NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 2023 Week 7 Recap

Episode Date: October 23, 2023

In a room full of heroes - Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, and Marc Sessler recap Week 7 of the 2023 NFL season. The heroes start by discussing the Lions getting blown out by the Ravens (01:59), the Browns coming from behind against the Colts (12:43), and the Patriots upsetting the Bills (23:17). The heroes finish the show by running through Chargers at Chiefs (34:41), Falcons at Buccaneers (46:45), Commanders at Giants (54:37), Steelers at Rams (01:01:56), Packers at Broncos (01:13:45), Cardinals at Seahawks (01:20:57), Raiders at Bears (01:26:13) and wrap things up with Dolphins at Eagles (01:35:55).  Note: time codes approximate. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the NFL podcast, rated 55.5 by PFFS. Tao from the Chris Wessling podcast studio. It's Around the NFL. I am Dan Hansis. Here are heroes. Greg Rosenthal, Mark Sessler, week seven. And you know, we've been doing this for a long time.

So there are times where we could be. cynical old bastards and complain about the games and the week that was never this is not one of those weeks fun week this was a fun fun week of football and just goes to show you when you looked at the slate heading into sunday there's a little meh uh and yet we got a bunch of corkers on sunday a lot of games going down to the wire greggie and uh ahead of a hopefully when we close the show out another scorcher between the dolphins and eagles and i probably just jinxed that but So far, so great. Never a jinx.

It was alive in the newsroom today. It was alive in the Chris Wesleying podcast studio before we tape with some hot button media talk that we'll have to save for the offseason media legacy podcast. We definitely trend in our pre-show conversations to things that couldn't be put out there in the public space, which is fine. I don't agree with Jason Zumwalt's concept that we grade at 55% from PFF. That's basically like the most of the New York Giants offensive line. That's not good. That's troubling. That's a tough one.

Are we that leaky? That's a bad number. But the thing is, we have, what, about 11 weeks to figure it out or whatever. All right. So how do we want to do this today? I think what we should do is even though the benchmark or kind of the hallmarker this week is all these great games that went down to the wire, let's start with one that was not close, one that was decided by the end of the first quarter. because what it potentially means in our league to Baltimore.

Lamar to throw on second and goal, half time slings it back at the end zone. Touchdown Ravens. Mark Andrews in the back of the end zone and the Ravens are back on the scoreboard. His old reliable throws it out there for him and lets him go get it. One of the most sure-handed tight ends that I have. ever seen. It looked like it's a party and Detroit wasn't invited. It was one of the most surprising blowouts of the 2023 season. The Ravens scored four touchdowns before the Lions even had a first down. It was a stunning stomping by the home team over a fellow division leader. 386 in favor

of the Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium. Lamar Jackson threw for 357 and three touchdowns ran for another nearly perfect passer rating. Gregi, the Ravens, you know, they're one of your eight or so favorite teams. And so you must be over the moon right now unless it clashes with the lions, which I also believe is in your top eight

if this was a MySpace situation. Take us through where you're at after watching this game. I told you guys this game was coming that this Ravens team was a Super Bowl contender all week, that they've got the bones of a team that can be great. Not saying they've shown it all.

You did say that. I agree. The underlying elements were all there today. This was a crazy game for them to have 16 first downs before the lions had any. But have 325 yards to when the Lions had 13. At that point, I think the Lions had only run like 13 plays or something. So you can't repeat this sort of performance. But seeing Lamar Jackson back there with a ton of time,

his offensive line winning big time against this Detroit defensive line. And then when they did get some pressure on him, him making magic like he does was really outstanding to see because O'Dell Beckham was getting open. I know he only ended up with five or 49, but he looked like he had a little more juice. John Harbaugh said to the broadcasters during the week that he looked more like himself. I thought that was good. Like Zay Flowers opened down the field. Andrews looked as healthy and with as much juice as he's had all season. And you just see an offense that to me has a really high ceiling paired with, oh, by the way, a defense who's been.

really injured and yet ranks in the top four in basically every DVOA category and it all came together today. I think it's easy to forget that this is a new offense, that it's a completely different approach under Todd Munkin and that you wanted to arrive right away. And they've been a frustrating watch on that side of the ball. But like today, they hadn't crossed 237 yards passing all year and it looked like it. Today, an explosion. I think it's super encouraging because that came against a super quality team that's really well coached on both sides of the ball. And I would also give credit to Mike McDonald,

who you mentioned on Thursday's show that, you know, Harbaugh went out and got him as his defensive coordinator, post-Wing Martindale, and a lot of this was what they did to Detroit's offense, too. Absolutely. I don't know if there's any defense in the league that is better at disguising their looks before the snap and then getting free rushers

to quarterbacks and then be their confused, you know, and holding the ball or them just not knowing which guy is going to come free because it's not like other than clowny, anyone on the front has really been playing that well this year in their one-on-one matchups, but they really cause havoc.

And that's a recipe for Jared Goff to struggle. And I don't think he had like a disastrous game. It was just 28-0 once four drives were over and they called enough really good defensive place to scramble a good offensive coordinator and a good coach and Goff and Ben Johnson. Yeah, this is what you were saying kind of heading into this week that you saw them as a absolute Super Bowl contender.

The reason I push back against it is because I, this doesn't totally stun me in the sense that you know when everything's clicking with this team that they can be special, but they've also blown two games horrendously. We were at London last week. They're just kind of like, just kind of find it a way to get by a bad Titans team that lost their quarterback. So there's this like weird DNA in this team that makes me a struggle with trusting them,

but this isn't the week to talk. about that because when you welcome in a Lions team that was playing as well as any team in football and absolutely pants them you have to be feeling very good about yourselves now Dan Campbell's the head coach of the Lions it's always good to hear from Dan

especially after some type of seismic happening around his team this on a negative one let's see what the coach had to say so those guys they played well they kicked their ass and it's a credit to them Lamar beat us he hammered us with his arm you know he threw the ball extremely well he ran when he needed to and we did not handle it well

yeah and Lamar here's a stat over 70% completion percentage in every start but won this year which is again Greg kind of points to he's been as good as we've seen him probably since his MVP's and yet the offense has been enigmatic at times and he's been part of that with some turnover And he's had moments that have helped seal losses and things of that nature. But he's playing at a high level. And if they can get on a run here, look out. Yeah, I think you look at what they do on offense. And they get guys open for Todd Munkin.

And yet the running game was effective enough. You know, Gus Edwards is 14 for 64. Justice Hill had a couple nice runs in there. And Lamar scrambles. And you just think you can win games in different types of ways. Because Roquan Smith, I just keep hammering every game. He's a force multiple. Pliar. That ended up being such a great trade because

he makes everyone around him better. He broke up a couple passes in the red zone that were key today. He just is flying all over the field and you can tell he makes his teammates better. I'm not worried about the lines partly because of the schedule. They play one team with a winning record the rest of the season.

It's the Cowboys in Week 17. It will worry you in the sense that yes, and they beat their previous four opponents by at least 14 points each. So they were kicking ass themselves but it doesn't, it does plant that seat to doubt when they get to January football, which I believe that they will. I mean, are they going to be maybe a paper division champion when you see something like

this? I'm not going that far. I'm just saying, I don't see them as. You got your, you got stomped here. They did. And also, they're a team on a journey. Like the Ravens have been in these battles, in these wars and have been dealing with, you know, playoff type seasons for years on end. Detroit's in a new place. Their coaches in a new place. They are all of them. And I like, I know we, I don't want to just hand out Mulligans left and right. but I'm willing just to let the lions sit with this and see where they go because the larger sample size of what they've been all season are things that you can rely on.

They're both of their lines. Like I just, I kind of feel like Detroit will learn from this versus going to a dark skid. I have a question about their defensive line though. They've beaten up on some bad offensive lines this year and they got crushed today. And some Lions fans are a little on this too. So it was like no pass rush plus a lot of injuries at cornerback. They had a couple injuries going into this game at cornerback.

They had another one during the game. So that was part of it. No passers plus bad cornerbacks. You get Fred. All right. That's how we start with a bud webbin. Now let's move. Before we move on, Dan, you told me to get in your ear and remind you about a tweet you wanted to fly.

From the Ravens. Oh, yeah. An X. Then thank you, Eric Roberts. Fly up the tweet. Mark. Yes. Bud.

Oh, geez. Bud. What? We got to get out of this thing where. I don't know how you got... Wait a second. How you got, like, farmed into this for NFL.com. You're doing these picks every week.

And here it is the tweet from the Ravens. You sure about that? Week 7 expert picks. And you are one of six, 12, what is it? 12 NFL media employees that all pick the lines to win. Yeah. This isn't like you, Seth. Hive mind.

I got pulled into it. Wait a second. And I already had promised to you guys that my new strategy with these picks. So what happened? Well, I don't know. Well, wait a second. I call a... I'm throwing the flag on the Ravens.

This is a new level of chicanery from the social media department. They went and just looked around at various organizations of who got it right and who got it wrong. So, for instance, they find five NFL network people that got it wrong. But that means five got it right. It was like a pick-em game. Because I was like half the people picked the Ravens for sure. They were favored in this game. And so they just picked and chose different people.

from different places and put it all up there. Yeah, see, I actually did pick the under the flag. To the victor, it goes and spoils. But again, to your point. Yeah, this exercise, to your point, I only hear about my, you know, my toils in this when I am fell. That's what I'm saying. It's like we got Jeremiah and shook on there, but then we also have Conoror, Albert

Beer, Brinson. It makes no sense. Greg doesn't like media houses being, you know, well, I just do it. Greg also wants to. him to, there's the Ravens logo next to Greg, and then the brand is built a little stronger. Greg called him a Super Bowl team. I did, I did pick them to win one of the few games I got right today. But you could literally do that with any game, any win all season.

You can find someone that pick up against you? Mark, can I offer as a long-time colleague. Help me out, yeah. I was approached by the same individual for this assignment, which was optional. I'm too nice. I just say yes to things. I said pass. I just say yes to things.

Oh, can you come help me move? Like, sure. throw up my whole effing Saturday just to go help someone move a bunch of furniture up and down a staircase. When? No, not recently. Never helped me move, Mark? I know. I love you, but you are like not the person I would expect has been doing

a lot of that. I didn't help do that recently for anyone, but I'm just saying that's the kind of thing I might be like cajoled into it. I can't picture the cess dog taking a piano up five flights. Not any time. I would potentially ask Mark just to hear the excuse he came up with to not do it. It would be creative. I'd come up with some excuse.

It would be very much a lie as well. But, again, it's okay. Okay. Well, yeah, you can do this as well. You have to just tell him you can't do it. Tell him something came up. I know. With your daughter.

