He can beat you out of structure. He had four passing touchdowns. Only four in completions. Everything was great about Josh Allen's performance. Even that rushing touchdown, just like the decision-making And the way that he made this Dolphins defense, which has been disappointing, in general, I would say, through three weeks, almost embarrassed, 48 points, as you heard through about three quarters in a minute. It's kind of crazy where we were like a fortnight ago or, you know, two weeks ago with Josh Allen. A lot of the talk was, where is Josh Allen that we knew?

Like, he's up and down. You're going to get the good version, the bad version. That Jets game soiled everyone's impression of him. He has been absolutely pristine for three weeks in a row. But I am just as impressed with their defense because, you know, I also feel this brushback against the dolphins now where, like, last week is like this aberration. Like, they're still, they're still like a centerpiece in the AFC to me. They've had that they've lost three straight to the bills. They've had their problems.

But you take away A Chan's 55-yard run, they were completely bottled up on the ground for the most part. And I'm really concerned at times about the back end of their defense and what happened to them today. And I think there's this thing with Tua where it's like, I don't always want to question to it. because he's been awesome. But it's kind of like this was a game where he seemed a little less comfortable about getting the ball out immediately to his first read.

And like, if you cause some problems there, like, I don't know, this thing, this operation did not work. Someone told me the score might be reversed like a couple days ago. The Dolphins will be the absolute talk of pro football and instead it's a massive comeback down to Earth game. And I think that's why it's okay

to take some air out of the balloon here. Because as impressive as destroying a bad Denver team is and a middling Patriots team and they nice win against the charges in week one on the road here's like a real test this is the one where it's like okay and it doesn't mean they can't get off the mat but you you want to see the dolphins go up to buffalo and really if not win put up a fight and Greg like you know this is a game I'm looking forward to watching um in full but the the defense it has been covered over obviously because the offense has been so great big fanjiot defenses are known to take time to come together so just

just a reminder like when the offense isn't clicking and it hasn't been in full clicking for two games here at a four and the other two have been out of this world that the defense is going to have to make strides or they're going to have these bumps in the road along the way right i mean the the bills scored a touchdown on virtually every possession until until the start until like their eighth uh driver ninth drive in the middle of the fourth quarter but the bill's defense made more plays i thought too have played a strong game overall. But they did some things to disrupt the timing. As you mentioned, to send aggressively rushers after Tua and sort of not worry so much. Very different than the Patriots. So I think the Patriots were in total prevent mode. Let's just not let them score 70 on us. The bills came after them and it worked sometimes and it didn't work others. And I think Tua actually played pretty well. But Torell Bernard's making plays week after week. Oh, he was great last He prevented to a going to his first read on one play that ended up being, I believe that was his interception or maybe it was a fumble.

Greg Rousseau, Dayquan Jones, Leonard Floyd. Sean McDermott's different than Leslie Frazier. He is coming after defenses. They've been very aggressive. And it was impressive today. They're better up front on both sides of the ball, I think, this year than they've ever been, which is scary under McDermott. Their offensive line also playing well.

I know the rushing yards don't stand out, but in short, yard situations. They're now just handing the ball off or in the red zone and they're getting touchdowns or they're getting first downs with their running back. Yeah, with Alan playing at this level last three weeks and you could argue he's playing better than any quarterback in the league after that ugly week one against the Jets. The bills start to look

terrifying. Mike McDaniel, Dolphins coach, you never can get him in the show. We will. It's just fun to hear him talk. He just one of those dudes. He was handing out flowers to the opponent after the loss. First off, I think the Buffalo Bills proved why they are the team that, you know, our whole division is trying to beat.

They've, you know, won up for how many years in a row now. I mean, he's not wrong. Many. I think it's been three, maybe four years in a row. Not all good news, guys, before we move on. Tradavius White, a very important piece of that secondary for Buffalo, kind of a heart and soul piece of the defense suffers what's. appears to be a serious Achilles injury.

Let's hear from Sean McDermott, who did not paint an optimistic picture. They're obviously still evaluating. Yeah, I mean, he's been through a lot. And sometimes you wonder, right, why things like that happen twice, you know, to someone. I'm not saying what it is, what it is.

I'm just saying, like, you know, you just wonder why. Because you watch him how hard he's worked. to give back. It was really disappointing. He was so frustrated. Distraught, slammed his helmet, through his helmet immediately,

pounded his fist against the ground. You kind of knew. And as great as this performance was by the Bills, I still left the game thinking the most important part of the game was they lost Tredavius White. It looks like it's going to be Achilles for the season. And Taran Armstead, the left tackle for the dolphins,

could barely walk off the field and left with a knee injury. Those are two of the linchpins of both of those two teams. And I don't think it was a coincidence that Miami's offense kind of started falling apart the minute Armstead left. So both those injuries. That happened last year when Armstead was not in there, like there splits the way they looked completely different.

One other note, Tamar Hamlin was active in this game after his near-death experience on the field last year. His first time being active for the bills, he played mostly special teams with Jordan Poirer out of the lineup. So that is a cool thing. So all around, other than the Tradavius White injury, great stuff for Buffalo. Now three and one tied with the dolphins atop the AFC East. Let us keep moving, gentlemen.

Let us head to Indy. I call this the Frisky Bowl. Rams Colts, two of the most fun teams to watch so far this year. Nobody was talking about these teams in that way on September 1st, and that's why football is fun. Let's get to it. Stafford ready calls for the snap. Here comes the rush.

He throws right side alone. It's Puka at the five. To the end zone, a walkoff winner. Puka, Nakua in overtime. Nakua Matata. It means no worries for the rest of today. I love it. It's a problem-free Rams victory.

Whoa, Jay-Bee. He's going to go in the distance with that. Oh, yeah. There we go. Oh, everybody's on fire, including Eric Roberts, behind the glass. I love this. Is this J.B. Long going into his John Sterling era? He's just going to catch phrases for everybody.

Sounds like it. Unbelievable finish for the L.A. Rams. I find these types of wins to be the best types. When you have the game in hand, you let it all slip away, and then you recover, and somehow find a way. And that's what Matthew Stafford and the Rams did in a overtime victory over the Colts on the road. Final score 2923 when Stafford connected to Puka Nakua. It was a star in overtime coverage bus there.

Tough beat for the Colts D in that spot. This is a game that the Rams were up 23 zip, I believe, in the third quarter. and then what made this such a fun game boys is you saw everything that's kind of exciting about this Rams team how functional the offense is how good straight up good this offense is when Matthew Stafford is healthy and protected and Sean McVeigh's call in the place like and it's just like everything kind of works and and then you saw what happens why people are excited about this Colts team because Anthony Richardson then took over and led the team. on three scoring drives to tie the game up late in regulation and uh kept hitting the two as well kept with great play calls uh it was just so impressive he is such a great playmaker riches and already one of the best playmakers in the league and mark the matthew stafford who um i think we all like him a lot and and respect him and he's kind of had a great career got the ring and now this is kind of the epilogue and what's been a long run he bangs up his hip late in

this game he could barely move and yet he leads that team in overtime uh culminated with the nukua touchdown pass what a huge win for the rams on the road yeah the hip injury um concerning obviously he's had hip issues in years past um he's of the age where you know we saw what happened to him last year the body started to deconstruct if the season went along and it's like you know I spent this whole off season suspicious of why the rams um had this immensely young offense with Matthew Stafford sitting in there, like it felt a little disjointed. But not now. It's like I have to give Sean McVeigh and less need and the whole situation, like a lot of credit because a guy like Puka Nakua, who sounded like a name you'd make up like a couple months

ago to non-college fans, 39 catches, the best start by any rookie in NFL history. They seemed like when Cooper Cup was lost, that the whole operation was going to sink. And you might have a Rams team that wins three games. And I pointed to another team in Pittsburgh saying look at how they're putting an offense together that are all young together and growing and they're a lost ship but it's the Rams all along that like had these young guys who are the opposite of household names a month ago and they're really fun to watch and it's like this kind of to your point in like to get into a hole where you you've kind of given up your lead and it could break certain teams and certain other teams that aren't coached to this degree

and without a Matthew Stafford under center like they didn't I mean they almost lost it but it's like I'm so impressed they didn't get stuck in that hole. I'm glad you said that because, Mark, I was texting with Jordan Rodriguez, our friend at the Athletic who covers the Rams. I texted her when they were up 23 Zip, or she texted me and reminded me of something we had some fun with over the summer,

the T-shirt that Sean McVeigh had printed up, and it said on the back, and yes, it was wordy. And some of the syntax was a little shaky. Capitalization was weird. Yeah, some of that. There was an Amber Sand involved. Some grammatical problems. But the most important thing was the message.

Mentally and physically tough players who are smart and love to compete. Watch that game. There's the T-shirt if you're watching this on YouTube. Watch that game and tell me that does not describe, Gregi, the Rams team that we watched here. And you don't want to overrate a week four win. They got the Eagles coming in next week. But to me, when the Colts got the ball back and the Rams had given up a 23-0 lead,

and the Rams had also just given the ball back with under two minutes to go, had chosen not to go for it on fourth down or anything. And Anthony Richardson gets the ball back. I'm thinking, like, this Rams season is on the brink a little bit right here. If they give up a 23-point lead and they got the Eagles coming in next week,

and there's already talk in Los Angeles among reporters that you believe, like Jordan, that, like, okay, if they get to the trade deadline and they'll have decisions to make if they're record sideways. And there's a nice throw by Richardson on third down that Quentin Lake breaks up and it looked like he had gotten beat on the play. He fights back to it.

They get into overtime. They have that terrific offensive drive and they can survive and get through this quarter two and two. And even if they lose to the Eagles, they'll have a chance to win some games after. And it's like that's how you stack a season up is like surviving moments like that and getting to a point where they won't be sellers at the trade. Can I ask you a question, Dengis?

Like, I watched as much as I could have this, especially just when it started to turn into what it was. And Anthony Richardson, on a weekly basis, there's these moments where he's like, this is the best athlete on the field. Like, he's marvelous. And on the ground, he's so dangerous. And yet there aren't other quarterbacks in the league going 11 for 25. Yeah. So this was a game where the box score, at least the completion percentage, doesn't match the level of play. Because even at one point, it was something, it was way worse.

It was like five for 14 or five for 15. But he's produced these things like this before. It didn't feel like to me like he was playing poorly. It was just everything was really out of sync for the cults for the better part of two and a half quarters. But when he turned it on, I just, the highest compliment I could pay the guy is when they were down eight late in the fourth quarter and they had already kind of made inroads and scored twice already. It just felt like there was no way this guy wasn't going to do it, which is, you know, there's not many guys that are like that. And, like, Richardson with his ability to do it all is really, I know with all due respect to C.J. Stroud, who's off to an amazing start himself, like when this season is over, if Richardson stays healthy, he's going to win offensive rookie of the year.

Because this is going to be an every week thing where he is making plays and he's going to electrify the building. That's a hot take. Texas fans won't like that. And I said, I respect to Stroud, but I think Richardson is box office on a level that that's why Ursay wanted him. And, like, just like we were putting down the Rams as a team not to take seriously in the summer, the Colts kind of from afar looked a bit about like a clown show, the way it was run last year and all the drama around Jonathan Taylor and, man, I know they lost this game. Right. But I think both of these teams, they might not be in the Super Bowl, but I think they're going to be hanging around.

They remain both to me very frisky. Now, with a caveat, as what's here from Matt Stafford, I hope this guy's hips okay because. We do not want to see a limping Matthew Stafford. Let's listen to what he had to say about his injury and how it affected him. It sounded a little worrisome. The hardest part was just the, it was kind of just shutting down the leg a little bit, right? Where you feel like you can step and you push and normal leg and then step and push and not normal. Just the muscles were kind of shutting down.