My daughter. Your 24-year-old daughter. She's very busy. She needs a lot of help all the time. Reconnecting with her father. It's time to reconnect. There are all those years when I said yes to the NFL. It's time to say yes to someone else.

Thank you. It's that easy. Right, Eric. Thank you. Let's get, you know who on the line. All right, let's head to. We got Mark nice and lubed up now. So let's head, Talk some Browns football.

Hudson and Harris Browns from the one. This is the game. Out of the eye, they need the touchdown. Hunt and Harris Walker gives to Kareem Hunt. Pushing, pushing, touchdown! Kareem Hunt got it across the goal line. He didn't wait for the official call. Are the cardiac kids back?

Kareem Hunt getting it over the goal line. The huge touchdown on fourth down. You knew you could run it at that. point. It didn't matter. That was the last play. Oh, hello. Oh, yeah. Bongo time. Wait, two weeks in a row? Well, Jets got it last week. As they just... No. Was it Cleveland?

Cleveland got the bongos last week, too. Yeah, Jets got, it's on in New York City. Right. Feels a little strong. Well, it's been an interesting. I mean, this was a bongo-worthy game. Yeah. And that was bongo-worthy call from Andrew Siciliano, our friend and colleague for WKR. Okay, Andrew filling in for the great. Andrew filling in for the great.

Jim Donovan. He pointed at Mark, though. Andrew filling in for the great. Absolutely, sorry, yes. Are you okay, Mark? No, the wonderful Jim Donovan, yes. Cremont just broke the pain of the goal line. Where are the bongos?

Keep it going. What are we doing? We're shutting down the bongos. The band went away. If you're going to play the bongos, you can't play the bongos, Keep it playing. Yeah. Songs not that long.

We had to pause there for a second. We did have like a 25 second Jim Donovan pause. That was not my fault. Dream Hunt just broke the plane of the goal line in the final seconds in Indianapolis. The deciding score in one of the wildest back and forth affairs of the year. The Browns forced the Gardner means you fumble on the ensuing drive, clinching a 39, 38 win over the Colts. Mark will get into the latest in the enduring Deshauner.

watch an injury saga in a bit. But let's start with the game. How did your Cleveland Brown pull this one off? If you look at the last two weeks, and maybe Andrew Siciliano is something of a lucky charm. Does he sound younger when he's making these calls? I think he feels younger. I think he's Benjamin buttoning through this Browns.

Doing something you love. It's taking the years off him, like, because these are two games. Imagine a 24-year-old Siciliano. Yum. Spicy. That's what they say. That's what they've said. But like two weeks in a row, these are games that other versions of the

Cleveland Browns. And they're a weird team. Like, would have lost, just flat out lost. They would have found a way to lose last week to the Niners. And there were so many opportunities for them to lose. And there's a lot of particulars to this game and how it went. And you've got, you know, three weeks in a row where Deshaun Watson is not readily available. And when he was in there today for a little bit, very unattractive as a player and, like, did

not do a good job. But this was the game that I've waited for. Miles Garrett, like, has these moments of greatness. And we see them. But it's, like, the one thing that I find a little different between him, and if you go to Pittsburgh in certain times in Baltimore, but especially in Pittsburgh, like, T.J. Watt, where T.J. Watts's sort of specialty. His magic power is like, oh, the offense isn't producing or their ups and downs. Like, T.J. Watts, like, it's the late in the fourth quarter. I'm going to do something as a defensive player to completely change this game and add to what you think about T.J. Watt. And I always felt like Miles Garrett, he has those moments, but they come in losses or they come in games where it's, like, his compiling stats, where it's like, It's not his fault, but he's not in a game-changing moment. Today, though, the first half of Miles Garrett, it was the greatest half I've ever seen him play in my life.

Two incredibly important sacks, two force fumbles, and a play, if you've not seen this, because this typically gets flagged because players aren't able to do this physically. Miles Garrett, and I'll tell you one time when they were playing the charges a number of years ago, I went downtown to downtown L.A. to meet with a young guy

who was a Browns writer and I walked in the hotel and Miles Garrett walked by me and it's like oh this is literally a completely different type of human being than wherever I came from like he just looks like a completely different specimen and he's able to do things

with his body and today was one of the best examples I've seen of that in a key moment where the cults were lining up for a field goal that kept hanging around with the Browns Miles Garrett just literally leaps over the offensive linemen multiple offensive linemen and doesn't touch them so there's no penalty

and then just seamlessly waltzes in and blocks the pick. It reminded me, I tweeted about this, that I exed about this, that Lawrence Taylor in the original Tecmo Bowl, he could do that too. You could always do it with Lawrence Taylor. You could not kick an extra point or a field goal against the Giants of Tecmo Bowl

because he had this otherworldly ability to get to the kicker. Only Miles Garrett's a real person and he's doing this. And as Greg, you would say, and it's one of your favorite terms, and you've already used it once, a force multiplier.

Wow. I do need to get away from that. But a couple of sacks on the game, too, like a past effect. Like, he is everywhere. And he's everywhere on a day. And you can explain it to me where their defense, you know, has a lot of regrets. That they give up 456 yards to the Minshu Colts. How did that happen? Part of that is 16 drives, but it was 6.8 yards per play.

How did that happen, Mark? I thought. What? What? Yes. It's the right time for that because the minchew of last week with the fumble, the lost fumble and three interceptions where you're like, maybe the minchew thing doesn't last for more than a couple weeks.

Totally effective on the ground today. I thought he played one of the better minchew games I've seen. Jonathan Taylor, who we were waiting to show up, had a couple big moments today where you're like, wait a minute, the idea that Jonathan Taylor might not come back and be the same guy, incorrect. He looks that way. And I think there were defensive breakdowns today for Cleveland, which is...

That's the way you beat the shorts defense. is you throw some bops because they're going to be aggressive. Let's talk about Deshaun Watson here because it's fair to wonder, you know, how the injury is being handled, what the truth is behind the injury. And it got even murkier this week. So he was, it looked like he was trending toward not playing this week. Then late in the week, he practiced. And then all of a sudden he's on the field in this game, but not for long. He's struggling.

Then he goes into the blue tent to be checked for a concussion, ruled not to have suffered a concussion by the independent neurologist, but then does not come back in the game. and PJ Walker finishes it. Here is what Deshawn Watson had to say after his head coach. Kevin Stefansky said they kept him out to protect himself. No, it was just a medical decision with the staff and everyone that's, you know, part of making a decision. And they felt like the decision was best to, you know, let PJ go in and finish the game. Make sure the team, you know, it benefits the team. it's weird because the question was like what was the decision did you think you could make your shoulder worse

and stefansky had said look i i made the decision Watson says it's a medical decision it just and stepansky also said Watson will play next week so did he hurt his shoulder today so i'm confused so he didn't answer it that's why that was the answer to that question yeah the browns never completely clarified that but on the play where he went out like he does hit his helmet helmet, the back of his helmet, hard on the ground. And so I could see where a concussion concern would come up. He also, though, was like... But they said he passed the protocol.

So he passed that, but his throwing arm was sort of hanging. The way that we saw Anthony Richardson, like, on the same place. It was just hanging. I thought maybe he's just, I think he aggravated. The Browns are conservative with their injuries, maybe more than some teams would be. I would say, the other thing would be a bigger concern is, like, he threw a terrible interception, and nearly through a second that simply was an interception, just with... Right, but it's an exception.

because he's hurt? So I think the thing is, like, he's not healthy. He should have never played. He said this week that he may not be healthy this entire season because of the shoulder thing. So I don't, they're a little bit lost to quarterback. What is he on the field today for? I don't know.

I don't know. They certainly aren't handling this very well. I think that's safe to say at this point. It's very strange because I feel like the Browns are having one season. And this is a season of crazy wins in the last couple weeks. It's a season of huge defense. And now it's a season of like, wow, PJ Walker, not exactly playing well, a finding way to get a win.

And then Deshawn Watson is off to the side, and he's sort of having this other season. Yeah. And they're like not the same seasons. And I want you to, you know, speak someone like the other Browns, because you were enjoying this game. I haven't seen you as excited in the newsroom

watching a Brown's game in a while. And they are, they're a legit team. I just don't know. I don't know where they're going, but they are a legit team. They're, there, I will say this because I think Stefansky's sort of been like a hot seat contender. I think he's done a good job coaching this team up

through a quarterback abyss. Someone like Jerome Ford who came in today and 69-yard touchdown, Gallup on the opening drive. You don't have Nick Chubb. You don't have your starting quarterback or Nick Chub. And you're getting these performances from other people around them.

So they're enjoyable for that element of resiliency. And I think Stafansky, who did not do a good job coaching this team a year ago. I think he did actually with Jacoby Brissette. But in general, like your coach of the year from a couple years ago didn't look like it. But he's a nice job a couple weeks ago. For Deshawn Watson's not playing.

I think so, too. Here's the thing. To me, what it feels like, it's not dissimilar to how I feel about watching my own team right now, where they're a fun watch because they're a little plucky, especially with PJ Walker playing. But if you take out Nick Chubb and if Deshaun Watson's going to be an injury-riddled mess, like there's a ceiling on the season.

Oh, there's a ceiling. The goal here, of course, is to win the Super Bowl. So, like, this is as fun as these games are, like, need, if there's a path to Watson getting healthy, they need to get on that right path because that's what can make them truly dangerous in the AFC because the Walker thing is an expiration date there's going to limit you.

But how about that, Mark? We're in two, though. So now maybe they've bought themselves some times if they do need to sit Watts and they found a way to win enough games that maybe they're in the mix when he comes back. They already had their buy. They were westing the shoulder then

so they can't seem to make progress in that front. But in terms of winning football, What are they, four and two now? Four and two. How about that? Mark, how about that? I approve. The Bills, the Bills fans, like Eric Roberts, do not approve of the arc of this season so far.

Tremendously frustrating, and that continued at Foxborough today. A second of goal to go from the left hash one. Andrews over the football to snap it back. Jones has it. Looks to his right. Grows it to the right. Got it. Touchdown!

He's gone in Patriots! There he is. Mike Gisicki off the side of a milk carton, catching the game winner on a little look at from Jones to the right slot. And it is the drive that Mac Jones has needed. I mean, we're acting Mike Gisicki is like Tony Gonzalez in 1997. That crowd was going crazy. Where is, where is Mike Gisicki been? Bob Sochi in the ascension power aid bottle with the call for WBZ.

Mac Jones. Give him that extension, Gregie. Through a one-yard touchdown pass. To Mike Yoseki with 12 seconds to play and the Patriots. Steel one away from the bills, 29, 25. Mark, a weird one for me personally, tracking from afar because I'm just kind of following this game on the scroll. The Cleveland indie game was the same thing.

It's like, what the hell is going on? Yeah. There are multiple points where it depends. appeared the game was decided in favor of each of the teams. How did the underdog Pats come out ahead? I think this was sort of the team that if you were Bill Belichick in his like

small cadre of assistant coaches, this is the team that you thought you would get. His family members basically. Essentially his sons and you know, like friends that keep secrets for him. A nephew. Nephew. Seven. They like it doesn't

look like it because if you look at like, for instance, like Ramondre Stevenson's line box score, like it doesn't look impressive, but I thought he ran the ball as well as he has all season. And Mac Jones played a better game than he's played all season. And, like, they got little contributions on offense and their defense look tighter. And you're getting a Bills team that I don't know if it's their DNA, because things change. But this is weeks in a row where they come out flat. They looked completely at a sink early on. They have scored, what is going on here with one of these

numbers? They've been outscored like an insane amount in the first half, like in the, And they just had come out as a flat team. They really had no business winning last week. No. Against the Giants in their building on Sunday night football the week before didn't go well, Greg. And now you can't find a way to close out the Patriots. And, you know, I, as soon as you saw Matt Milano go out, I wondered what was going to happen with their defense. And again, I didn't see the game.

But I'm just curious, like, is that one of those janga pieces where they're going to struggle to get big stops all season without kind of the heart and soul their day? Well, you let Matt carve you up 25 for 30, 272 yards. In the second half of that game, the only stop they get was on a force fumble. And otherwise, the Patriots had a field goal, a touchdown and a touchdown. And the Patriots are up, or behind in this game, rather, 22 to 10. They just went on a touchdown drive in the fourth quarter. They've played a very clean game market, am I right? Yeah.

Then the bills get a two-minute, five-play, 75-yard drive. then they force a fumble and then Josh Allen ends up running it in and you think like there is no way at that point that the Bill's defense lets the Patriots

get to overtime even much less lose the game so that's very surprising to me like what did you see out of the Bill's defense here? They allowed a team that's looked completely dead on arrival on offense to make plays

and they got ran on in key situations Mack Jones played I thought the best game he's played all season and it's just like I don't know where Patriots team was, but this is a Bill's team that did not live up to the moment today.

I mean, this is the against the Jaguars, against the Giants, and today, three weeks in a row, they've come out flat. And I guess it just like, in the scope of these seasons, it leaves me, I already think we had some suspicions about the Bill's floor when they don't kind of operate the way that they should. And it's just an example of like, I don't know, is this team going to go win multiple games on the road in the playoffs? it doesn't feel like it to me.

And I think Josh Allen today was one of the reasons they didn't perform well. It's not always in spite of everyone else. It's like Josh Allen sinks them at times. I feel like it just was not a great game. He didn't have lifted today. Very surprising against this team, though, because they've owned the Patriots

in this McDermott, Belichick rivalry. Here's some stats. So the Pat's averaged four yards of carry, which doesn't seem like a big deal because everybody should do that. But they had been averaging less than three and a half a game going into this game. So they ran the ball like you were saying.

Mac Jones was pressured on just 20, percent of his dropbacks according to ESPN so he was able to sit back and find open receivers against a bad Patriots line so they they weren't they weren't doing the job on defense and on offense the slow starts and Eric we talked a little bit before the show that they only seem to be able to get things going when they fall behind over the past three games this team is average less than six points in the first three quarters of the game and and sometimes you can you have the ability to come back and steal these games like they did last week but they then other times it's not going to work out.

And they're supposed to be better than this, Eric. And they're not. It's like pulling teeth until the end of the fourth quarter. I mean, they fell short against the Jaguars in London where they had the little spurt and they put himself in a kind of a spot to maybe steal it where they had a quick little rebound. And, you know, it's like they cut it close.

They had a weird hook and ladder. They got lucky last week. You know, they probably could have got a PI call that would have thrown that game the other way. And then, yeah, this week they, the offense is asleep at the wheel. like until way late. Like it's, it shouldn't be,

it's, it's tough. It's a tough watch. Week 7 is early for a team like the bills where it's almost like the playoffs only matter. Three losses. You don't have three losses, but it doesn't, it doesn't put them. They're just such a strange team because they were the number one team in DVOA heading into last week because they were stopped. They've had these weird, like huge downs and huge ups. And that's surprising to me for a veteran team. Now, there was one schematic.

One thing with the Patriots offensive line, I think could help change their season. They put Michael in Wenner, who's been a very good right tackle when they played. They're out at right tackle. He'd been at Guard when healthy, and they got Col Strange back their first round. So they had a couple spots that looked better.

Their right tackle position was the worst in the entire NFL. So maybe that helps their off. When they went on this run of dominance earlier in the year, though, you look back, it's like they dominated the Raiders and the commanders. And the Dolphins, that's a big win. When I watch this team, because I think Dalton Kincaid had a nice game today, and you thought that would be consistent throughout the year.

But, like, if it's not Stefan Diggs, there's a lack of weapons in this offense. And I think we felt that way, like, going into the year, like, were they going to go sign D'Andre Hopkins or one of these guys, and they didn't do it? And there's just periods and moments throughout some of these lower echelon performances by the bills where someone's missing.

All right, couple things here. Here's, just because I like this quote, David Andrews Patriot Center This one gave me Gave me feels It feels good To go home You know

Having a beer sitting outside And you feel real good I like the idea of just going outside And sitting outside having a beer Well it's been nice They've not had a lot of beer drinking Sundays Like a crisp like New England Sure

Mid to late October Like he's going to sit He's going to be a little sore But he's going to have that beer I like that. The other quote I want to play for you, you know, you put on a little, like, maybe one of the first two, like, Band of Horses album.

Right. Especially a guy who he'd gone to three straight Super Bowls at one point. This is dark time. He's going to need more than one beer to. You can smell, you know, you smell that chimney, you know, the chimney smoke in the air. And then you could, maybe a breath, but you're bundled up.

Crisp Massachusetts chimney. I don't know if the fires have started yet quite in Foxborough. Well, I mean, it's almost November. I live there. cold there it's cold uh here's bill bellichick uh and this was actually really nice to see because bill belichick won his 300th game of his career that's third all time and uh he obviously was looking inward and was quite verbose and sharing uh this special moment for him so let's listen it's your reaction uh to becoming the third head coach with 300 wins behind don schula and

George Hellas. I mean, it's great. I'm really more focused on, you know, our team in this year. And worry about that later. I mean, that was... You actually got me for some reason. I don't know what you were going to throw it to. I was like, oh, because he was...

There was a great clip of him. I tweeted it out of him at the Patriots Hall of Fame ceremony this weekend. I've never seen him looser and happier talking about Dante Scarnikia who got inducted to the Hall of Fame. like telling jokes and like making impressions. I like, I've actually never heard him literally speak like that. And I was like, wow, maybe Bill just.

And this was like, you know, in concert with that. Right. Absolutely. No, he was gushing. Hey, warm. Shout out to Mike Rable also got inducted on Sunday. I love the fact that he ended his halftime induction speech of the Patriots Hall of Fame with like,

all right, I'm out of here. We got a game to win. I was like, oh, wow. I hope Cravedigger is not watching this. We got a game to it. I love it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mike, for all those touchdown. I thought this was surprising because we've already sort of talked about it was a flashpoint focus that maybe this whole Belichick thing ends with New England like Rapid Port brought this bomb this morning

that Belichick signed a lucrative multi-year extension in the off season so if Kraft was already thinking and I get all that that's just money it's craft's a billionaire so like I guess I'd want to know what that means exactly

right Tom Curran kind of followed it up well it means two things lucrative and multi-year those two things are words that have meaning Tom Curran followed up believing that multi-year meant 23 and 24 and that it wouldn't affect the decision made. Like, he was not hired for this season.

That they basically ripped that it was a way of, they're kind of spinning it, whereas like they ripped up the old contract that it's probably not passing. Again, Robert Kraft could buy 42 houses and decide he doesn't want them. So I get that. So it's not.

I also feel like I'm in the minority on the show that I don't think he's going to lose his job after this year, but he'd be more likely to get another shot maybe the new quarterback, and maybe that's that who knows there's literally 10 games left that's the biggest factor is how these 10 games go if they'll if a bunch of them go like this he'll do fine they'll win a few games you know they will well yeah all the patriots fans out there like brockman with the rich eyes and show i like brockman but you know we're like pounding the table like oh we're going

to get the first overall pick we're tanking for caleb and all stuff we're not rooting for you to get that no why would you're not like oh maybe the patriots will look out and get the first overall pick. No. What fairy tale? Why would that delight us? I don't need that to happen. You got it.

Greg, you got 20 years. Greatness. A lot of bad teams lost today, though. It's a good day for the one-win teams. They're not too far down in the pecking order still. I think they're at the fifth pick.

All right. I'm tracking it. Let's take a break and then we will continue onward. All right. Okay, so a bunch of close games there. uh here's a game that disappointed me like i'm like my dog is he just turned one and he's still you know he's essentially a teenager at this point so he'll he'll act out when we leave him sometimes

he gets upset so he'll jump up and grab something and like he ate a box of cookies and we're like oh gosh he gonna die like he didn't die which was good what kind of cookies like were they they were ginger dark chocolate ginger cookies i got from england for my wife and she's like i don't like ginger. I was like, oh, great. The big L there. And then the dog ate them and was like heaving for a couple of days. Double L. So double L. Good job by me. Anyway,

my point being, I'm disappointed both in Captain, but still love him, and also the potential shootout between the Chargers and Chiefs. That wasn't. Kelsey's in the backfield as an H-back. They're going to fake a handoff. Now they're going to go on a pass

inside and dragging into the end zone. Touchdown, Kansas City. And the Chiefs get the touchdown with a little bit of a formation trickery. They had Travis Kelsey lined up in the backfield. He ran a running back route. And Kelsey, who lined up in the backfield, just ducked inside and was able to drag three charges. Almost lost the ball as he had the ball up above his helmet. And the charges were trying to rip it out.

all right bobbyz excuse me that was Mitch holtis with WDAF with the call that was a funny play because Travis Kelsey wasn't really opening and Cadarius Tony flared out to out of the backfield and he was all by himself for an easy touchdown and Mahomes is like no Taylor Swift's here he's going to fire this ball into Kelsey

threw it low Kelsey had a great athletic that's the thought process I really do think it it factors in And he made the catch and then just lifted the ball above his head. Like I took the kids to see there's an old time theater in the town I live. Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein. And like he's like Strange, the guy Glenn Strange, you played Frankenstein. He's just holding it over his head, the ball. And it's like, hey, Chargers, come back to us.