But just kept going. I knew it was just going to be one of those things that was, you know, pain slash function. As long as I could keep it warm on the sideline and keep the function going, and I was, you know, going to try to stay in there. Birds I view, not the first thing I'd want to hear from my quarterback. He does say he'll be out there next week. That's good. In what capacity we shall see?

Yeah. And it does look like Anthony Richardson got out of this game in One Piece, which is also a first in his NFL career. All right, let's now move to, yes, with all due respect, C.J. Stroud is off to a tremendous. I mean, Stroud is the rookie of the year right now. Just saying. I'm projecting. Yeah.

No, that's fair. I think that would be, I would go sandwiches with you. If Stroud continued to do what he's done. And for Richard said, like, completion percentage, that's nice, but yards per attempt matters a lot more. And he had about eight yards per attempt and six or seven big time plays in there. So you'll take that trade. He's fun.

He's exciting. He's special. Interesting. Okay. Now, CJ Stroud. Also, you could explain him in that manner. And here's what happened in Houston today. Third and seven from the Texans, 48 Stroud, shotgun, motor in the backfield with him.

CJ gets to snap. CJ throwing downfield. Caught by Nico 25, 20, Blake's a tackle, 15, 10, 5. Rock and roll. Touchdown, Houston. C.J. Stroud with more third down, magic to the end zone. Mark Vandemier with a call, Texans radio. I always forget that he does the rock and roll thing.

There's something I have a wholesome uncle vibe about that from Van Damiener. Yeah, they haven't rock and rolled in a while in that, so it's, you know, he's bringing it back rookie c j stroud had another big time showing uh on sunday he threw for over 300 yards two touchdowns and the and the texans welcome to the boat race for galia where you get the bomb drops in the woodshed 30 to six over the steelers now we welcome in a man that he drops bombs on every local jim he steps into just with what he's putting up and he doesn't and he doesn't just work on the beach muscles because he's a Midwest grinder uh Nick, how are you?

I'm fantastic, guys. I don't know if I, dropping bombs sounds destructive. Yeah, you are destructive in the gym. It must disgust you, Nick. I don't want to get off topic here, but when you see those guys, a little twig legs and the big biceps, and they got the beach muscles, but they're not strong men. Like, you're repulsed by that, aren't you?

They're not doing compound movement. They're skipping leg day. It's all about the glamour muscles. Yeah, yeah, disgusted, absolutely. How do you feel about the three of us when you take a look at how we're appearing here in the middle of, in the early October? No comment. You all look great. Okay.

Well, he likes being on the show. Yeah. Shoki, uh, Stroud again. Uh, what are you seeing? I mean, he looks fantastic. He looks, so going into this draft with this draft class, I, I was kind of confused by the consensus that surrounded Bryce Young. Because everyone thought he's the far and away. Number one answer here.

He's got everything, blah, blah, blah. It was great. But what I saw in CJ Stroud is somebody who. gave you the best chance to win if you played them right away, which you're going to do with most of those guys that you draft there because of his accuracy. Its accuracy has been fantastic for the last two games. That touchdown pass and that highlight that you just rolled. I mean, he threw that in the perfect spot,

not only for Nico Collins to make to catch, but to catch and run down the sideline for a touchdown. He's done that a number of times his last couple games. Even in this first game, he did that a few times. He's very settled in and a huge tip of the cap to offensive coordinator Bobby Sloak, who is doing everything right with CJ Stroud. He's taking advantage of all of his strengths. he's scheming the offense around them.

They got a lot of young talent over there. That's all kind of making some plays there. And he looks very comfortable. I think that's the most important part. He is not sped up by the game. He's playing really good football right now. Thanks, Slahick is one of the more interesting stories because he's got a PFF background

and he was under Shanahan for a bit in San Francisco. Hasn't, like, called plays like this before, which you hear the narrative about it takes a couple of years to even figure out situationally what you're doing. But he's done so much with these young players. And I think, like, his fingerprints are all over. or Stroud? Yeah, you're right. The background is the whole Shanahan tree. And that's what we're seeing first and foremost. Is a coach who knows how to adapt to the strengths of his player and to where

they're just sliding right in and being very calm? I'm surprised even myself. And I thought very highly of Stroud coming out of Ohio State that he was going to be the guy that could go win you games the quickest in the NFL. Maybe not the highest ceiling. I think the highest ceiling belongs to Anthony Richardson. But he was going to be a guy that could step in and win games. Even I'm surprised by his performance in the first month of the season where 50%, if not more, if his games had been so encouraging that when Greg says, you know, he's the rookie of the year right now offensively. You have to agree.

It's not even close. He might be a pro bowler. It's four games in, but just at this point, I mean, they're boat racing the Jags. They're boat racing the Steelers. And the thing he's been best at, I think, is dealing with pressure. He hasn't been sacked in the last two weeks. And Laramie Tunsell's out again today. Most of their offensive line is out. They're playing the Steelers. And he's not making negative plays. It's so

impressive. What was up with the Steelers? defense here today. And what was up with Mike Tomlin, punting on fourth and two, down 23 to 6 in the fourth quarter? I mean, that is something that I know drives Steelers fans crazy, but Mike Tomlin is like in all time,

like I'm just going to give up on the game and punt. Yeah. It drives me crazy. That's a message to his guys. We came out flat. We got knocked in the mouth. We don't deserve to still compete in this game. You guys didn't give enough effort.

We played like crap. And now we're going to pay for it. Let's get back on the bus. Go to the plane. Go back to Pittsburgh. That's like one of those. And I do it now with my own. children and it happened to me when I was kid.

Sometimes the parental punishment doesn't make any sense. And it's like, this isn't really thought out, but the parent doesn't want to, they don't want to give any ground on it at any level. Let's listen, Shoki, to Tomlin, who obviously, you know, they come off two-game winning streak here, but this is now another grisly performance

by the offense, especially. And he was hinting that, could there be changes? Mike says, yes. Changes regarding. Hell yeah, we got to make some changes, man. That was, that was, that was an ugly product we put out there today. And so we're not going to do the same things and hope for a different outcome. What those changes are, man, we'll put together a plan

in preparation. The biggest change, Shook, would be the quarterback position. You have Kenny Pickett who has not played well this year, but he goes out with a knee injury that we don't know the severity right now. Mitch Trubisky could be on the field for them. But there's a lot of mounting criticism around Mac Canada as well, their play caller. How do you see that breakdown in terms of the struggles. Yeah, I think that Pickett has not taken the step forward that you expect from him. The offensive line hasn't done him a lot of favors. Matt Canada has not done him a lot of favors with his play calling. The knee injury to me looked kind of bad. It's not encouraging. So you might not see him for a little bit. But more importantly than anything, it doesn't matter who you put back

there in quarterback. Unless you've got God himself playing quarterback, it's going to be really hard to overcome some of the situations that Matt Canada puts them in. You know, last year and the year before it was their offensive lines not good enough for them to establish the ground game. Well, now the play calling itself is just so disjointed that every time I look at a play with Kenny Pickett dropping back to pass, it feels like it's third and 13, and he's got no shot because they don't hold up well enough for him to sit back there. He doesn't look comfortable. He's pretty skittish. And when he does throw passes, they're usually contested passes that he expects George Pickens to make superhero plays on. So I'm not confident in this offense at all. And it's really annoying because they have

talent. It's just not working right now. And I think a lot of it has to do with the offense. I do think God would probably pull off like a higher pass rating than what we saw from Pickett today. but your two leading receivers are running backs, and neither one of them have more than 32 yards. It's like I guess I can't find a team I'm more disappointed in after what I thought we'd be seen in the growth and development I thought we'd be seen in Pittsburgh. It's like I don't know why Canada was retained.

I think that was a surprise to begin with, but it's like how much longer do you keep Matt Canada? Well, it depends on how you feel the potential of this team really is for this year. Because I think if you can't replace an offensive coordinator in the middle of the season and see an instant turner. around. So I think you're kind of stuck to a degree with what you have. That's how Canada got the job, though. He did take over in the middle of the season.

And I think he had a decent little run, if I remember. And then they ended up keeping the job. If God was the quarterback, though, you know, he would keep Deonti Johnson healthy. Pratt Firemuth left in this game early with an injury. So things are, things are kind of snowballing that year. Why does God keep coming on? I don't know. He said, he said God would not be able to.

Only God was thriving. Save it for the theology podcast, everybody. Jesus, Louise. God jogs over and just heals Deontae. Yeah. Texans are a real thing now. They're in the mix. They're in the playoff mix.

The AFC South is kind of fun, actually. It's a little bit frisky. Shuki, let's head to Philadelphia, where we had a game that went right down to the end. It is a 54-yard attempt. These kickers today. My goodness. Hold your breath.

Well, this kicker. Yeah, but he's not alone. He's top five. There you go. Go on. And the eagle. win. The Eagles win. Lights out.

Jake Elliott does it with a fourth field goal of the day. Jake Elliott. Yeah, you get past the velvet ropes. Come on in, buddy. Kicks four field goals, including the 54-yarder. Pipeed it. To lift the Eagles. 34-31 win over the commanders.

They are 4-0 for the second straight. for the second straight year. Elliot also kicked 41, 47, and 36 before the last one. The Eagles fans go nuts. And Jalen Hertz, Shuki, and the passing game, this is progress on Sunday, right? In a game that was closer than maybe some people thought it would be. Yeah, tip of the cap with the piped reference to Jay Feeley, which is also a double reference at this point in this show. So we got multiple layers going on.

But Jalen Hurts, man, fantastic. First time that we really saw this passing offense completely open up this season. a bit of a struggle. They've had to rely on the ground game, but they did not have to, you know, lean too much on DeAndre Swift in this game. But it was, it was a really fun battle. I think on both sides, you know, it told me a lot about Washington. But I was excited to see the Eagles blow it and then bounce back and find a way to win it with a long field goal. They still have some minor issues, but they're a fun watch, especially when Hertz is thrown around like this. Give me some Sam Howell recap here. because to see how we'll survive in an offensive shootout.

You expect more out of the commander's defense. So credit to the Eagles offense for putting it on them today. But you don't expect the commander's offense to kind of be going toe for toe and give them that lead early in this game. Yeah, they had a 10 point lead early on. I'm thinking, man, they're going to run away with this? Is this going to be one of those games where Sam House says, forget about last week. Forget my four ugly interceptions against Buffalo. They don't matter because I'm winning the game of the division this week and I'm doing it my way.

they did blow that lead. But what they did even better was come back. I mean, down to the final play of regulation. There's one second adjusted in two seconds, left on the clock. He sits back there cool as a cucumber delivers a strike to the right side. Game tying touchdown on a drive that for a little bit, you know, when they got in the Eagles territory inside like the 40, look like they were just going to flat out run out of time.

I mean, even the broadcast is like, they're taking too long. They got to go. They got two plays out of the final 10 seconds, maybe three plays. Yeah, three. we're able to score on the last one. Kid comes up in the clutch. You know, he's going to have some issues, some warts early on in his career,

but he's a gamer. He's a gamer with some ability, and he's really, really fun to watch, even though they lost this game. I think he's had been sacked 24 times, and I mean, I know a lot of that is on him.

It's the line, it's the whole thing. That has to be corrected at some point. I was so glad to see the Eagles pull this out, though, because, like, AJ Brown, nine catches for 175 yard and two touchdowns him.

It's like, you're right. This just shows you the power and the versatility of this offense. But he had that at the penalty, the taunting penalty after that score. And it's like, I don't think if that happens, and you can argue whether that was deserved or not, if that penalty does not happen, like Washington probably runs out of time and doesn't get close enough to do what they needed to do at the end there. And it's like he would have played quietly this goat role when he's like an absolutely epic

hero in this contest. Yeah, but you know what? I give him a pass for that because the taunting was so brief. I saw it happen live and I thought, ooh, be careful. That's probably not enough. It was a shaky call. Go for two, though. He turned and, like, looked at him a little bit closely as he was running away.

Yes. I don't like that. Go for two. Go for two, Ron. You know what? All of Lincoln Financial Field was sweating bullets about and hoping that you didn't do, Ron Rivera. Go for two. Where's the river boat?

Where is it retired? Is it currently in the shipyard forever? Well, maybe because of the boat race for Galia, it was booked up the waterway. Slow moving boat, too. Can he get out there? All right, Shookie, we're going to let you off the hook here. You can get on the boat. so you don't have to talk about the Browns.

Oh, yikes. Thank you, sir. As always, and we'll see you next Sunday. See you. See you. I was so merciful, guys. I appreciate you. See you.

Later, buddy. All right, let's take a break, and then we will move up. 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 die-hard 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. 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. 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 podcast or wherever you get your podcast Toyota the official automotive partner of the NFL visit toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more I'm Marcus grant and I'm Michael Fiorio 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, learn more all right welcome back it is time now for the sunday drive presented by the first ever toyota grand highlander let's head to big d where cowboys were big mad after an ugly week three showing second and ten jones is back plenty of time rolls right bottled up throws back to that intercept no darron bland called house hello house house it's me duron hello house Guy for Duran Blan.

Wow. That's our dude. Restan a little. Sham God. Brad Sham, the sham god with the call. Duran Blan returned one of his two picks to the house untouched. Leighton Vandrash also scooped up a fumble on a Mac Jones sack, ran it back for a score, and the Cowboys hammer the Patriots 38 to 3.

interesting boys Greg Mac Jones doesn't finish this game and there's going to be a ground swell people saying he's the reason why they got destroyed in this game is one of them Is that fair

Do you think the Patriots are heading towards something here With their one-time first round pick Well if we're talking about that We do have Belichick on Mac Jones after the game, right? We have a show where we could hear from Mike McDaniel and Bill Bell. Yeah, let's just hear about Mack Jones.

Yeah, about the game on Sunday. What led to the decision to take Mac out with 3.41 remaining in the third quarter? Yeah, I think there was any point leaving him in the game. And will he be starting next week against the Saints? Yeah, so there's no point leaving him in the game, Mike. In that sense, I mean, yeah. Do you think consider taking, like, chudon out on the other side?

Oh, you're saying? Got him in the ribs. No effect. Yeah, I mean, you're going to put somebody out. Some effect. It took about 10 seconds to answer. So, Bill, was he benched for me? That pause?

No. No, I said there was no point leaving him out there, so I took him out. That pause, by the way, that you heard, that pregnant pause was Bill in his mind trying to figure out if he could make Mike Reese disappear under the mess, Pike and not be connected to it. I mean, that's happened to other people connected with Patriots before. Mike might be the leader in the clubhouse is the best beat writer out there in the game right now in terms of longevity and quality.

Hey, you don't get under the mass pike unless Bill Belchick respects you. He's been there 20 years. So he can ask those tough questions. And he does plan to start him next week. He did make it clear in that press conference. He did say yes once pressed on it, you know, if Mac is going to start. but this was the worst possible game in all ways for the Patriots. Mack Jones mentally crumbled.

After a couple pretty good drives, I thought, to start the game, they get a field goal and then they turn it over on downs. He is so unathletic, and you try to look past that because he has other things that, you know, in theory can make up for that, but let's look at how they turned it over on downs. They do the tush push, right? And it was blocked up pretty well. Well, but Mack Jones is sort of just like falls forward.

There was no defenders there. Like, he could have run forward. They don't get it. And then the whole rest of the game, it turns into this Mack Jones, like, I'm going to try to play hero ball and panicking and really reminding me of a year. A year ago where he's throwing the ball across his body. Duran Blan almost had two pick six. Dron Blan is a great player, by the way, or a great young player promising five picks as a rookie last year. Didn't get a lot of pop replacing Trayvon Diggs.

So that's great for the Cowboys. We'll get to the good part of the Cowboys. and just so many bad decisions. And then by the end, middle of the third quarter, why you had to take him out, even on plays that were perfectly blocked, Mack was completely freaking out and kind of not throwing it to open receivers and then doing crazy things. And so he's mentally collapsing.

You have no explosive element to your offense. And then as you heard from Mike Reese, Matt Judon, their best defensive player, gets hurt in the fourth quarter of a total blowout. The way the teammates were talking after. After the game, it sounded like it could be a long-term injury. They're reporting it as a biceps injury, so that's probably a torn biceps. And Christian Gonzalez, their defensive rookie of the month for September in the NFL, left very early with what appeared to be a serious shoulder injury.

So everything that could go wrong did. It was a humbling day for the Patriots. The worst loss of Belichick's head coaching career. 24 seasons and Pat Finns will remember the other one. It was the season opening against Buffalo in 2003. 31 Zip. Even worse than any Browns lost he had. Those Browns teams did not get blown out.

And the difference is like that 2003 team. What did that 2003 team do, Greg? They won the Super Bowl. But everything feels different. Obviously, everything is different. Tom Brady's not there anymore. But in general, the ship feels like it's swaying a little bit. And I thought, and I, you know, this is not me being a bitter jet spin, but I've seen the face.

that face that a quarterback makes when he's had a terrible day and he's still going back out on the field. I think Belchick made the right move to get him out of that game because they showed him on the sideline and you could tell he he was he had no answers.

He capitulated on some level. And I thought he played really well the first three weeks, but today was a lot on him. And we're going to disagree on that because I don't see the same level of play in Mac Jones even though he has made throws this season at times. I just don't, I don't think he's special or even, or even maybe average. And I'm wondering as we, and we could talk about this down the line,

but that Mack Jones, Mark becomes like if, if this season goes where it might be going for New England, that Mac Jones is a sacrificial lamb after this. It's not Belichick, and they get to start over. And he gets to start over with the QB and gets one last chance with this team. I don't think that would be totally unfair other than the fact that, like, Bill Belichick scouted and picked this player. So it's not entirely on Mac Jones. Last year it was complete freebie because you had chaos in the coaching situation on offense. You've got Bill O'Brien.

And Greg, I just don't see the player that you see when it comes to Mack Jones. I'm not saying that you think he's some great guy. No, I just think he can be average. And their offensive line has been so bad. If you're going to be average, you're going to float in another world in the AFC or in the NFC. This is a team right now that when I watch them on offense, it's like your selling point was Ramandre Stevenson, flatlining. Like, this is an offense from, like, 1991. There's defensive strengths, but, like, you're not, you're, this is not a modern day 20, 23 offense.

No, they allowed the Cowboys, and we can get to the Cowboys now, like, to sit on these short routes. And Blan was asked about it by our old colleague, Mike Giardy, after the game about city on these routes. And he's just like, hey, look, that's what we saw in film. And so what he's saying is, they can't push the ball down the field. Mac Jones doesn't have the arm or athleticism to make extra plays down the field and then more importantly to me and this is completely on Belichick

the whole team is on Belichick and I don't think Belichick will survive this season unless they win eight or nine games I think he'll be fired I also think it's a long way from saying they won't win eight or nine games it's early it's one and three but I think Kraft will get rid of them

if it goes south he put this entire team together they have no explosive players right now those are all his players the Juju signing it's going to continue to build up as another thing to point to. He just doesn't have athleticism itself, it seems, when he's trying to come out of these routes.

It's ugly. And the Cowboys, like I said on Thursday, BTT, if this is a big time team, you take that ugly Cardinals loss, and you take it out on a middling team in your building. It's exactly what they did, which is why I was so surprised that. Still waiting for those rain clouds.

There are Ls that the rainmaker has taken over years. And then there are capital L's. This is a big one. This is a big one. You know, somebody's daughter isn't getting braces. No, too bad for her. Somebody's son isn't going to prom. Hey, yeah.

You got to play the long game, but you got to take the L's when they come. How much does prom cost? Oh, the toilet doesn't work? Now you've got to go outside. Because Greg picked with his heart and not his head. That was with the head. I thought I was with the head. You know, you just got to accept this and you got to move on when you take an L this, this poor.

Give credit. It puts a lot of pressure on the Rainmaker now, Mark, for the next one. Ooh. Because he's got to, as a showman, he's got to come out and say, I know I let you down. This one is my guarantee. Yeah, double this up. Or you completely forget about it for like five more weeks until in the middle of the show. Like, oh, I haven't done a Rainmaker.

Is it you still have that drop, Eric? Like one second before. for doing it. Bad job by me. I do want to just give some props to Dak, who I mentioned going into this game, this might be a tough matchup for him. Oh my God. No ghosts. He played so well. You know, they're nine and one in their last 10 games after a loss, averaging 33 points. This is a team that bounces back. His decision making, his passes were on point. I think he was seven for nine on throws that were at least 10 yards down the field. A lot of these were right in the bucket. And I know the Patriots are down three or four of their top cornerbacks, but they were great.

throws. Gallup's been playing much better these last couple weeks. A lot of... Jake Ferguson is a real tight end. They have a lot of positive. So they had that one bad game, but a lot of positives for deck. The Cowboys next Sunday night, 49ers week. New game of the year. New game of the year.

Wooee! Well, so you have to go toe to toe to toe with the Niners and, like, you can't have another flat performance. I believe to talk about it. I know you believe in them. And like, I have fair historical reason to be suspicious that they'll win 12 games and then go flat again. Oh, that's the past.

This is now. It's literally a week ago. They're not going to go, they're not going to go 17 and 0. Every team is going to have some. You just, I, we'll see, we'll see. So now you're out on the Cowboys. I thought you were in this year. No.

Oh, okay. I'm in on the Niners, but it's like I, like, I, like, what happened last week kind of reconfirmed just suspicions about Dallas. It's an NFL, it's an NFL game. And today? Things happened. Did that? I, I love what they did today.

It's like things happen. I trust them to do it about 12 times, then January will come. I'll just say this where nobody's underdog. Damn right, Zaddy. And I see you Bones Fossil. Little trick two point conversion. Dan Quinn doing his thing. What a staff.

What a team. They were up 283 half time and Dan Quinn was like not today. Not this time. Team of A-TN? The Cowboys? You're going to probably get Super Bowl, two weeks of Super Bowl nonsense with them if it goes your way. So that'll be enough for me. That would be great.

And that was the Sunday Drive presented by Toyota. Let's go places. Learn more at Toyota.com slash Grand Highlander. All right, you know who might not be playing in the Super Bowl this year? The Bengals. Things are going bad.

Let's head to Nashville. Tannahill under center. You handle that well, Greg. Because that was a very humbling. What can you do when you're that wrong? It's hard to be more wrong about anything than I was. Rolling. Brace.

Tanahell. Touchdown. Titans. Grace. That's the word. Henry, I should say, is the man who rolls and throws. All that movement just freaked me out. And Cincinnati was more lost than me.

Whoa, my keep. Again, more grace. Owned it, turned it into beauty. That's magic. Titans Radio. The Titans, listen, there are teams that are difficult. to figure out in this league, many of them, actually. The Titans have been all over the map so far.