Knock the ball out of his hands. And instead they just let him get pushed into the end zone. It was the third touchdown for Patrick O'Holmes in the first half. finished with four and the chiefs end up cruising to a 31.17 win. The reason I was disappointed is because this game was 1717. I want to say about early to mid second quarter. There were four touchdown scored in seven minutes and five seconds of game time in the first half at one point. And, you know, listen, in the early games, I went from watching and I'm like, God, we're going to talk about it later, but it was when we're watching Baker Mayfield and Desmond Ritter

in the early slate to all of a sudden I have Herbert and Mahomes in the late slate. And, And this game starts out beautifully. And all I can think to myself is this is going to be the game everyone's talking about. Not quite because the Chief's defense, Greg, which it's been lights out pretty much all year. Once they kind of course corrected, completely shut down L.A. in the end of the second quarter throughout the second half, shutting them out, in fact. And it's an easy win for the Chiefs as a result. It's another second half where the Chargers offense gets absolutely.

nothing. They're just not built to be like this. And you do have to give the credit, though, to the Chief's defense, because it's now week after week. It's now coming against some good quarterbacks. And it's very often at the linebacker position. Bolton, Nick Bolton, hurt his wrist late in this game. And I think that would be a big loss. It does not look good either. Dislocated wrist. Okay. That's, that's tough. And we'll see like when and how he can play through that if they put a cast on that. But that could be a while. But Willie Gay was everywhere in this game. And when Drew Tranquels needed to play this year, he's been awesome. I just love the way Spags is deploying these guys.

And, oh, by the way, like, sometimes maybe you will get 424 yards and four touch cents from Mahomes, plus a good defense. Yeah, you kind of been waiting for that. And I know, like, fantasy owners have been waiting for that. Like, where's the Mahomes explosion game? Here's some crazy stats. Because to the credit of the Chargers, and I don't want to give them a ton of credit, because they kind of drive me crazy watching them. um they they tightened up defensively in the second half of themselves second half themselves and kept this from turning into a 50 burger situation but uh the chiefs had 333 yards of

offense at half uh Travis Kelsey's stateline at the half nine for 143 and one on nine targets Patrick Mahomes is stateline at a half 20 for 23 for 3121 yards three touchdowns and a pick another touchdown called back on penalty that, led to a field goal. And I mean, listen, Mahomes is beauty personified as a quarterback. But the charges were embarrassing. Their defense in the first half of this game, the number of times, Travis Kelsey is in the conversation as the greatest tight end who's ever lived. He is all by himself over and over and over. And I understand Mahomes part of his greatness is he can evade a pocket when it gets muddy and he makes late decisions and he does that move where he gets close to the line

of scrimmage and just when he think he's scrambling he throws it not like a little checkdown but like a 20 yard shot down field that goes for a huge play because the defense is broken down he was doing that but doing it over and over and over to the point where it's like aren't you a defensive head coach brandon staley where are the adjustments and by the time they came it was already too late i mean i don't know i've come to expect frustration from the charge of this point. But it is a division opponent. You should know Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelsey and Andy Reid as well as anyone in the

league. And you have Justin Herbert. That's the one thing that you have where if the chiefs keep scoring, they keep producing. And I'm looking at what happens here in the second half in a key divisional matchup and it's red zone interception, three and out, three and out, three and out, close the game with another interception. and it's two games in a row where it's like and I look at we all

Justin Herbert's no questioning his talent but like you're not getting the job done and I think there's just something intrinsically and chemically wrong with the chargers and it's like I don't expect that I mean they're the charger but then even to the point where you went and thinking this would be a great game I mean they'll take games down to the end but it's like this is a team

that is two and four is not the sum of their parts for the second or third year in a row under this coaching staff and you can't make things this easy for Patrick Mahomes. Well, they know what's at stake this season, Brandon Staley and the coaching stuff. They know they have to finish, I think, with a winning record to keep their jobs.

But this actually was different because, look, every one of these games always comes down to the wire. This is actually the first two-score win by the Chiefs over the Chargers in four years. So that goes back even to before when Staley was here. It's October 22nd. We're wrapping up week seven. The division's over.

over the a fc west is one unless you think the raiders are rallying here uh to go win this division it's over only a psychotic would think i'm just saying it is over is that crazy it's just kind of crazy barring a disaster uh around patrick mohomes or something like that yes they're going to they're going to walk huckler whoever's backing him up can could do it and the yeah i mean i understand gavration um mark because yeah i'm i'm sick of talking about the chargers like this also but it's like you watch a game like this and they're such a mess in the first half defensively. And then in the second half, when they plug that hole, they're a total mess offensively. And it's like, guys. And they give up a big special teams play. Right after

Staley, who's been a little more cautious, decides to punt on fourth and five, the football got to punish him. Yes. By having the return go to almost exactly the line of scrimmage where the punt was. And the return was by Nicole Hardman, who also had a big third down conversion before the closing Travis Kelsey. before the closing Isaiah Pachanko touchdown. The one thing in I know people like there's half people listening

I don't want to hear anything about like this individual but like the splits Travis Kelsey's like whether Taylor Swift present or not are insane and you know what I don't know we're human beings like if you're if the woman that you love is watching you do something don't you think that maybe

it can change who you are is that crazy? People are like oh whatever he might be in a very happy headspace I yeah because Taylor at the game again. I was actually thinking this is a little different quick Taylor take and everybody's like oh no they're talking about Taylor's like fast forward 15 seconds brow it's it's a story it's just a thing just relax

we have to ruin everything now right like that's what social media mostly does like oh this I haven't heard one thing but I've also people are always like oh please you know table the Taylor Swift talk like what is it one minute a show tops ever I there was a play where Mahomes made a a great throw to Kelsey in the end zone. He was interfered with.

Almost came down with it interfered with. So they were set up first and goal. And they showed Patrick Mahomes' wife is Brittany. Okay? Brittany Mahomes next to Taylor. And Brittany Mahomes is reacting when she sees the flag go up. She knows what it means. Taylor is like, oh, because the ball wasn't caught.

I'm curious, is Taylor starting to learn some of the nuance of the sport? I bet. that she understand what the laundry coming out meant. Are we still working toward that? Did she know football before? I don't want to make an assumption that she didn't know anything about football. In that moment, she seemed a little bit lost in space,

whereas Mahomes' wife was totally plugged in. That was one take I had from my replay. I mean, two weeks ago. Is she learning? Two weeks ago, I was talking about like, yeah, Kelsey's catching passes, but like where are the explosive plays, yards per play?

The last two games, 21 for 303 in two games. Absurd. What is happening? And also, by the way, this is a completely, like, side note. But Greg and I noticed this before the game. Like, why is Bernie Kozhar hanging out? I don't know. Pre-game with Taylor Swift.

I mean, you answer that question. I don't know. You've been in contact with Kozhar over the years. No, I will ask him. I'll ask him. Hashtag wellness. That was one of the strangest tweets I've ever seen in my life. Real quick, two more things.

Rishi Rice flashed a little bit in this game. Has flashed a little bit the last couple of weeks. I like that. We've talked about we need the Chiefs, needs one more guy to kind of become a guy. He's a guy. Could it be rice. And if he is, look out because this team with this defense and my goodness. And finally, speaking of internet cynicism, controversial Chargers fan lady, remember

everybody got all upset about Marianne, the woman, Marianne Doe or Doe, I don't know. Oh, really? You have her name. That's good. Yeah, but I don't know. Jerno. She was wearing a Chargers jersey. They cut her at one point. So obviously a big fan. Oh, she was wearing a matching yellow. hat of like a startup chicken company.

So she was helping out a friend. No, it was Buffalo Wild Wings was the hat she was wearing. That's interesting as I thought I don't think that's going to help the lingering cynicism around her. Yeah. And the situation. Yeah. Greg? I'm happy she got paid, you know. Let's go. Free chicken.

You've done it again. All right. Casey Offensive line was great too. They're very, hey, guess what? They're a good-ass team. and everyone's going to suffer another long season trying to beat them.

Speaking of suffering, I was on this Falcons, Buck's beat to me. Oh, my goodness. So it's a 51-yard try. Never lock in a SEC team. Oh. Ever.

Pinyel home McCulls snap. Are you kidding me? What was I thinking? To win the game for Atlanta. Stap spot. Kick from Koo is away. And it is good fly home safely atlanta 1613 is the final in tampa young way ku the winner from 51 yards

Atlanta goes to two and oh in the division oh me gone western with the call falcons radio um the The Atlanta Falcons lead a division in the NFL. I demand a recount. In a sloppy affair, that accelerated the aging process of all those unfortunate enough to watch in the spirit of transparency. I was paid to do so. The Falcons wrote a late 39-yard reception by Kyle Pitts and a young-way coup 51-yarder that you heard his time expired

to edge the buck 16-13. Tampa Bay has now lost three or four, proving once again that September is a big fat liar they're not very good very frustrating watch very hard watch the Falcons the reason I'm not even that

you know upset about the lock is because the Falcons should have won this game four different ways and they couldn't because Desmond Ritter fumbled the ball three times and lost all three fumbles

and I'll tell you about the fumbles one was first and goal at the one a muff snap that he couldn't recover and the second one was on a really nicely designed play call where he scrambled and was heading toward the pylon maybe let up just enough for a Tampa Bay defender to come in

and knock it out of his hand out of bound Antoine Winfield who is having a hell of a contract year man is he looking good it was a beautiful play and a great hustle play I wouldn't quite call it Don Bibi Leon Lett but it was that type of vibe where it looked like it was definitely a touchdown and then all of a sudden it's going the other way so the fact that you had two absolutely crushing turnovers by Atlanta on offense at the one yard line that that never

happens but you still find a way and part of the reason mark they found the way is because the bucks offense could not get things going I owe the the falcons defense an apology I kind of uh kind of said they weren't much uh on the Thursday preview show statistically they've been pretty good this year and in this game they continually kind of gave Baker Mayfield fits and the bucks are 0 for 2 in the red zone including late in the game where they had a chance to steal it themselves

but they never came close the Falcons find a way you don't see too many games like this where if you're Atlanta you got inside the 12 yard line three times and produce zero points on those instances I wonder if it'd be different because I know so Bijan Robinson

went out with an illness because he does he did play for a spot of time at least, but then they lose him. I don't know if that would have made a big difference. He played 10 total snaps. He said after the game, he woke up suffering from like headaches, a ton of headaches. And they tried to go easy on him. Strange.

Everything was strange about it because he was not on the injury report, obviously. So he's saying he woke up with it. Okay. Then he's on the sideline with his helmet on and not getting on the field at all. He actually does eventually get a touch. And his first touch comes with 28 seconds remaining in a 13-13 game. And the Falcons striving for the game-winning field goal attempt. Like, I've never seen any of this stuff happen before.

It's just this, this Arty Smith Falcons team is bizarre. And but to their credit, they found a way without their best player to get this done. So it's not going to change anyone's feelings, I don't think, about the Falcons offense, because they're still held back by a turnover plagued quarterback. However, if you look at some of the yardage, yes, they're moving the ball better

and unquestionably, the team has a pulse in terms of moving the football. Kyle Pitts has been involved, Gregi. But you just wonder how much longer they can sustain these backbreaking turnovers if they play teams that are actually good, which the bucks are not.

But they really don't. And so I think we should all just take a minute, take a step back, and just accept like this is the NFC South. Right. We are going to experience this for 10 more weeks. Right. This is what Colleen was talking about, by the way.

Yes. I see where she was coming from. On some level and this sometimes happens with Connie. He doesn't understand a SEG. Totally she tried to fork the entire division and great comedy ensues. But in the case of this, like watch this game and then

Colleen's comment makes more sense because we just, do we need this? Like, the society need it. But they're also like the Bucks Saints and Falcons. They're all deeply flawed, deeply frustrating, dumb in different ways. The Bucks are just kind of like mediocre. I don't know if they quite fit with the Falcons and the Saints. And they're going to have, they're not the worst five teams in the league.

They're certainly not anywhere near the best. And there's just going to be like a whole season worth of these types of games. And one of them will get to nine wins. maybe who knows maybe even 10 because the schedules are so soft probably not though I just don't see it and you know if we're lucky it's not the Sunday night week 18 game with only like the only playoff potential game can't do that well it's too early to worry about that I I don't mind like weird ugly teams but it's just like let's just accept it's almost like they are they're a quadrant of like relegated teams that are within the NFL and it's like as long as you understand that like

they're not really like the real teams but they do their little thing they play each other twice a year and occasionally they play the real teams. It helps to process it. I mean, you, you know, went out of your way to lock one of these teams and pick this game to witness. So I hope, I think, like, the lesson learning on your end will probably be severe after.

Never lock a bad team. Like, and that's, I've made that mistake before. And I didn't think the bucks were necessarily bad, but I kind of think they might be pretty bad after watching this because Baker and the offense is really coming down to Earth. And, oh, my God, can we get a running back in that building? They seem allergic to that.

Not. run the ball. I would say, like, it's not going to work without a running game when you're Baker Mayfield's your quarterback. I know that he needs help. But the Baker, though, today,

he had like that 31-yard, 30-something-yard run on third and long. And, like, I feel like this is just a small little part of his game, but every week there's been an element of Baker, like, converting and moving the chains with, with his feet. And I mean, that's a small little tiny thing.

That's what I mean. There's just enough with this buck team. Like, Levanti David is playing outstanding. I mentioned Winfield. I think he's been an all-pro type, safety this year. And the Falcons have players too. London and Pitts are showing up week after week making

some impressive plays. That's why they'll get to eight wins and not four wins. That was a gutty scramble by Baker, but they scored six points in the last few years. No, I know. It's like, they're an incomplete scenario. You got to win a ballgame. All right. All right.

Falcons fans are going to be mad at me, but it's like you guys know. No, they're frustrated. You guys know. I'm not doing this like to antagonize you. What, that you locked against them? No. they know what I'm saying here is not trying to get them mad like it's just they're

they're very fortunate to have the number of wins I think they have the highest ceiling of this division I don't know if that's going to matter or mean anything though I do think they have the highest ceiling all right let us move on then up next we head

to the metal ends the swamps of Jersey another tough one hooey again they have the thorn Isoed one-on-one with Banks out to the left. Inside Ted Neck, Banks is playing. Howlback, under pressure, avoids the sack, spins away, throws left, and the pass in complete. Intended for Dotson.

Isaiah Simmons got pressure on the quarterback, forcing a bad throw, and the giant stopped Washington on fourth and five with 56 seconds left. The call is by the great Bob Papa, Giants Radio. And boys, I think there's one thing to take away from this game. You never fork the New York football. Giants! That's your takeaway? We can move on to the next game. Tyrod Taylor threw two second quarter touchdown passes.

And Dexter Lawrence led a big blue defense that had six sacks. They had five. all year entering this game had six sacks including five in the first half and they made that last minute stand you just heard uh with a little help from jehan dots and squeeze a kid um they snap a four game losing streak with a 14 seven win over the commanders at met life stadium uh yeah that this game uh another one that they will not be sending to canton uh giants looked really good in the first half um and the defense was humming like i said five five five sacks in the first half. Taylor

throwing it all over the field with ease. Sequin looking good, even though he suffered a little bit of an elbow injury in this game. Darren Waller again in the mix, clearly has better chemistry with Taylor than he's had with Daniel Jones. That all dried up in the second half, but the defense did enough to get this win and keep their faint hopes alive.

I mean, Sam Howell came in, having been sacked 34 times. I think it was like 13 of those were on Sam Howell in the way that he plays. so I mean it's one of those rare instances I feel like we spend our preview show looking at what's happened and saying this is probably something that could happen and then when it actually does

in today's NFL I'm kind of like wow it actually went as as you'd think Sam Hallow went and got sacked six times but it's surprising when it's against the Giants who had you know as Dan mentioned five going into the year but they didn't they didn't handle the blitz and like look he's on pace for 97 were these were they he's on pace to shatter David Carr's record No, I wouldn't put this under what he's gotten in trouble with a lot this season was holding the ball too long. I think the offensive line had a lot of breakdowns and the pressure was instant in many of the cases, which, you know, is surprising against the Giants have done almost nothing in that realm until this game.

But this is also a commander's team. And I was getting tweets throughout the game from commanders fans that are just like, they're, they're so sick of this team. There's, I think it's a Ron Rivera situation. They have now lost to the winless, previously winless bears. they've now lost to the one in five Giants and this is just in the last three weeks and it makes sense when you hear Jonathan Allen one of the very talented players on a very talented

defensive line speaking to reporters after the game. Here's what he said courtesy of NBC for sports in D.C. Does it get frustrating when that yes it does. I'm fucking tired of this shit. I'm fucking tired of this bullshit. It's been seven years of the same shit. Tired of this shit.

What can you do now going forward to get it turned around? Get our minds right and get to play Philadelphia. Whoa. Randy or Eric, who was in charge of the beeps there? That was me. Yeah, you did a great job. I mean, great job.

I guess what he was saying. Excellent beeps. That was the most. Got to give them just enough so they know what's being said. And, you know, that's a lot of frustration because I think they, they know or think that they are a better team of the Giants. So to be kind of punched in the mouth the way they were. And they only get back in that game because Sterling Shepard muffs the punt in the second

half that leads to a short field and the only commander's touchdown and then late in the game the giants had it locked up sayquan who's i think had his one fumble his entire career in the pros he coughs it up in the red zone uh setting up that last drive by washington the falls short again on a dots and drop it wasn't a perfect throw by how but he did a great job getting away from pressure puts it near enough to make the catch the catch isn't made and it just like it's an inconsistent team for a playing for a head coach who's maybe been around for too long and just like there's a lot of excitement around the commanders from a big picture perspective because

Snyder's gone, but a lot of it is way too familiar for fans that are sick. It doesn't fix it all in one week. You're not going to become a team that sneaks into the playoffs, which I think is the ceiling for this team, unless you take advantage of those situations. On the third downplay, Sam Howell has Terry McLaurin one-on-one.

It's third and five from the seven. There's, like, Dory Jackson is out of this game. He's up against a rookie in that scenario. Howell is facing no pressure whatsoever. And he doesn't put it anywhere near Terry McLaren, who by the way, like, they didn't target for the first half. And then in the second half, they target nine times and he gets 90 yards because he's Terry freaking McLaurin. It's just been a bizarre thing. So Howell doesn't even put it anywhere near. Just a totally bad ball.

And he's a very strange quarterback because he makes so many good plays and so many bad plays. And then the next play, he scrambles after getting pressured, makes a nice throw to Dots. And it wouldn't have been the game time touchdown because it probably would have been it probably would have been a first down down at the one or two with plenty of time left and it's just this team is frustrating yeah and john's fans um like i said i mentioned the shepherd turnover i mentioned the berkeley turn over that was terrible there was also an all time and i understand he's uh edge rusher so these guys even though defensive backs can't catch but kvon hal made a horrendous decision under pressure in his own end end zone and threw up a balloon right to cave on like basically handed to him on a platter and had a real chance at a pick six

he drops the football and it was so bad that there was a tweet that I liked about this and I took no joy in this but this is just me reporting on the game boys here is a tweet from

oh I wish I had who it was from but here's what it said Giants players lying all over the field in disbelief Tibido distraught It's like how they reported

on the Titanic sinking All right I do like seeing Jalen Hyatt show up I mean it seems like things He's a guy Almost function better without Daniel Oh yeah You you tweeted it out

That there's got to be a weird conversation in New York this week I think we're getting there If things would have kept up For the last two quarters Yeah There absolutely would have been a huge conversation Now it's still kind of like

More like some whispers I think It's gonna get louder If they beat the Jets next week it gets louder. I think the whispers can be like, okay, like, maybe let's not go crazy and say they're way better

with Tyrod. But it's like, there's certainly no major difference. Which is concerned. They're very close to winning both these games. Yep. All right,

let's move on. It's time now for the Sunday drive presented by the first ever Toyota Grand Highlander. Tough timing because you don't even have the drive to this particular game we're about to talk about.

It's right across the sidewalk. Well, we don't have to drive, but you got to drive to work. Someone else. Got a drive to work. Yeah, I've got to get here. Walking home from here. Talking about us.

We're here. We're here now. That's true. If you want to make it specifically about us, you're right. But if we weren't here now, we would be taking the Highlander. Everybody getting the Highlander. Okay. First and goal at the three.

The Steelers in a tie game. Climbing the Highlander. With everything in tight, Pickett. We're heading to Pittsburgh West. The lone setback is Najee Harris. Pickett steps in. Hands it off. Najee into the end zone.

Pittsburgh Steelers, go ahead, touchdown. The Iron Horse, Najee, goes into the end zone. Angry man running all day, showing that strength, that power. And when you had to do it, who do you give it to? You give it to Najee Harrison does a great job of plunging over the left side. His first. He's like talking about Jim Brown or something. Bill Hillgrove and Craig Wolfie have a call.

W.D.V.E. SoFi Stadium was lousy with Steelers fans, including Shaq, our buddy. Steelers haven't played here a lot. And everybody had fun watching them. Take care of the Rams, 2417 behind 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter. The defense, Gregie, in this game, really shut down Los Angeles down the stretch. I want to start giving some credit for Pittsburgh before we get to the calls by the officials. Okay.