And this week, this Sunday, it was the best version of the Titans. Ryan Tannahill throws for 240 in a touchdown. Derek Henry looks like Derek Henry again, even with that jump past TD throw, which I love. And they trounce the Bengals, 27 to 3 in Nashville. Quite a performance for Tennessee all the way around. They only had 94 yards of offense last week against Cleveland. and they score 27 straight points in this game, Mark. And, like, I think it's a credit to Tennessee,

but that's not what people, and I know our buddy, Gravedigger and Titans fans are going to say everybody should be focusing on what the Titans can do when they are, you know, in their bag. But everyone is obviously going to focus on Cincinnati being completely lost at sea on both sides of the ball in this game, but especially on offense, where once again, you had a limited burden,

unable to do anything in this offense going nowhere fast. Two things are happening because Gravedigger and Titans fans are correct. Because as hot and cold as they are, when they're hot and they appear under the Mike Rabel leadership the way that they have in the past, I watched a team that was more physical than Cincinnati that beat them up all over the place that nullified their pass rush when they have a weak offensive line. Oh, yeah. When Henry threw that lob, did that not come after a time out where they saw Henry

lined up in a direct snap situation on the play before. They go back and they kind of collect themselves and then Henry just throws the he scores on the next play. It was very Brable and I'll give him credit and I'll give Tim Kelly credit. Their OC who they cooked up some good stuff in this game where they head to

the goal line and it's Jeffrey Simmons a tickle monster serving as the upback with Derek Henry back and Cincinnati's like holy and they call time out and then you know what Brable does? It sends the same set up on the field. They were on the same play. And they're like, we don't care about you

being able to recalibrate yourselves. You're still not going to stop this. And they did not. And it's like Lou Anirumo has been a bright spot when they've tried to get through these games. And I think he's a great coordinator. But coaching in general with the Bengals to have this last year's ugly start, this year's start. It certainly ties to the body of Joe Burrow. He's struggling. He took some terrible hits in this game today. And at one point, I saw him kind of coming off to the sideline and testing his arm elbow. he got, he just, it's, you're not going to get out of this if your quarterback's not healthy. And it's not the only problem on this team right now.

Right. That's the thing that gets me in, and why I wasn't over the moon about the Monday night victory. That was a nice night. It was like a championship effort to get through that. But in this game, they got almost doubled up in total yardage, 400 to 2.11. They didn't have a single play over 17 yards on offense. That's been consistent. Their offense has been bad all four games, including.

against the Rams, one of the most defensive challenged teams in the league, and they struggled in that game. And it's mostly about Borough, but the offensive line has not looked good and they didn't look good when Burrow was moving a little better the first couple of weeks. So there's a lot going on with this team.

Yeah, and I mean, I said it on Thursday, I still feel this way, and you can now say, well, they're not, they don't have this ability to do this. You got to sit down the quarterback. he can't this I know you're one in three and you're probably under the belief if we sit the quarterback down our season's over but you can't keep sending him out like this in addition to it being just sad to watch it's ineffective and it's move okay no he can't he's not moving at all everything again is out of the shotgun there is so everything is out of his hands immediately and Tennessee just like we thought was going to be a problem it was a problem because the offensive line was getting beat and once that's that pass rush was on top of him, he's taking some nasty shots.

So you could survive on Monday night with that game plan against a lesser team or a lesser defense. But in this game, that's a taste of what's going to continue to happen until he gets hurt. And he's either going to pop the calf again or it's going to be a different injury like we saw almost happen in this game. And who knows how he's going to feel when he wakes up. So I think it's high past time that you need to sit this guy down. Your season's already on the ropes. You kind of stop pretending if you're Zach Taylor. And I think Zach Taylor deserves blame for this as well because you're not seeing

and a lot of Bengals fans are pointing to Taylor is the number one problem. Oh, I got some spice rack texts to read off. I still think that's understandable but it's crazy to me that people don't just say

well, Joe Burrow is 40% or 30% how do you not say that's the problem? You could say it's the play caller and maybe there's a, there is some route here where they call a different type of game that makes them more effective.

I just don't see it with Burrow at quarterback. I don't think there is a path to competence. on offense with the way this guy is. They can't dominate people on the ground the way that they were a couple of seasons ago alongside his play. T. Higgins gets lost to cracked ribs, I think

it is. I mean, it's like the house is starting to burn around you. And it's like the whole AFC North is a bit of a shambles save for one team right now. Right. Meanwhile, the AFC Southam will get to, I guess, the last team here, but I think do we have a four-way tie at two and two? They're all a little frisky

with some frisky wins. But yeah, Spice rack what is spicy Wes' great friend who is a Bengals fan and is never believed in Zach Taylor kind of like me

just points out opening drive 11 plays down to the one what do they do they kick an 18 yard field goal two minutes ago in the first half down 17 fourth and three

what do they do they punt the ball into the end zone for a touchback cowardly dip blank that's what he wrote and he says and he says

if he had a charming personality that, like, the players liked. He'd understood, like, he could get behind that, but he's also kind of a zero there. He said, he was like, give me Steve Mariucci, at least, that people just like, you know, at least like a like. Yeah, I'm sure Bengalsons would be cool of mooch on the sidelines. I think he meant back, I love mooch. He's saying back in the day, he's saying, like, okay, maybe you don't have, like, you're not

the X's and O's guy, but at least be the guy everyone can get by. If you were to say, like, give me three, you know, foundational anchors of the Zach personality. I couldn't come up with that. I mean, you went to the Super Bowl. That's all I know about you. And on the other side, you got a guy in Vrable who you lose one week, 27, 3, and the next week you come back win 273. That's kind of a Vrable type of team.

They lost nine of their last 10, and you still believed in them. When you have success, like the Bengals have had the last two years, and Cincinnati fans have gotten a taste of that. This has been a very hard crash back to Earth. Expectations are hard. That's why I think staying at the top is so hard. The Rainmaker knows a little bit about that. What do you mean?

Well, after what happened this one? I mean, oh, and one, you know, it's one game. Not to the people that, you know, had a lot of these. Hey, if they're following my picks on game debut, they're riding to the top and first place there. I don't know if you get Kyle Shanahan on this sideline. Greg tends to think a lot of people out there are very focused on his. You guys just said people are losing their house. Well, that's true.

I'd say if you're going to get there, you know, anyone that knows you got to spread it out. They probably will be ghosting on your Rainmaker predictions. I didn't say anything about a house. I mentioned little buck two. with Susie Q, who, you know. She'll stay that way. Die alone. Get some invisible, I know, at least, you know.

Yes, and you mentioned T. Higgins suffered some type of rib injury, and potentially I saw Gloria say that he is facing perhaps an absence of weeks. Yikes. Okay. Speaking of yikes, the Cleveland Browns had a play without to Sean Watson, and they learned that that is difficult business. Marr in the shotgun, three receivers bunched to the right. Jackson takes the snap, steps up, throws it complete.

Andrews has it at the 10, 5. Touchdown Ravens! And with 5.56 left to play in Cleveland, the Hayes in the Barn. Oh, six minutes to play. Sandusky drops the Hayes in the barn for the Ravens, who go to Cleveland and spank the Browns 283, who, as I said, played without Deshaun Watson, scratched. We warmed up on the field before the game, but shoulder injury kept them out of the game. They put the rookie in and the rookie and the offense, the rookie being Dorian Thompson

Robinson, unable to move the ball. Mark Sessler, this is a humbler for the Browns, I imagine, who, you know, we came off a week of talking up their defense and against a hated rival, a bit of a no-show it looks like in your own building. This game was over a lot earlier than with six minutes to go. It's the kind of loss where I can understand that you've got Dorian Thompson Robinson in there, fifth round pick who looked absolutely and utterly lost against a veteran Ravens defense. Cool. I get it.

I didn't expect them to necessarily even have a chance to compete if he didn't look good. I hoped he would. It was the opposite. You don't have Nick Chubb. After half time, they had 10 yards rushing, and they just couldn't get anything going on that side of the ball. And Baltimore Ravens, my one thought was like, not unlike a jet situation. If you had a quarterback in there

that needed a lot of support and was going to struggle, you've got this defense that we've been talking about for three plus weeks. And the Ravens started a little bit slowly, and I thought, this is Cleveland's doorway

into a potential upset, and you get Watson back, and you keep going, you have a bye week next week. They got walked over. I mean, it was kind of bizarre to watch because you did lose Adairia Smith for a bit. Miles Garrett got banged up late,

but in general, this was the defense from these other weeks, led by Jim Schwartz. and it was Mark Andrews rumbling for 36 yards on a catch, which at one point was their biggest play kind of early on. But then Justice Hill gets going with a 15-yard run, a 7-yard run. Melvin Gordon gashes them for a 22-year-ard run.

They're suddenly up with the Lamar Jackson touchdown 14 to 3, and you sense the game was over because they were getting hotter and hotter and walking through Cleveland's defense in a way that it looked like the last 20 years. And so I'm a little mystified because this is a Ravens team missing all sorts of star players

and supporting cast and they put it to Cleveland and it isn't simply on the quarterback the defense did not show up. Baltimore was without two wide receivers. They're starting left tackle. They're starting right tackle went out and Gregi the Lamarmy. This is another good one for the Lamarmy now because he steps in with the team

on the road against a punishing defense undermanned. He scores four touchdowns two on the ground, two through the air and that's what a superstar quarterback does. Just so efficient. 19 throws for 186 yards. So, in only four incompletions, you're playing this defense that we've heard a lot about. I'm always wary of teams that are mostly about the defense

in the year 2020. Because I read this article once, it's always stuck with me that by far the most predictive thing in terms of who has a good defense is just the schedule you played. Like the correlation is so strong of just like, and it's not everything. The Brown stomped bad offensive lines more than other teams were stomping bad offensive lines. But still, by far the best correlation to the defensive rankings are who has played the worst offenses, who's played the easiest schedule. And now they played a professional offense, one missing a lot of players, like five starters on offense alone, and four or five on defense. It was crazy how many cornerbacks, two of their starting pass rushers, the Ravens were missing. And you have to give them a lot of credit, because I think that's what 20.

23 is about too is like who can win when you're missing so many players because it just seems like injuries are destroying half the teams in the league and the Browns for instance at least in terms of their running game just haven't been able to like survive that injury well they weren't like they weren't built to be just around defense either they're in that situation now because you lost maybe the best money back in the league in this game is I guess what I'm thinking yeah but they were sitting ducks in this I mean you talk about like teams you're playing and offenses you're playing like the Ravens walked into a great situation today. So it's like we could go and over inflate who they are because they've been as

inconsistent versus expectations on offense as anyone. Three first half touchdowns. And I know they got a couple extra possessions. So maybe that is the difference. But three firsts. Nine, like nine drives under 10 yards. And they looked like it. And there were massive turnovers. And, you know, DTRs, like, lost on the field out there. And, like, whipping. Like, they were having them throw these crazy deep passes. And then you got, like, who's helping them? You got Elijah Moore, like, doing this. this one play that I think is the worst play I've seen all season where he takes an end around and instead of realizing it's a loss,

like continues to figure eight backwards and takes a 20-yard loss. And it's like that's not how you help a fifth round rookie quarterback that found out minutes before the game he was going to start. Is it weird that so the Browns, they had a last drive, obviously, where it didn't mean anything. They picked up 53 yards. They had 113 yards going into that last drive. It's just me or we're seeing this every week with multiple teams.

There's just like a lot of offenses that are totally no-showing throughout the league. Maybe it's maybe it's just how I feel it rather than reality. I mean, you're feeling it a lot with your offense. But I would say in general, every week cover three of these, two or three of these early games and a late one's like how many halves then? We're like a veteran that you trust it has like 47 yards past. Or like, yeah, Team X has 98 yards heading into their final possession. It's just like, hmm, okay.

It's Woodshed, uh, Woodshed Sunday. Woodshed week. Woodshed week, boat race regals. you. Yeah. Bomb drop Sunday. Four. Part four.

It's the fourth week. All of that happened. They've been happening on a weekly basis, if you look. All of that happened. And, you know, yes, the Ravens have quietly had one of the best first quarters in the NFL, not just because they're three and one. Okay. But because they get this division win here, what are they in the, they won a couple

division games, haven't they right now? Because they beat the Bengals. So they're in first place. They're two and no in the division. Yep. The Bengals are a mess. The Browns will see. The Steelers are a mess.

It's been a nice, you know, that division looked nice going into the season. A beautiful start. Yes. I mean, other than the injuries, which obviously do the running back position and the wide receiver. Here's the thing. They're getting most of those guys back. Yes. Well, not the running back.

No, not J.K. Dobbins. And we'll see where Miles Garrett is at, Mark. He had a boot on after this game. He took a, he wrapped up Lamar on a play. And I was surprised they showed the replay more than once because I was like, oh, I think Miles Garrett's out for the year. And like, and he's walking around, but he has a foot in. apparently but I'm with you like I think that you the Ravens are still a team in

progress but the other three teams have like glowing red flags right now also also glowing no that's terrible the ginger band no David and Joku set his face on fire with a fire pit this weekend which is wild because I've done things like that in the past when you got that you got that we're not taking it out of the show Greg gonna panic trying to get our producers. I would not. I'm just reacting honestly in a moment. I never said we would.

Here's the thing. You turn that propane tank on and you're using the starter. The starter never works. So I'll tell you what I can probably do. It went to get the lighter thing. Yeah, the little handle thing. But meanwhile, the propane gas has been rumbling. Sure.

For, you know, Greg, in upwards of 60 seconds, perhaps. And then when it finally lights, it's like Oppenheimer. Well, he owned it. I love that he showed up to the stadium with a mask on over his face. And he ends up leading the team with six catches in 46 yards. So, you know, I like that. He showed up, Mark. He's, I mean, it was a gutsy performance, all things considered.

I've always liked that in Joku. I don't know why. So get well soon, son. All right, here we go. Son, what? Let us move on to London. Shall we go to London? Let's do it.

Let's get on the plane and go to London. Falcons on the move here. Algier, the running back, straight drop. That ball is going to be picked off. Dary, 20, 50, 45, 40, Darius along the left sideline. Oh, no. 10, 5. Touchdown, Jacksonville.

A pick six for Darius Williams. Mm. God save the king. Remix. Key change Is this the song? Remix I don't think we have the right

Is this the song? I didn't think so But I... It's British, E. Yes. No, it's not bad. Eric, is this got some... This is what I've been using

for our London stuff. Wait. But now we're getting there. Yes. We're just a bunch of dumb Americans. don't know the long version we don't claim to know you know what how about this england little radio edit on the national anthem and we'll see in a couple weeks and we'll talk about it personally frank frangy with the call darius williams with the pick six one of uh several bad throws from

desmond ritter uh whose struggles continued as the jaguars cruised to a 23-7 win in their adopted hometown secondary hometown of London, England. So that game is at Wembley Stadium. We'll be at the hot toddy in a couple weeks, and we can't wait. Calvin Ridley also had a touchdown in this game and his, I guess, quasi-revenge game against the Falcons.

And Greg, we'll start with the Jaguars here. Kind of a tough team to figure out this season. I'm not watching this game, and my takeaway is, wow, Jacksonville is they're a team that really take seriously in the AFC right now, but they took care of business here against a offense in Atlanta that just not doesn't have it together right now. No, it was a survive and advance game that started off really promising for the Jaguars.

And I like that about it. The first three drives, they were ahead 146 to 11 yards after the first three drives. And then you started to see the Jags offense that we've seen the rest of the year, which is really stuck in mud and Lauren's getting rid of the ball too quickly because they don't really trust the offensive line as average. of target is at the very bottom of the league, but he's been playing well. I thought they really made an effort to de-emphasize Calvin Ridley and to emphasize Christian Kirk and Evan Ingram.

20 targets for those two early and often, only two for Ridley. They got the touchdown on a busted coverage, and Ridley was wide open for that touchdown. They had almost no big plays other than that. And so I'm still a little concerned about their offense. But in terms of a survive in advance moment, I do think their defense has looked better than I expected this season overall. It's definitely a good run defense. And if you're a good run defense,

the Falcons don't have anything to do because they can't do anything. And even Bijan got off. I mean, Bishon, what did he go for? 137 yards from scrimmage. And even then, it's like the Falcons couldn't do any. A lot of that came too late. I mean, I closely watched the beginning of this game and started to lose hope with each drive. They have a nine-yard, three-and-out, the Falcons.

They have a one-yard three-and-out. They have a six-play drive that goes six yards. the terrible pick six. Ritter comes back from that. Like, who are you, doesn't, Ritter? Next play, another pick. And it's like, we don't need to focus on the ground game entirely if you're a defense. If this team is going to just completely implode while Jacksonville, because I like kind of,

I'm not that impressed with Jacksonville's offense this year compared to like what they were towards down the stretch last year. I do think that Lawrence is not the reason for that. But the Falcons doing this are not going to beat anyone. And, like, you know, I mean, early on in the season, watching what they could do on the ground, I kind of thought, like, the lack of, like, faith through Ritter in the air, you can get by, you can beat up some teams and do it in an old school way. And it's like, you can't hide them.

You can't hide them. It's worse than I ever imagined. We mentioned with Pittsburgh's offense, like trying to run a 1991, was it Pittsburgh? New England. New England's offense. Like, that's the thing. You can't really do it. You can't just say.

just give it to Bijan and give it to Algier and then defense gets stops you can't hide a quarterback and I think Arthur Smith is I think he knows it but he's doing that thing that head coaches do where

everyone else knows it and he probably knows it too but the words he's choosing to use with the media make you feel like he doesn't know it and even if he does know it it's not like a good look because he's letting people think that he doesn't know it let's listen to arthur smith on his thoughts on the offense and whether

he has the right players in place to succeed they're asking about the quarterback everybody's going to be frustrated after loss but when you have the right guys and the right mindset they don't understand like hey let's not let them get early momentum you know make the play on the sack don't let a bust of coverage you know got leak out uncovered you know those are things you look at in reality i mean i think if you've got the wrong guy guys, it's easy to splinter and ride the roller coaster. But we got the right guys in there. He sounds defeated to me in that situation, but you have Taylor Heineke.

Well, that's the thing. And this is the other thing he did that got to, because I have not been an Arthur Smith fan this year either. I just don't like the way this offense is being run. And at halftime, you know, he comes out and does, you know, talks to CBS or wherever the game was played. Who was a, were they on ESPN? No, ESPN Plus. ESPN Plus. and he makes a point

we're not even thinking about making a change and Greg, I saw your tweet and I agreed with it 100%. That was a perfect Taylor Heineke's spot. To go in there, see if he can get hot and go steal a game because Jacksonville was kind of asking to give it away at fell play. Right, and to Ritter's credit, he played better

for a minute coming out of halftime. They had the touchdown drive right out of halftime and then they drove down the field but then the inconsistencies popped up and it's like he doesn't want to hurt Ritter's confidence but Ritter's play is hurting Ritter's confidence. Ritter throwing up a moon ball to an open Mac Hollins that could have been a third interception. He really could have had two more. And then going over to the sideline and trying to

high five Mac Hollins for some reason. And Matt Collins like stands up in his face. It's like, camera, cut away. I wish I had seen the rest of that interaction because it's like the players know he's not playing confident. The one thing he did last year was avoid big mistakes. And this year it's all big mistakes, but with no playmaking to make up for it. Their defense has been better. Bijon has been as advertised. He was electric in this game, made a lot of great plays throughout, but it's like a running back's only going to do so much. Josh Allen for the Jaguars was massive in this. I mean, I feel like he's a player that sort of comes and goes, but he completely destroyed Atlanta's offense. And I don't know. I don't know what you do. What do you say

to your fan base, but especially to your own locker. When we're seeing this happen with a couple teams where it's like the quarterback decision-making process to get you to the point where this guy's starting for you creates a total fractured locker room. Falcons fans players seem to be frustrated and you clearly have a guy. We don't think Taylor Hineke's perfect, but he's a bit of an adventure. And when it gets going, like there's a lot to like. And it's like this, like I agree with Arthur Smith, the one thing, there are a lot of the right people here.

This is a pretty interesting roster, but the most important piece is failing you in live time. That's why I didn't love the quote because everyone knows there's a lot of. of good pieces there and it's like you're I know you're trying to hide from what the big situation here is but he's got to be careful because if he if he gets stays it's like in Vegas like you made a bad bet potentially here I think it's a bad bet with Ritter if you stay with this bad bet and you double down you're going to get cleaned out and guess what you're going to lose your job well he's just thinking you wouldn't get you wouldn't realize reality with Ritter and I know it's still only week four but there's so much

evidence here that this guy is not the guy or yeah he's just thinking when is the right time to do this. He didn't think it was half time hearing the way his voice sounded it actually made me think like oh maybe it would happen to like because who knows, Ritter is capable I think of playing better at some point than this. Maybe it's after

getting bench for Heineke for a little while. You are two and two in a bad division so I get it. It's still early but it's getting it's just everyone can see it. All right let's move. We got to mention at least a shout out to the toy story

broadcast, who made my son Walker as happy as I think I've ever seen him watching anything. He could not have loved it more. I think kids love watching video games in general. Like, they just like watching two different people play Madden. And so I think this was kind of like that, except it was like an actual game that was going on. And I know there were some little errors, like the first touchdown, they dropped it on the Toy Story broadcast or whatever, but the announcer said that he caught it.

But I was sort of blown away in the little that I watched it. And more importantly, he was like a kid on Christmas. And I was texting with a couple other parents that enjoyed it as well. So like, why not try it? It's fun. So I watched that really closely. It was not for adults. Well, no. So my thing is if I'm hearing the children are enjoying it, like, okay, case closed,

there were some technical difficulties, but that it was the trial run essentially with it. There was a moment that I thought it was interesting. They had like this claw that was basically dropping the football down. and spot in it. From Toy Story, The Claw, yeah. And they grabbed, like, at one point, they grabbed a player and, like, yanked him away. There were some hanky stuff going on.

I think there's a great drinking game attached to this because they mentioned Andy's room, like, four or five times in the first room. They kept, like, making it clear for people walking by. We're in Andy's room playing this game in his room, the kid from Toy Story. That was the stadium, yeah. Yeah.

And so, like, they, I think they said Andy's room. By the time I left to come here in the third, mid-third quarter, about 175 times. Well, yes, I kept seeing, I saw one tweet that was like, why are they explaining how to get first down to me like I'm a six-year-old? It's for six-year-olds. Stop watching it, adults.

Either don't. So is the game, by the way. What? Learn the game as well from the game. Yeah, I think that's for some people. Also, counterpoint. Kids have terrible taste. I mean, have you ever watched Blippy?

That guy's a terrorist. It's a strong counterpoint. Never heard of this. Have you ever watched, like, Mike, my son, Jack, when he's, he was little, we'd just watch garbage trucks, like, doing their rounds. Oh, we had that too. Like, for an hour.

Yeah. That's terrible programming. And so they're going to, kids are going to say, I like this, but it doesn't mean it's any good. I like Connor Orr wrote a hit piece for S.I. He did. I love where Connor wore his heads at right now as a writer and as a, as a journalist, because he picks and chooses his hot takes and they come in blue flame, blue flame. He came after Big Pixar.

And you got to be, yeah, it's commendable, Greg. You may not agree with him. I definitely don't. One of his worst takes. Like, who is it hurting? It's like, what is the downside to any of this? It's just like a second screen on an ESPN Plus game. Well, it was a bit of a tougher game to find.