Even though the calls by the officials were the story, let's mention at least that the Steelers came into the fourth quarter doing absolutely nothing on offense, had barely over 100 yards, six first downs in the game. In the fourth quarter, they came alive for the first time all season. They held the ball for over 11 or 12 minutes. They had 11 first downs in the fourth quarter. They get a couple of touchdown drives going, extended drives going,

that kept the ball away from the Rams at the end of the game. And Kenny Pickett looked at, at least like rookie Kenny Pickett for the first time all season. Deontay Johnson absolutely changes this offense. To me, he's more valuable to them to Kenny Pickett, maybe even then George Pickens, because he's more reliable on a down-to-down basis. So yes, they got a ton of breaks, and we'll get to that.

But their offense did take over in the fourth quarter and also stop the Rams from moving the ball. So some credit, give it to the Steelers. For playing their best when it mattered most in a game, they were basically dominated for three quarters. Yes, Mark. I want to believe in the Steelers team. I said they'd win 12 games and like they finally...

You know what? They're on pace. They are on pace. Just about. I'll help you guys out. They're not going to win 12 games. Well, what I was asking for though, before... Now I'm starting to wonder. See what you're saying about Pickens,

but I was hoping that like Jalen Warren and Pickens would become sort of the centerpiece of this attack. And I saw they had like, what, 91 yards in the first half? Yeah, but Pickens ends up a 5-4-107. seven, make some big plays. They had, they had a good connection on those three drives that I'm talking about. They went, they had the touchdown drive on a shorter air field and then a 90-yard touchdown drive and then they closed the game out.

Pickens did it. Warren, I would like to see more of Jaylen Warren. Yes. Do you believe in Kenny Pickett at this point? Like, does anything change? No, but this was, it wasn't a fiasco. So that's a start. Like, this was a solid game from him.

What do you, you mean, if that's where, if that's the bar right now, we're going to talk with team winning 12? I'm just saying. They're going to be a lot better than that. They're somehow four and two, and I do, I just know teams change. And because they're the Steelers, I give them a chance to be a team that actually becomes good at some point. And oh, by the way, you got to four and two without being good.

Now, you did it with some luck because of the calls that I mentioned. Let's talk about that. So, that was horrible. First of all, they get a pass interference on Akila Weatherspoon, the Rams cornerback on the third and eight in a spot in the field where the Steelers probably would have punted at that point and the Rams would have gotten the ball back with over two and a half minutes to go down seven. Doesn't mean they're going to win. You know, the Rams offense had shot themselves in the foot the last few drives before that. And so who knows? But the Rams were going to get the

ball back. It was a phantom call. There really wasn't contact. It was just awkward. The official was in a bad spot. It ended up being like a no no blood play because they called the taunting, but the Steelers got another chance at it and they picked up the first down. Which was also a bad call, by the way. The taunting was too. The taunting was a bad call too. But it it felt like a ball don't I play. Because the DB was chirping, and then he held up his finger like, hey, well, he went down, it's a penalty. He, like, turned the guy or, he like ran around him so he was in his face and then,

you know, whispered and, you know, I don't like the taunting call, but they're going to call. I'm saying they did the, like, shush in his face, like, for a few seconds. I was happy with the result, not the process. Yeah, I'm with you. I do love Deonti Johnson. I think he changes it. And that was a big time moment in the game. But then, then the spot, and I'm sure if you watch, you know, Red Zone today, you saw it, like,

they go for it on a fourth down play for Kenny Pickett. Basically, the game's on the line. If you pick it up, the Steelers win the game. If not, the Rams have great field positions to go down the field. And Kenny Pickett clearly was short. Replays clearly showed it was short. And Sean McVeigh couldn't challenge it because he was out of timeouts. And the play actually went into the two-minute warning, but it started before the two-minute

warning. So it's not an automatic review game over. What are we doing here? I got this is going to be a little controversial, but we know there's a little bit of a cannery that goes on about sometimes all of a sudden a play is ruled a catch and there's like actually upon further review, it's like there is some help going on in the year. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, like just get in the ear and say we can't end the game that way. It's pretty clear that this is at best close but not there to let the game end that way. And I know you had 50,000 Steelers fans that were thrilled with the ending of that game, but the Rams fans that were hoping for. one more chance. Like, that is such a gut-wrenching way for the game to end. And kind of, in a lot of ways, kind of ruin that game because, like, you took, it took away what should have been the climax and you said, okay, we're moving on.

It was a mistake. And I think it was either Patrick Claibon or someone else, like, quote tweeting him, that was like, what, we have to look at what is the purpose of these replay things? Because, yes, like, Sean McVeigh didn't have a timeout left. But the point is to get the call right. And I feel like there has to be a mechanism to get the call right. on a call like that. The pass interference, I get it.

That happens probably once a week where there's a big pass interference call that you could argue with in a big spot. It happens, it sucks. But a play like that, which is like the down where you can tell that he's down and something's clearly, like there needs to be a mechanism to get rid of that.

Now that said, I do want to point out, Sean McVeigh didn't have those three timeouts in part because they blew a time out because they ran out of time early in the third quarter and that is a Sean McVeigh specialty that absolutely drives me crazy and it comes back to haunt them pretty often

and he still does it. It drives me crazy. Two quick points. Pug and Akua made another big day eight for 154. He had one catch near the sideline that like actually the it was challenged by Mike Tomlin just because he didn't want to believe that it was possible that he could get two feet down on the play

and he did. And it's like he's almost demanding to be in the conversation for the Superstar Club, which is one of the biggest surprises of this season. He is the second player via ESPN in NFL history with 700 or more receiving yards in his first seven career games. And the fact that he's still doing it with Cooper Cup there tells you a lot. The other thing is, and I don't say this in a way to be like mean, but if you sign Brett Mahart to be a kicker, you asked for it. And they lost a game today that was a close game. and he missed two field goals. They were both long kicks,

but people are drilling 50 yards on the reg now and most crucially an extra point, which led to him having the yips at the end of last season. And I remember thinking when they broke camp with him, like, they're going to get through 18 weeks without this guy melting down and costing you a game or games before you have to pivot in the middle of the season, which no team likes to do.

It was a kind of needless risk. I hope Maher has a long and successful career, but you don't see things like you saw at the end of last he's in very often in our league. And come back from that. And to see this happen again, I wonder how long he is for the race. I feel like there's a,

we used to have this with quarterbacks. And I mean, and we still do to some degree, but there's like 25 functional kickers that don't leave you completely suspect and wondering what is going to happen to your team on any given Sunday. And Maher's in that subdivision of like,

no, I don't trust you and you're going to prove to me why I don't trust him. Right. He missed that extra point. And they actually got the point back with a with a two later. But the two kids. he made after that. What is it that Jay Feely says? That he piped it.

Pipeed it, yeah. It was the opposite of piping. Reverse pipe. It was a reverse pipe hook. It was like you're on the first tee and the water's on the left and you're like, just don't hit it in the water. Just don't hit it in the water.

And both of them were just these hooks where you're just like, I don't need to be a kicking expert to know he kicked those with no confidence whatsoever. And so that is a big time concern because going into the fourth quarter, they had 300 plus yards

in the Steelers. had 100, and they should have been winning this game by two and a half touchdowns. But the play of the game, and I know we've talked about this game, but it was one of the plays of the season to me. T.J. Watt's interception, so many things happened after it that you can say won them in the game, but they were losing that game unless T.J. Watt, in zone coverage, somehow reads the route combination. T.J. Watt, like, he's dropping back, and he's supposed to be covering in the outside receiver. He reads exactly what's going to happen.

And he breaks on the ball like he's prime Patrick Peterson, not the Peterson they got now. And he gets an interception and brings it back to the 10-year-old. And it's one of the most astounding plays I've ever seen a defensive lineman make. And that's the only reason they were even in this game is setting up that short-toucher. How many, it's not that they've made this exact play in the past. How many times. This is what I mean, but the Miles Garrett.

I get it, but that was beautiful. That was beautiful. No, T.J. Watt's credit, it's like, there have been like 10 or 11 instances of T. T.J. Watt completely sealing and changing. games like this with things that other people in his position don't do. I'm watching the MLB playoffs and Bryce Harper of the Phillies has this knack for the big moment

and I noticed he's wearing a headband that says the showman on it. I was like that's a perfect nickname for that guy. Watts like a showman. And also you are you arguing Greg perhaps not on purpose? That was a bit of a big momentum swing for the Steelers, that interception. No.

Too robotic. What do you mean momentum swing? It was like momentum back to the Steelers. They were just They were just, like, losing the game. And then what happened? He made it so that they had a path to winning the game. How else could you describe that? How else could you describe what happened right now?

Speaking of showmen, sometimes this guy, Nick Wesleyan, tries to get on me for not being a showman, even though, you know, I took the Eagles this week. He tried to be cool and take the Rams. How'd that work out for you? There we go. Unfair. And I already see while we're taping, and I'm trying not to focus on it. But there's been like seven texts between the same.

Cincinnati Zoo. Is he spinning out? Phil is getting after Nick. Oh, not again. It's just, who knows? Not again. All right, let's take a break and then we'll finish out the late slate. And that was the Sunday Drive presented by Toyota.

Let's go places. Learn more at Toyota.com slash Grand Highlander. All right, we are back. And light slate this week with six teams on by. So we just need a pinch hit appearance from. I'm shook to handle a game from mile high. So let's talk a little Packers, Broncos, and then welcome in the pipe. Obviously, two down territory, even from the Packers 46, a crowd on their feet making noise.

Four-man rush, love in the pocket, bounces around, throws a ball, deep down the field. That ball is intercepted, intercepted by Pitchie Block. And this one is going to end. with the Broncos win in the home game. Jordan Love, down two points, had a chance to be the hero. But instead he threw a balloon ball down the right sideline that was easily intercepted. The death blow for the Packers in a Broncos 1917 win,

the Broncos are now 2 and 5, they've kind of woken up a little bit the last few weeks, and the Packers now 2 and 4 and not looking very good. Yes, as I said, we now welcome in the pipe. shook. And by the way, I just realized Jay Feeley is saying you piped it, which means like a perfect type of thing. Right. In that case,

a kick. And now we have a perfect type of thing, a guest that handles game coverage, Nick Shook. Jordan Love is tough to watch, bud, right now. What is up with that? I'm also wondering what reverse pipe would mean in that with all that connotation, I don't know, but we won't go there.

You know, they send a call. It's obviously two-down territory, right? Not in Jordan Love's world. Not where he wants to go be the hero and chuck one deep into what's essentially ends up being double coverage. I'm I am so frustrated watching him play because I've seen the potential. And you saw it in this game too. He was bad Jordan Love for the first two and a half, three quarters. And then all of a sudden they wake up,

they string together a couple touchdown drives and you're like, familiar figuring it out again. And then it ends in the same way. Like these Packers fans have to be just so frustrated. Now granted, they're spoiled. Packers fans have been spoiled for the last two decades by elite quarterback play. welcome to Gen Pop, folks. This is what being an NFL fan

and not being a fan of the Packers is. Unfortunately for them, another loss, another frustrating one. But hey, good on the Broncos, man. They got another W.

It's funny that Shook is much like Mark, a Brown's fan who hated that the Packers had three decades of great. I think Shook and I have dealt with some similar ups and downs as have, you know, the Jets fans and all the rest. Because I just, I think with love,

he's got some good things. But at least the way he sees the game, like the way he sees defenses like he's not seeing it yet. Maybe he will, but he's not seeing it. He is very often seems to be confused by what the defenses are showing him, even when it's the Broncos defense,

shook. Yeah, the Broncos defense that was ranking near dead last entering the last two weeks and suddenly maybe they're not that bad. I was watching this game. I actually had a couple games on my slate today that were pretty similar in that it was just two teams that you really don't know if they're any good.

The other one being Buccaneers Falcons where I'm just like, yeah, These teams are basically the same, and either of them are going to separate themselves from the rest of the pack, except these two teams in Denver were worse than those two teams. It was just like the stats are very similar. They both ended up with 194 net passing yards. The poor man's Falcons Bucks game for the week. Yeah, yeah. It's just, it's rough to watch them right now.

And when, you know, it's just tough. You know, on the Denver side, you got to feel a little bit better about some of the stuff they did. You know, Russell Wilson, not great, but he's still kind of making plays. he hangs on to the football too long. They did get a good contribution from the rushing attack, and their defense played better. But was it really like a litmus test of this defense is starting to come around or were they just playing the Packers who slept walk through three quarters of this game?

I don't know. I think it was an important game, uh, shook and tell me if you agree for Russell Wilson coming off two really poor, uh, games. If he had another clunker here, you might have started hearing some conversations about who's the quarterback of this team as we get closer to, uh, November, but did he do enough in your mind to just, oh, they won the game. They're not going to hear anything. something like that. Yeah, I mean, statistically, he was fine, 2029, 194 in a touchdown pass.

It was a nice touchdown pass to Cortland Sutton, just a good read on a good route concept that beat the defense. But again, it's kind of some of what we've been seeing from him, which is you see the potential. Like there was that game against Washington like a month ago where they lit it up in the first half. You're like, there he is. That's who he is. But it's just not consistent. Whether they're playing a good defense and they're struggling and they're playing an average team and struggling, there just hasn't been a lot of separation there. So I feel better about him under Sean Payton than I did a year ago because they were completely lost a year ago. But any moves better, he's faster to process and make decisions, but he's still

Russell. He still tries to extend the play way too long, gets himself into some bad situations. And they end up in a game like this where it's a one score game because neither team can get out of its own way and that includes Russell Wilson. Do you think like so, Matt LaFlor, it's hard to get like a real read on a coach when he rolls into a head coaching situation with a Hall of Fame quarterback for a number of years and they roll through the regular season. I think this is a season where it's like, we're going to find out who he is and what he can do and what he can do creatively to get out of

a troubling situation at quarterback, really an up and down. Like, do you think he's, what's your take on him at this point? Do you think is a difference making kind of coach or just a guy? Well, you know how they take pictures of presidents

when they first show up in the Oval Office and then they fast forward to their four, eight years at the end of their term? And they've aged significantly. I expect that type of aging process. A bearded boy no more. Yeah, I mean, look,

he's a good looking guy. And I think he's going to get a couple of wrinkles. this year off this season because it's just so frustrating, but it's a product of being, you know, a coach of the youngest team in the NFL. You got a bunch of young guys who just don't have experience. You got a receiver goes and bails out as quarterback on a touchdown pass that should have been an interception

if Romeo Dobbs hadn't tied up Patrick Sertan on a pass that may or may have not been an interception that was ruled incorrectly. Sterator and CBS said it should have been a pick. Yeah. And so he, well, Flores going to have to overcome a lot of this stuff. He got frustrated with Luke Musgrave last week and chewed him out in the sidelines that everybody could see on TV.

it's just going to be a growing pains process that's going to age him a little bit and they're probably not going to contend for much of anything but the hope is is by the end of the year that your quarterback makes enough progress so to answer your question mark I think he is the coach I think he's done enough at this point to prove that he is but it's just I think sometimes

we all get sucked in a little bit and remember all those camp reports that were glowing like this was going to be a seamless handoff it's going to be a process the Packers have been outscored 63 to 6 in the first half of their last four games and here is as I as we piss off the pipe. Nope. The Denver Broncos had lost 10 consecutive games when leading at half time

until today. That is one of the more insane. That's hard to do. That's a tough one. That's a tough one. But that streak goes by the boards. Nick, I apologize for that comment. And we'll see you next week. I'm going to go figure out what reverse pipe means. We'll see you guys later. All right. Later, buddy. All right. Let's keep moving. Let's head to Seattle, uh, where the Cardinals were looking to, uh, stage and upset themselves. He pistol formation, play fake to him this time. Gina's going to throw right down the scene. Touchdown.

Seahawks. J.S.N. With the touchdown. His first career score in the national football league. Tyler Lockett picks up the ball. He's going to save it for the rookie out of Ohio State, 28 yards. and a dart thrown by Gino Smith. The Seahawks on the board first.

They lead six-nothing. Very nice, Steve Rable, at the call. Seahawks Radio, Kenneth Walker, the third, ran for a buck-o-five. And yes, Jackson Smith and Jigba and Jake Bobo. Nice here for Bobo. Both got first half touchdown passes. Seahawks take care of business, 20 to 10 over the one-win Cardinals. Sounds like a classic marquee, take care of business effort for Seattle.

one of those old Milton Burl games taking out just enough needed win. Very Milton Burlish, yes. You've now had an Abbott and Costello and Burl a reference. Who are you? Al Michaels. Hey! All the way back, baby!

Poor Al. You're right, though. It really was to take care of business. And I get, at this point, I'm kind of like, all right, Cardinals, I get it. You're going to do this every week. You're going to hang around. Oh, no. They've lost Sessler. Oh, no. Don't know. They haven't lost me. But it's like, no, but this whole thing about, like, So you are in this game.

In Seattle, I mean, this was not Seattle's shining moment because there were a series of drives in the third and fourth quarter where Seattle was sort of inviting the Cardinals to come on, make this thing close. It's 17 to 10. And Gino Smith gets intercepted at Arizona's one yard line. The next drive, they're at third two at the Arizona two. They get nailed with a holding call.

Get stuck at a field goal. Got to punch it in there. Then next drive, Gino Smith fumbles. the ball in Seattle's territory, and they're lucky that Arizona misses the field goal. So it's like Cardinals had a chance to get back into this, but their final six drives, the Cardinals were Downs, Punt, Punt, that missed field goal I mentioned, downs, downs. I don't know how many times you can go out on fourth down here, but it's like they're not able to complete it.

I think it's important that for the Cardinals, we didn't mention this on Thursday, that Kylo Murray's back in that 21-day window, and it sounds like from the reporting from Rappaport and others that they are intent on playing him and playing him a lot in as soon as possible. So this conspiracy theory that I clung to to some degree that maybe we never saw Kyler Murray this season will not be true. And they do play hard and they do hang around.

But Seattle, I think one thing that I came away with this game, they have some young players that are really interesting. You mentioned Jake Bobo. A guy can play. Like he made an incredible catch today, maybe the catch of the day league-wide. And it's like, this guy can do it. Like Devin Witherspoon, every game seems to blow someone.

one's world up. He had a hit today that was maybe one of the most massively devastating elements of contact that I've seen all season. And I just kind of dig these. And I think on Thursday, so I wanted to see Jackson Smith and Jigba like show up and he did today. You know, you didn't have D.K. Metcalf and these guys are making plays. So that's my hope for Seattle. They don't wow me as a team that's going to knock people off in the playoffs. They're sort of just a team to me, but a better than average team. They didn't have D.K. Meck. off today. I mean, all these teams change so much. The Seahawks have changed quite a bit for me already through seven weeks. I'm so much higher on their defense than I was a month ago.

And I was wondering what they were going to do with Spoon because they had that crazy game on Monday night football where he was really only in the slot because Jamal Adams got hurt. And it's like, oh yeah, we're going to leave him. We're not going to mess with him. We're going to play the safeties around him. We're going to let him be as close to the ball as possible. and they really have something there. And Wagner and Brooks are playing well together. And if they haven't had an above average defense, literally, for, I think, eight years. I think it was 2015.

If they have a fun defense, then you can win games like this where, look, they handled the Cardinals' offense better than most defenses had this year. And then they got something where they could be pretty dangerous with enough weapons on offense, too. Gino's been picked inside the 20 back-to-back weeks. That didn't happen at all with Seattle. before the last two weeks. So he's got to protect the ball there, as we know. And I'll throw out one more nugget that the Cardinals mark did not cross 100 yards passing until the fourth quarter.

So Josh Dobbs, maybe that plays into a little bit of the team itching to get another look at their high paid supposed superstar quarterback on the men from ACL. I will say Dobbs like in the last, you know, this season, but also what he did with the Titans at the end of last year, like that's a nice way to carve out of five. six-year career going forward. Like, this is one of the better backup quarterbacks in the league. The target, it sounds like for Murray, would not be next week, week eight, but potentially as soon as week nine. Yeah, and there's a deadline in play where you have to have him on the field or he's done for the year.

So it looks like it's trending that way. Before we get to Sunday night football, let's close it out with a little Raiders, Bears at Soldier Field. Left to right, 546 to go on the ball game. Still got time to get one. Brian Hoyer, first out of 10 of the 25. Four man to rush. It's coming home, but Groyer throws left.

And it's intercepted, Jaley Johnson. Goodbye, baby. 2015, 10, pick six. Touchdown Bears. An exclamation point by a job. Well done by the Bears' defense. His second career interception and his first touchdown. Hoyer's been staring left all day.

Justin broke on it and took it to the house the Raiders went into the season saying Brian Hoyers are back up Josh McDaniel said that but yeah again you get what you ask um yeah Jalen Johnson with the pick six Tyson Baygent nice job three touchdown drives in the first half

oh excuse me in his first start with Justin Fields out with that hand issue and the Chicago Bears cruise to a 3012 win over the Raiders. The Raiders are 3 and 4, but it feels like they're 1 and 6, but they're 3 and 4,

and the Bears now improve to 2 and 5. Greg, certain corners of Twitter slash X, you know, chirping about the idea of is Beijing actually better for this offense and Justin Fields? You're going to buy into that?