It's on ESPN Plus that not every single person pays for. That's the whole point. But that's why I think some people were complaining like they have. But if you have ESPN Plus, you have that game. If you have. You can watch the regular game. game. Watch the game. If you have it, yeah. Like, not everyone's paying for that. But Toy Story

is not available unless you have that. It is a sick, cruel world when Blippy is a millionaire. I don't even know. I've never heard of Blippy. I've got to admit. I'm so happy to. Well, from another angle, creating insanely bizarre content for children that will get them obsessed and addicted as an adult is a

smart move. A twisted, twisted myth of a man. All right, let's by the way, the Jaguar stay in London. They'll be playing at the hot toddy against the bills next week. head to the big bell bottom now the 49ers up 21 to 16 look for a two score lead mcalfrey's already got three touchdowns they put him into a pistol behind purdy this guy he was right three or left they give it a mcalfrey off the left side one two three

four touchdowns CMC that vision again pop I'm telling you because they had a defender in the backfield and CMC puts his right foot in the ground and just pop to the edge. My goodness, Christian McCaffrey. I know they haven't won in a while, the Niners, the big one. But I am. Hot damn, I'm envious of that fan base because it feels like there's a lot of fun to root for this team. Who once again, like when we did the Thursday night recap mark with their Giants game, it's like they don't even really need to step on the accelerator to tend.

take care of business against a lot of these teams in the league, just like they did on Sunday, 35, 16 over the Cardinals, who did their best to hang around in this game. But ultimately, it really was no contest. Brock Purdy, 20 of 21, with a touchdown passing and a rushing TD. And yes, Christian McCaffrey, who you may have passed on in your fantasy draft, I think I did, maybe twice, had four touchdowns in this game and is really in peak form.

Mark, the Niners, they're in control right now. It just, it looks so easy. And I know that's sort of a staple of the Shanahan offense from like the quarterback angle that you've got these guys running wide open. They're perfectly put together on offense from a skill position angle. We know that. But you have players playing at the very best because I think to your point about the fantasy Christian McCaffrey thing is like, when he's there, he's available, he's great.

And he's there for five games. And then he's gone for, it's like, you know, you're going to get. He stayed healthy with them. They use them all over the place. It's the four touchdowns. It's 27 touches for 177 yards. He's scored in 13 straight games for them, which snapped a Jerry Rice

record. You've got Brandon I, you getting better and better and better every week. Like Debo Samuel, who is a little banged up? Superstar? Some people are saying, heading there. I think he has a chance. Well, I'd get on that train because I think the chance is occurring right now. I mean, his

148 yards off six catches are like, I mean, it's just like he can do everything. He's such an incredible receiver, so strong. And, like, also it's Brock Purdy making. I think we look at Brock Purdy. Sometimes you're like, well, he's accurate, but is he special? Does he have special arm talent? Like, he made some really special throws in this game.

Really accurate. And, like, I, my, he opened 13 for 13, which makes sense if you go 20 for 21. But that also snapped like a game into game consecutive completion streak that Steve Young said. It's like these old heroes are being bested in a more modern-day offensive type situation by this star-riddled offense. And it's like the Cardinals honestly, like made that four touchdowns and the fourth touchdown by McCaffrey mattered because the score looks not as close as it was for part of this. It was another performance where the Cardinals kind of cardinaled and they're well-coached and like you've got these guys wondering why are they still hanging around in this game. Michael Wilson, the rookie, I thought he looked great. third round out of Stanford.

Like, he's someone they have. Josh Dobbs for the fact that he's not the future there probably is like a top two or three backup for the next as many amount of years with the way he's played over the last couple of weeks. So they kind of gave him a test on defense a little bit. But the Niners' offense, like at every turn, keep breaking you. And it keeps happening with different people each time. And you've got a quarterback that's come out of nowhere half a season ago and looks incredible.

I mean, they only got to five third downs, the 49ers. That's just silly. It's easy. They had 30 first downs. And the Cardinals' offense, to your point, gave them everything they could handle. It's 21 to 16 going into the fourth. Part of the reason it's close is because these were long drives that the Cardinals are going on. Like, their average per play was pretty solid.

They could run the ball. Like, their offense is frisky, but that's why the 49ers have been the best team so far is one of their sides can dominate in a given week or in a given quarter. Any player on either side could dominate. It doesn't need to be the same side every time. Brock Purdy, I think, played poorly against the Giants. Definitely not well. Like, I would say that was a... You got away with some throws.

It was like a C game, and they walked away with it. But then he couldn't come out and play an A game, and the offense walks away with it. Yeah, and I think this tells the story, and we talked about, I think we used the analogy to swingers, about the bear that has these claws in the teeth, and he doesn't always know one to use him or he doesn't need to use him. but then when they decide the bear decides to use the claws bad things happen to the bunny once the and credit to the cardinals 11 plays 99 yards Josh jobs leads them and all of a sudden it's 21 16 as we said and the niders don't panic they get the ball back they go eight for 75 boom touchdown 28 16 then they force a punt then they go back down the field 14 for 77 boom and it's 35 16 good night nurse so it's like if you if you just if you decide to bow up and challenge them good for you and it shows that you're a team with a backbone but when they decide to get serious against these middle tier teams and below it just no contest and that's one of the signs of a truly great team and i cannot wait to see them against another

in my opinion great team cowboys no i'm with you because it's like to your point of like yeah they were challenged score wise at one point in this but their drive chart and these are long drives the Niners. Touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, a one-play end-of-half situation. They're only punt, then touchdown, touchdown, game over. That does not happen that often. That is a not a lot of drives. Essentially six drives, and you scored touchdowns on five of them.

That is outrageous. And oh, by the way, like Debo Samuel barely did anything because he was playing hurt. It's like you get a one-catch kiddle game and you still put up five touchdowns in six drives. Easy, easy, easy. Let's take a break and then finish it out. What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks.

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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. Hey, everyone, Scott Hanson here, and this is NFL Plus, where you can catch every play all in one place. You get access to live, local, and primetime games on your mobile phone, and tablet that's every in-market game with you on the go i never knew that was a thing oh yeah

and here's my favorite part you can stream nfl red zone live every sunday what are you waiting for right now right now go to plus dot nfl.com sign up today all right right we're back let's head across the sidewalk where the charges did battle with the raiders and now a first in goal O'Connell on a fourth in ten completes it what a game rolling to his right throwing to his right intercept oh Asante Samuel intercepts and it slides down DJ he might have been able to take that to the house 2 30 and change but we'll take the interception take the interception

but he could have kept going absolutely It's a bit of an unusual tactic to be a cornerback who says, nah, I'm good on the 100-yard pick six, even though it actually would have been helpful to the team. Not even strategically. I think he thought the game, I think he thought there was like 30 seconds left, but it just felt like that.

It was 2.30 with the other team having timeout. You know who's going to be really annoyed with himself tonight? Asante Samuel, because that's what you live for. But you know what? He still did make the key play in the game, and that was the great Matt Money Smith on the call, and some other guy chimed in unnecessarily as the Chargers get three touchdowns from Justin Herbert. And yes, that huge interception and a beautiful Herbert deep ball to ice this thing.

Because they did need to hit a third and long after the Samuel step out to actually run out the clock. And they did beating the Raiders 2417. A bizarre game in which, you know, only the Chargers like Khalil Mack had six sacks in this. game in like the end of the third quarter one sack away from Derek Thomas and they still almost lost the game and that's what the Chargers do and yet here we are Greg what what I can't do it live anywhere I don't want to hear it on that missing Mike Williams Austin Echler Derwin James am I missing somebody these are Joey Bosa Joey Bosa I am missing somebody I don't care

And I know Aidan O'Connell is playing in this game, not Jimmy Garoppolo, but a good win for the Chargers who are finding away two weeks in a row after finding a way to give it away in their first two weeks. Yeah, take care of business game that you make interesting, despite having a 24 to 7 halftime lead because you are the Chargers. But I got to give Staley credit, I guess, for just sticking to his guns with the fourth down decision. late in the game, they decide to go for it on fourth and one.

I think it was on their own 34, Dan, was it? With 3.30 to go. And they're up by a touchdown. And it's not like last week where they're going against Kirk Cousins. They're going against Aidan O'Connell. And a first down doesn't quite win the game, but it gets you pretty close to it. And they go for fourth down and one again on their own 34. And they set up Aiden O'Connell to do it.

Maybe it's staley is playing chess. Definitely not. He's not playing chess. He's letting his defense, which has gotten all this grief, be the heroes every week. But here's the thing, like, this is the QB sneak. Justin Herbert threw an interception in this game. And he went to make a tackle, and please don't do this star quarterbacks. Just get out of the way.

And he gets, I think, and we'll learn more about it. But I think he gets his, it's pretty gnarly. He gets his finger, I believe. Eric Roberts, our producer, knows all about these gnarly finger injuries. caught in the face mask or the earhole or something. And it does damage to his non-throwing hand, maybe his middle finger or his ring finger. So to me, it was a crazy play call.

If you're going to go for it there and you don't have Austin Echler and your franchise quarterback has a splint and all sorts of like gauze around one of his fingers and he's at a shotgun to the point where you're kneeling at the end of the game at a shotgun, like I don't know if I'm running a QB sneak there. If I don't have something in my bag,

bag that doesn't involve Justin Herbert with a gnarly mangled finger trying to get a yard. I'm not calling that play, but this is the beauty of the Brandon Stanley experience. The madness of it all. Yeah, if you look back last year, I mean, there were real questions if Herbert should have been in the game after he banged up his ribs and all that business. It's like they kept him in that situation too. Let's hear from Brandon Staley who said Herbert was not coming out of this game. Yeah, I mean, he wasn't coming out.

It was one of those things where he was going back in and he has that look. I'm going back in, I'm good. And, you know, again, just to show that toughness to the team, we really talked about that going into this game, being a division game, and he surely showed it. And when your franchise quarterback, you know, embodies all that, you know, everyone else jumps along. He said after the game, Herbert, that it was just a, it was but a flesh wound.

Little ref, little, uh, little ref. And then they were like, was it actually just a fleshwin? He was like, no, that was just using the quote. I mean, it, because it was it? Like, what is it? It looked like it was like, like, maybe severely, jammed or we don't know at this point but like he had the splint on the finger initially like with what was like a mummy's hand and wrapped towels and then he came out like

the next drive with the splint hanging around like a glove and that's like a way too big glove they're like hey donald parham six foot seven tight end can we borrow your glove like he had this strange glove that way too much end on it meanwhile like yeah the raiders starting a don't connell at least they made the right decision there i would have been killing them if they had started Brian Hoyer. Did we see anything out of Mr. O'Connell? No, he looked very much like a young quarterback and Josh McDaniels. I mean,

he had a first and goal before the Samuel interception and he forces a ball that it's just a terrible pass where he didn't read the defense the way he needed to in a huge spot in the game. He's not protecting the football. So I, you know, I

would actually like to watch, kind of watch it again on game pass just to see O'Connell's performance again. But I didn't come out of it thinking, and maybe this is what Josh McDaniels wants, to see enough where he could roll with this kid and start developing someone other than Garapolo, but

ultimately he made too many mistakes for them to win a game on the road. This is the second week in a row, and I'm searching and trying to figure out beyond his coordinator pedigree under Bill Belichick with the Patriots, what makes Josh McDaniels special versus the opposite of special.

And what we saw last week, crazy decision. This time around, he does not challenge what would have been absolutely called a touchdown. And it's like you lost this game by a touchdown with the Devante Adams thing. And like, why not? Well, they scored. They scored on that drive. I know they did.

I know they did. I know they did. So, but here's the thing. Like, what is the process in that situation? Like, you have to go to the number one best player on your team and say, you know you scored? I'll challenge it. Why isn't someone up in the booth saying absolutely challenge us?

Every one of us watching it knew was a touchdown. And he doesn't take the time to make the correct. decision. They scored, but it's like another example of like, what are we doing here? And we also found out this weekend that Chandler Jones is no longer with the Raiders, which was...

I did not see that. I saw he got arrested. Yeah, like this is all a sad story, and we don't know what it's going to mean for the rest of his career, but yeah, he was arrested after violating a domestic violence, temporary protective

order, and then later on Friday night, a little bit of a news dump, they cut them and just everything that you've seen through social media and stuff. If you've ever had someone around you that's suffered like a mental breakdown, which I don't know. It's consistent with that sort of behavior, and it's just, it's tough to see. But his career is going to be changed and they're going to go after his money now so they can say that they're all praying for him, which is what they said in their statement. But it's, you know, lawyers are getting involved now and they're going to try to take. away his money and and it's a business. Yeah, and that's sometimes it's an ugly business and yeah, I want to give a little credit

before we move on to the Raiders defense, uh, because you held Justin Herbert to 167 yards passing. He hit on the big throw, uh, 20 yard throw to ice the game. But before that, the charges had less than 100 yards of total offense, uh, in the final two quarters of that game, which allowed the Raiders to get back into it and if not for the interception. I think this was one of those games that was going to overtime. And then who knows, knows what happens. And yet it did not. It's four straight, insane Chargers game. It's like, I don't know, they just played a script so much.

Like all four of their games this season have been totally bonkers. 44 straight. I mean, they're entertaining as long as you're not a Chargers fan. Because the anxiety of it all is off the charts. All right, the Saints, they were supposed to play without Derek Carr on Sunday. Dark Car plays with a jacked up shoulder and it did not go well for the QB. or his team. Third down and goal from the five, drop play, draw play, dropping Baker Mayfield,

looking to his left, now back to his right, looking over the middle. Look at all that time. Where's the pass rush? It's a diving catch right at the goal line. It's going to be a touchdown Tampa Bay. What a play, like. And Devin Topkins has the catch right at the goal line. Love it.

Jane Dagger off with the call WFUS. Baker's back, baby. Oh, three touchdown passes for the bucks. And despite, yes, a surprise return for Derek Carr, the Saints' offense did nothing in Alvin Camaro's debut. 26.9. The Bucks win on the road. Mark, Baker was back in this one.

Good Baker, 25 of 32, 246. I mean, how does car, and we know Carr is a tough dude, but you got to, you got to know when not to play. Like, did he look like a guy with a sprained AC? joint? Like, how do you play with that and be effective? That's surprising. Give him, like, a lot of credit for going out there, and it surprised me that he was

just like you, and, like, the whole offense looked completely unhinged. I mean, he did look affected. It's not the same way that I watched Burrow and feel that I'm seeing the physical effect. It wasn't like he was wincing in pain left and right, but to your

point, because we talked about this before, one of the weirdest stats in this game is, like, Alvin Kamara had 13 catches. for 33 yards. They had nothing going on through the air. Hit me it with another rosy. What, what, what? Wait, say that sad again.

What did you have? 13 catches for 33 yards. That's not. No, you got, this is a professional podcast. You've got to get the stats right, Mark. That's exactly. What do you actually have? 133?

No. Like that is, that's exactly what happened. And they, like, Chris Alave. PPR demon. He had one cat. Chris Alave had one catch for four yards. It was, it was a terrible performance. I give a lot of the credit, though, to the Buck's defense.

Guys like Vita Vaya with two sacks today, Shaq Barrett shutting down the run. Antoine Winfield had a really nice third down breakup. They kept ending drives. Card 50 yards at half. Like we keep seeing this every week. They're saying. And you get Baker Mayfield playing,

I was trying to think, like, what game has he played? He looked better to me. And I could think of maybe the playoff win over the Steelers with Cleave on a couple of his early performances, like in 2018 when he was like, no one knew. How about that Rams game last? There's that. That was like, so he'll do this.

When he's good, he's like seeing the field really well. And like that play right there. It's like he could have forced the throw earlier. He had a lot of time to throw in the replay that we came in with and made a really spot on throw. And I thought that he used today and he's been doing this week after week, two big down, big third down con diversions with his legs. And then he had another one where he had a run that basically set up a field goal that put them up 17 to 6 and kind of separated this game. And that's when it started to end for them. And I just think like, you know, Mike Evans left.

before the third quarter with a hamstring injury. You take out the one weapon that he's really been in chemistry with and it didn't really seem to change much. He just found new guys and I don't know if this is a Baker you get. They're alone atop the NFC South at 3 and 1.

I don't know if I can take them for real but they outclass the Saints. It's a great sign. When I woke up this morning, I was feeling pretty dangerous. It's a great sign that Baker had his come down to Earth game on Monday night and then it didn't spiral. And then Baker disappeared for like right and even wasn't wasn't a crazy bad right it was just was yeah it wasn't

brutal by any stretch and let's listen we've seen enough that that's coming there will be times where he does have uh funks but maybe just maybe he's in the right division with the right schedule where there's going to be more good than bad this season well i i thought all off season that the saints were trying to genetically engineer the roster to win this division like nine and eight 10 and seven like have a defense that can you know be special enough against these offenses. But maybe, but that's what I mean. The bucks are kind of taking that. And that's why I said at the beginning of the show, I'm always wary of the defense first teams, because Saints fans were convinced this defense was special. And in 2023, in the end, like, your defense probably isn't that special.

Like, it's solid. It's going to be solid, but it's not going to be special enough. It's going to come down to your offense. And their offense with Derek Carr looks a lot like their offense with Andy Don. In fact, it's worse in a lot of ways. because of their offensive line. And I know Carr's injury was a big factor here. He had 3.4 yards per attempt. They said it wasn't after the game, but probably was.

But their offensive line has been a mess all four weeks. And the passing game's been disjointed all four weeks, like before Carr's injury too. So I don't think you can just put it only on the car injury. All right. Let's head to a pair of loser goes home matches, starting with a showdown between the Vikings and Panthers in Charlotte. Two receivers left.

Adam Thieling, the outside receiver, now joined by another, so three left and one to the right, Bryce Young, facing a blitzing, Harrison Smith, and the ball came out, got him, come on. And it's picked up by D.J. Wanham. It is loose. Inside the 10 touchdown. DJ Wanham's first national football league touchdown has tied the game at 13. best in the business Paul Allen KFAN yeah you know

it's a bit of a cliche in the business sometimes national football league just hits harder than NFL you're right Harrison Smith had three sacks including that sack that's set up the scoop and score by DJ Wanam and the Vikings

overcome a slow start to beat the Panthers 2113 their first win of the season the Panthers oh and four and my goodness Mark Sessler, you had previously on the Thursday show locked up the Saints to take care of Baker. Right for about 12 minutes. Very wise. You pivot out to the Vikings.

I pivot out to the Vikings. The West Brothers pivot in to the Vikings and we all go home happy. That's the big story of this game. That's right. Your lock would have been off. I had a double run. I had a double win. I had a double win.

Yeah. I mean, when you can lock up an 0 and 3 team on the road, you've got to do it. and that's what we did. And it looked really shaky. I locked up two 0 and three teams in a way and got two dubs out of it. That's how history will remember me. Yeah.

It was shaky, though. I was really concerned about, for all of us early on, like you got this version of Kirk Cousins and there have been a lot of turnovers. No, Kirk. That whole offense. Right out of the gate on the first drive,

third in goal, bad pass. No. Sam Franklin jumps the route, goes 99 yards for a pick six. No. Cousins had another bad pick later that set up a big long field goal before half for the Panthers. So it was like, when is this Viking's offense?

The reason I picked them was it was like, even in these losses, they've been productive. And Justin Jefferson had a big game today, but it took them a while to get out of it. But the Harrison Smith thing, and I'm glad that he was like on that replay, because Harrison Smith showed me a lot about Bryce Young, who I think is struggling to see the field. He's behind a bad offensive line. But in two of his three sacks, he came out of nowhere with a certain type of speed. that I think at the college level, Bryce Young escapes and makes a play.

Not here. Not here. And it's just like we've talked about two other rookie quarterbacks that are vying for offensive rookie of the year. And I don't love what's around Bryce Young right now. He'll make a play here and there. But it's just like, we're four weeks in

and I'm not really seeing it. I'm just not really seeing it. Like their offense, they got a good performance by a defense that basically set up 10 points for them. And that's a lot for like a defensive It's pretty banged up. And Bryce Young and the offense could do nothing with it.

There was a really big chance in this game with $7.20 to go in the fourth quarter. They're down 21 to 13, the Panthers. And Bryce Young had a chance to drive them and make a couple of plays here and there. But he, and by the way, he was 16 for 16 in the second half. And when that stat popped up, I was like, wait, what? It doesn't look like it to me at all. It just didn't look like it to me at all. Why?

Because there's just a lot of checkdowns? Yeah, it's just not big, big throws. Because they also went punt, catastrophic fumble, three and out negative nine, and then punt. They had 1201 yards after that. But Harrison Ford, Harrison Ford, Harrison Smith was a huge reason for that. In the past rush of the Vikings in general, which under Brian Flores, I know they were the worst defense in the league last year. They certainly just responding to his teaching and who he is. And they made life really tough for Bryce Young.

I'm going to be a little concerned about the journey of the rookie season at this point. And I think, Greg, you made the point earlier, like, Yes, progress for the defense, but again, the opponent really helps make defenses look better as well. And Carolina just doesn't seem like it's happening right now. Frank Reich had kind of a sad postgame press conference where he said, you know, I know we're the team with the first round, first overall pick, but we're not, we don't view ourselves as this like big project. We want to have results now.

And yet they're 0 and 4. And obviously they're deep into a rebuild now. Well, he's sick of taking else. I mean. There's been a lot. He lost a bunch of straight games before getting fired in Indianapolis and now four straight here. And I think you heard on the Paul Allen call, that was the sound of an announcer who's also a big Vikings fan who wants his team to be relevant, feeling like, oh, that is a season saving play, maybe, by Wanham. Because our offense isn't getting anything done.

Their defense scored to touch on. Now our defense answered, and it would have been lights out for the Vikings at O and 4. and who knows what happens from here, but at least he got a little life. I wouldn't. All right, let's head to the other loser goes home match. 3128 Denver, third and 13 bears from Chicago 47, 38 seconds to go, no timeouts.

Three to the left, single receiver right. Fields tries to draw the Broncos off sides. They bring the house. Fields in the pocket, throws a ball that is incomplete. Intercepted. Intercepting, Karene Jackson. And this one is going to be the Broncos first winner. of the year. Denver only has two interceptions in four games. Karim has both of them, but this one

is huge because it is sealed the Broncos first victory of the year. That's Dave Logan on the call for K-O-A. Justin Fields started out incredibly on Sunday with one of the best first halves you'll see really ever in dominating getting the bears out to a huge lead over the Broncos. But to Denver's credit. They came roaring back in the second half outscoring Chicago, 24 to 7, and they steal it. 3128 at a soldier field that sounded like a tomb there. Well, they were frothily booing the hell out of Matt Iber flus for some fourth down decisions, and then certainly as the game ended, the shot of fields just staring blankly on the bench

while the booze were just cascading down was tough to take because it was it was such a bad luck game for him he played so well it wasn't even a perfect first half it was a perfect three quarters at the end of three quarters he was 23 for 24 for 285 yards in four touchdowns that one in completion was a Hail Mary attempt and and I know and I know people say well is the Broncos the Broncos are disasters, and I get it, but there were some absolute dimes in this game by him against the blitz, under pressure. There was him going through reeds and getting the ball out on time. He really was really impressive, and then the bear's defense shows up.

And I put this a little more on Eber flus in the defense. It's 28 to 7 at that point. They gave up a long touchdown drive. The bears finally don't have a good drive. They go three and out, but, you know, it happens. they give up another long touchdown drive. Then Fields has it. You want to settle the game down.

And this is where your heart started to break for him. His next two possessions were he holds on to the ball too long, kind of a classic Fields thing. Jonathan Cooper, his friend who he was going to exchange jerseys with after the game. I think they were roommates. Sack fumble, they return it 35 yards to tie. Cooper returns it as well. Cooper returns it.

Yikes. And then it's like, okay, man, everything's on you right now. he goes you know can you answer it you go on this long drive you get all the way down the field in scoring position to take the lead in uberflus instead of kicking the field goal to take the lead would have been i think about a 40 yard or pretty short 42 decides to go for it on fourth down oh it's not fields who had a great drive he hands it off they get stuffed broncos tack on a field goal and then on the final drive for fields it's that interception where coles Comette said after the game, it was a miscommunication where they were thinking one guy was going to run the route. And it was just like, man, you feel for this dude. After such a great start to have a total disaster of an ending. And credit the Broncos and Sean Payton. They're down 287 late in the third quarter.

And they are the laughing stock of the league after 70 to 20 last week. So there's obviously some fight in that on that roster to be able to do what they did here, Greg. And I don't know, Russell Wilson. Did he ball out here late in this game? How did they manage to pull off a very unlikely comeback? He played well making short throws, and Jaliel McLaughlin is a player. I don't know what his size is, but he can move. Like he had seven rushes for 72 yards.

I think they're afraid of using him too much because he's so small and three catches for 32 yards. There was a lot of run after the catch. Like not many big plays. Mims had his weekly big play. But yeah, their offense has been pretty efficient in general, nothing that blows your socks. The box score is stellar. I mean, it looks good. Just look at his counting numbers this year.

He's having a good year. It's not exactly like he's not old Russ, but he's, like we said on Thursday, not the problem. If they had a good defense, their offense is playing well enough to win. They lost Javante Williams to a hip injury in this game pretty early. That's partly why McLaughlin ended up playing so much. But the way it ended, it just did still feel like Barrett's were the story because you had Eber Flues answering questions about Chase Claypool, who was a healthy scratch. And he was saying...

Take a walk, Claypool. He was saying that it was Claypool's decision to stay home. He didn't show up for the game. But then the team released the statement that was countered to what Iberflu said that they actually told them to stay home. And my read of the situation is they're trying to trade him and they're trying to not make him look like a bad guy. But it's like too late.

Too many bear statements this year that go against what... It's a weekly drama. and he's the second player to publicly critique the coaching. And I guess my thing is you've got this young general manager that is here to rebuild the team. It's obviously just looking, not going well right now. He picked Iber flus, but in any other environment, I wouldn't be surprised if Iber flus was dismissed like tomorrow.

Like, this has gone about as poorly as possible. I don't know who you'd replace him with. And I think he was a healthy scratch because he criticized the option. But I don't mean the Claypool thing. It's like the fourth down decision today. But overall, the Iberflus experience. That's what I said last week, has been terrible. Greg had pointed out, well, they also just had a part ways with their D.C.

So who is even the guy that goes into that spot? And you kind of need that. It's not great. None of it's great. All right. Okay. One more game. Sunday night football.

McKinnon is the running back to the right of Mahomes on third down and eight. Now they flare him out. They're going to throw it here. Mahalmstops up. He's at the 10. Angling at the five. Mahomes goes down at the two, sliding on his hip. McKinnon style like Super Bowl 57 as Mahomes goes down at the two and should affect in

the game gaining nine yards on third down and eight the call from Mitch Holtus chief's radio I'm going to be professional here or do my best because that should not have ever happened okay because minutes earlier third and 20 a generous holding call on sauce gardener kept a chief's drive alive that ended with the Holmes's slide there for the first down that allowed the chiefs to run out the rest of the clock and edge the New York Jets 2320 at the meta lands in front of Taylor Swift and the world the chiefs jumped out to a 17-0-0 lead after the first quarter. The Jets came roaring back behind, surprisingly sound play from Zach Wilson.

But the Jets' offense petered out in the second half after an opening touchdown. And the Chiefs made the big plays down the struts. And yes, got some big calls as well. Yeah, that call was unfortunate because he wanted to see Zach Wilson, who had played an up and down game, but there were definitely ups. There were more ups than we've seen out of him in a long time. you wanted to see him down six, get that chance in a big spot. Their defense had been holding the fort so well after it was 17-0.

But after they do make that penalty, it's just like, how many times am I going to see Patrick Mahomes win a game with his legs? They showed, I think he had rushed for 11 first downs before those last two. That was before he ran for the third and 23, 25-yard play. And that's the one that's going to stick with me a little bit because it reminded you so much of the Super Bowl. And he ends up sliding down on that play where there was also a penalty by the Jets to pick up 25 yards. And it's just like if he doesn't kill you one way, he's going to kill you another, even on a night where he made some big mistakes.

They referenced the Super Bowl. And it's like I go back to the James Bradbury defensive holding call that was so pivotal in that game last February. And Mahomes on his feet and just thought the Jets defense, this is kind of like everything you would have hoped for from the Jets for five, six of the way. when you lost Aaron Rogers, that Zach Wilson would start to become this guy. And, like, there was one hopeful thing I thought at the end of this, that all his teammates were coming up to him, and they recognized the ever put it in.

That fumble, that was like the one little Zach Wilson-esque thing that took away from a really superb night. And what could have just been, like, these games come down to these little moments. And this should have had a... It just felt like it should have been a completely different story. But you are dealing with the Chiefs, who, in that final quarter, ate up,

seven minutes and 23 seconds on a field goal drive. And then seven minutes and 24 seconds to end the game on that final flag ridden march. And it's like, that's what they do. That's what they do in these games. And it's like they made, they made Mahomes uncomfortable early in this game. He threw one of his worst interceptions and like Travis Kelsey vanished for 33 minutes. It was all there until that holding call. So at the end of the game in the final seconds after the Mahomes slide, Robert Sala gets

flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct and then they run the rest of the clock and I kind of wish we can hear his press conference right now because I understand why he's so hot. This has been an extremely, extremely heartbreaking season for everyone associated with the Jets with everything that happened with Rogers, even though Aaron Rogers is in the building and he's telling Melissa Stark he plans to be back this season, but you're one and three and one and three is what it is and you're in a lot of trouble right now with some more tough games coming up on your schedule after Denver next week. But the reason he's so fired up and so upset, first of all, yes, was there contact on

that play, the third and 20 was sauce? Yeah, there was some contact, but it was both ways. It is definitely not a, does not to me rise to the level of taking the flag out and make a game changing. Oh, by the way, the result of that play was an interception by Patrick Mahomes. So not only do you wave off a third and 20 and turn into a first down, you wave off Patrick Holmes is third interception that sets up the Jets with the ball with I guess what about three minutes to play down three on that he threw the flag so late it almost was like he saw it he wasn't maybe going to call it then there's an interception and he's like well I guess I better call it there wasn't and maybe that is listen wow which it which actually I like my job I'm not going to I'm not going to sit here and say that the Jets got boomed because Patrick McGa Holmes is Patrick Wago Holmes and the refs have to watch out from a homes although a lot of jets fans feel that way I don't mean any conspiracy theory. I mean to say that that impacted the interception, which it did on some level, but should they have called it?

I don't know. But yeah, the reason why Saul's probably going to get fined in his postgame presser on top of what happened to the end is because he knows what it took for this team to be down 17-0, to fight back the way they did, to be kind of kicked and spit on after everything that's gone down and feel like you have a chance to save your season. And it felt like it got ripped out of their hands. Now, I'll say this, as terrible as that ending was, as anticlimactic, and we know what Zach Wilson is and what he's not. The chances that he goes down the field and wins that game, very slim. However, it would have been fun to see what would have happened. And that's what you kind of, you lose in this game.

But the Jets had, when the game got to 2020, after they get the touchdown in the two-point conversion, on a great drive by Wilson where he made some big throws and then a great scramble on the two-point conversion, they had the ball twice. once near midfield after I believe a Mahomes pick and did nothing with it and then again after a long Breece Hall run set them up

in Chief's territory 2020 they then go one two three and punt and that was really it for their opportunities to win this game so it was there for them beyond what you might kind of take out of this game and they just weren't ready to step up and grab it and that's frustrating as well there are these little moments like the Breece Hall run

which to me looked like this is going to be a touchdown run and changed this thing and there was a great tackle by Brian Cook A plus tackle. I mean, this is the kind of game

where if the Jets were at a different point in their season and had a better record, you could be like, this is positive. We can take a lot away from it. But it's like,

what else needs to happen to this organization in this team this season? Like, it was a backbreaking kind of loss that like, I wish I could see Zach Wilson in a final drive because the way he threw the ball

to like Alan Lazzar tonight and others, like some of his throws, we just haven't seen that from Zach Wilson on a consistent basis. He played his best game, and maybe it would have been a different story. It was good pass protection, I thought, from the Jets. And maybe that's why they were so tempted to go so pass heavy. But the better running team won the ball.

When you were talking about Pajako, I'm thinking the Chiefs don't win this game without Pajako. Not just the long touchdown, but the way he was breaking tackles, how he can grind down defenses late and clock. Like, the Chiefs haven't always had that. and they were absolutely the, like, tougher, better running team. And when they had the ball, the Jets, those two times to potentially go ahead when the defense is just flying at that point, they were getting stop after stop after stop at homes.

They went really passive. It was basically past every single down, maybe one Dalvin Cook run in there for a couple yards. And that's a lot to put on Zach Wilson. To me, it's like they need to have a running game and a defense. Tonight they had a defense was good enough. And you got and improved Zach Wilson. I think he's slowly getting better that gives you a little. The offensive line has been a lot better.

Right. Last week it was better. The pass protection I thought was excellent for much of this game, which, you know, the quarterback playing well when the past protection better. There's a correlation there. My last thoughts on this game that, again, extremely frustrating because you find a way to steal this game and your season just feels totally different. And you got Denver coming up and all of the.

sudden maybe you're like hmm okay we maybe we can hang around and then the rogers talk and it still feels something like there's something here one and three feels totally different but i'm just like as a jets fan i'm i talked about it all week i felt really ominous vibes about this game and i thought it was going to be an utter humiliation for the fan base and i felt really bad i told my brother not to go to the game and it was 17 nothing he did go to the game this is 17 nothing in the first quarter very quickly um and the fact that they fought back made it a game, had a lot of energy in that building. It's a small

victory for me, but just the fact that they were not horrifically embarrassed in prime time and it wasn't just this Taylor Swift and the Jets are fun suck. Isn't that funny? I'll take a little bit of a W there, but that's the only one I can take. I hate how the game ended and that's it. I can't say much more.

The one thing I'd say... I don't need to say much more. That's it. One little ray of hope is that this is like a two-year journey with Aaron Rogers. And in this whole coming back the season, we'll see. But it's like It's important that this team stays together and doesn't completely sail away and that the coaching staff shows who they can be. And this game result, frustratingness can be, but it's kind of thing by like Thursday or Friday, you can take some positives from it. There is a lot of, there's a long way to go.

And like, I see a team that is not given up on their coach. I agree. Well, we'll see what happens. A lot of football left. A lot of season left. Good stuff today. Sunday. Thank you to Eric and Randy behind the glass. Thank you to you, the listener. Monday, we'll have our NFL plus game of the week and another podcast tomorrow night, Monday night football and news. Catch up till then. He'd the call. 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.

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