Do you see anything in this kid? I thought he played really well today. It wasn't about him. He didn't have to do, that much, but he played like a guy who is going to be in the NFL for nine or ten years.

The Dobbs thing. You mentioned Dobbs, yeah. I mean, who knows what his ceiling's going to be? This is a rookie playing his first start, undrafted rookie. But what he did was get to his second read more than once, not do anything stupid,

really the whole day, and run and look comfortable. It was 21 for 29, 162. It was nothing crazy. But I felt like, Man, they might have something here when almost immediately when he scrambled on a third down where he goes through his reeds, he gets the first down. And then he's asking a moribund soldier field crowd to like give him some freaking love here. I like that.

I like that. It was just like. Yeah, good juice. He played like a confident young, young player who is like not at all, you know, cowed by the moment. He only took three quarterback hits. And yes, that's partly because of the Raiders, partly because of the good game plan by gets to getting the ball out of his hand. but it's probably because he wasn't holding on to the ball. So it looked like a functional offense today for one of the first times all year.

I mean, they've had, they've been up and down. Even with fields, they were putting up some yardage numbers, but it was a very good performance. But you was happy for him. The Bears defense has been such a disaster under Matt Iber flus this season. So I get you're playing the Raiders who are, you know, you're dealing with a backup quarterback and their offensive lines got issues. Their running game is dead on arrival. So is it that or is Chicago's defense?

sort of turning the corner, maybe a little bit. They've been a little better, certainly, the last couple of, look, they have two wins by, what was this by, by 20 plus points. I'm just saying the last couple of weeks, it's been a little bit different. Remember, I tried it out that stat about the Texans a couple weeks ago, that they have more 17 plus point wins than the Vikings have had for the last four years combined. Well, now the Bears have two in the last two weeks. So yes, the Bears' defense played better, but they were helped out by Hoyer starting this

game. Josh McDaniels is living in his fears. Starting him over O'Connell was insane. Oh, why? Hoyer was staring down receivers. He was begging for a pick six all day. He ends up with 129 yards and two interceptions on 32 attempts. And he was making the types of mistakes if O'Connell was making it the whole time. You're like, oh, that's a rookie. That's a rookie. Just like locking into certain guys. Almost every pass he through was touched by a bear's defender. It was just like, is, Is the Raiders, is Devanti Adams going to make a contested catch? Or are they going to intercept the ball? Are they going to knock?

Boyers lost 13 straight starts. And what are you even telling your locker room? It shouldn't be playing. Put O'Connell in there. Let the young player play. There's a great line in the final season of Succession. Actually, I think it's the last scene with Logan Roy, the Patriarch and the children at a karaoke bar, I think, in Chinatown.

and he goes after they you know they they unload on the father you know because they want to have control of the company and then he kind of just buries him because I love you but you're not serious people and that's what I feel like the Raiders and specifically McDaniels when he's making decisions like this like you're not a serious head coach I can't I can't get even invested in them right now do you want to know the moment and well they're going to be on Monday night football next week I think it's their last prime time game, but my God, it's Lions Raiders Monday night. Watch us on Channel 5 in the UK. Daniel Carlson kicked a 25-yard field goal on fourth and, you know, I think it was at like the six or seven, after a seven-minute 15 play drive to cut the score to 21 to 6. You're like, oh, okay, well, that must have been in the second quarter, maybe early 30. No, no.

No, that was in the mid, that was in the fourth quarter. Logan. That was in the fourth quarter. It was 21 to 3 and he asked for a field goal and there were actually some Raiders fans that and I was like

you can't be serious Josh McDaniels they were like well it cuts it to two scores what about this game was going to tell you that they were going to get down there to possibly

score a touchdown or that they would stop the Bears running game the Bears of course probably went on a seven minute drive and put points up by themselves it's just you're right they're not as serious

I heard Greg getting off about this during the day in the news this because I have an attachment to Josh McDaniels he was part of a lot of great moments. And you know what? He might be,

have success yet in this league as an offensive coordinator. But this ain't a thing. Before we move on, I want to say, can we put, you know, our producer, by far we've had a lot of producers.

It's turning into like a, like a drummer from a spinal tap situation. The pop culture references are all over spanning the decades. Greggy, 40s, 50s, 80s, thousands. Let's take a look at Tyson Badgen when he got the, uh, the game ball. I mean,

Eric Roberts, what I was going to say, Eric Roberts is the most inked producer we ever had. Yes, by far. Sydney was close. Not since AJ McCarran, have we seen ink like this. Would you look at that? I mean, that is a lot of work.

And Eric, you're a man who's turned your body into a canvas. To get that amount of work done on the, breastplate and surrounding territories that's got to be you got to have respect for that right right yeah we talked about a little before it's a lot of work a full chest piece across the shoulder down to looks like at least the mid forearm um and it's a lot of like scripture a lot of like it looks religious but yeah the breastplate is what i've heard is probably the most painful i've

my brother has a pretty big american eagle brother across his chest and um he has a bunch my whole family has a bunch and he said that's the only one where he's thought about like tapping out Dude, he's got a prop engine plane on his left. His dad is like the 17-time arm wrestling champion of the universe. Yeah, they're built different in the Bayesian family. He's browing out pretty hard in this video where the game ball, backwards hat, trucker hat, and tatted up. I respect him, though.

It was pretty cool. I don't, you know, don't let him win another game or else like the discourse in Chicago will just be a little too much. but I think we can have a nice story without making it a like him or him type of thing. Do you have any tattoos, Dan? No. Not like a, would you, would you be, could be compelled to get one?

I know Greg does. No, I mean, you guys, two of you are turning into, you know, like I'm in a biker bar when I step in here. Every time I look at you guys, you have a new, new me. But no, I've never had the urge quite honestly. No, I think it's not judgmental. No, it's your choice. fine. I hope you have that

opinion. Like, no judging your way? I'm not saying that you should have them. I just didn't know. I've not seen your entire. I mean, you knew wouldn't it be shocking. If Dan was like, yeah, I've got a Taylor Swift on my lower back. That would be, but I mean, it could be something else. No,

nothing yet, but open-minded if something really strikes me. Yep, good. All right. Shout out to that listener who had the heed the call tattoo in a similar spot as me. Oh, you're right. Matching. In London. That was Even the font, I think, was similar. I have, like, the typewriter font.

He didn't go all caps like me, but it's pretty similar. Did you a little annoyed, actually? Sneaky and I like, that's my IP? No, we've seen many listeners that have Head the Call tattoos. And I, it's one of the things that gives me, like, the most amount of joy in thinking about Chris, seeing those out there. Pretty cool. Greg was not going to let you turn that into something there, Dan, so. Just a nice try, though.

You're weird. The Sunday night football. Second out of three. Hertz takes the gun, goes to Gamewell. Gamewell spins. He's in. Touchdown. Not to be denied.

Kenny Gamewell takes this thing off the left tackle and he gets hit on about the two yard line, but he smells pay dirt. He spins. He keeps his balance and he's into the end zone. That's what they call a cartwheel. He cartwheeled into the end zone. Is that a cartwheel? was a cartwheel.

Well, yeah. You know, he's just about to say that Merrill Reese and Mike Quick were a great Batman and Robin there. And then Merrill comes in with the cartwheel. It wasn't a cartwheel. Like a spinnerama. A spinnerama.

Okay. Now I could run with spinnerama. Anyway. Yes, it was a nice short touchdown run by Kenneth Gainwell and the Philadelphia Eagles use a strong second half uh to take care of business 31 17 at home over the miami dolphins so the eagles moved to six

and one um proving to three and oh at home and you know putting some of that bad bad blood of the the week six loss to the jets to bed um and gregg is a great finish for this team because after a pick six by hertz in the third quarter it's 17 17 and then philly did what a true super bowl contender does against another big time opponent, they just took control. I think this was a major step forward for the Eagles to get to five and one,

to six and one, rather, because they checked a lot of boxes. Neither of these teams had really played quality opposition. If you look at the five wins the dolphins had against soft teams, the one time they played another good team, they got smoked. Philadelphia comes

into this game, and they know they're catching the dolphins at the right time. Zavian Howard is out the offensive line is injured they lose Isaiah win right off the bat and they looked like the better team but I think it's a box check for Sean Desai their defensive coordinator who

was just kind of learning on the job who comes up with a really good game plan it's it's a box check for their defensive line if you're going to make all that money let's get after the quarterback who's the hardest to get after in the league and they did they hit him six times to a got rid of the ball quickly plenty

but they got after him and then Jalen Hertz who's been a different player this year, but I think this game was emblematic of that. Like his highs are higher, and he has way more lows. He already has more turnovers this year than he had all of last year. Whoa. But the highs are pretty goddamn special. And that 42-yarder to A.J. Brown was great. The throw on the run, what was it, on the third down, was that also to Brown in the first half

or to DeVantz Smith? Like, he made some really special plays in this game, and that was more than enough to get the win. Yeah. That is a crazy stat about her. It's the 10 turnovers versus eight. Yep. It's week seven. Yeah. Um, so yeah, the, you could another way to put it is he's been, you know, more inconsistent, uh, than a year ago. And tonight though, like he after that, uh, pick six when the games looked like it could potentially slip away, um, the offense kind of put it together and took care of business. And I think, um, this was a performance that on two, on two sides, the Eagles where we're trying to figure out who they are and whether these issues on offense or serious issues or just a team that's still relatively early in the season and figuring themselves out with a new offensive coordinator.

On the Dolphin side, I think it's a very real, it's a very fair thing to ask Greg that, that, you know, there's no doubting that this is a special offense when things are humming. but once again now it was to the bills in week four and now the Eagles here in week seven when when it was time to really ball out against a big time team they don't really show up 20 points against the bill 17 against the Eagles and questions will persist about whether they are able to be the team they need to be when it matters against the opponents when they step up

they got they got the chiefs in two weeks by the way in Germany that's a big time game for NFL Network getting one of the games of the year. Lucked out with us. It's not too late. Schedule makers. Book a flight. Look, the Dolphins got 12 first downs in this game. Now, they're a team that like gets a lot of chunk plays.

But tonight, Sean Desai, as I mentioned, did a good job. Even though they gave up a lot of throws over the middle, Tyree Kill has a long at 27. Cedric Wilson has a 29. Waddle doesn't get anything over 16. They prevented the big plays. The dolphins are unlikely to be one of the great offenses of all time. That's a ridiculous bar to go after.

Can they be the best offense in the NFL this year? Like, they can, but you need to be better than 12 first downs, 244 yards on a day where I know your Dolphins fans are going to point out. Like, look, we're missing Toronto Armstrong. Newsflash, you're always missing Toronto Armstrong. Like he's out for half the season every, almost every season. Every team is missing key guys every week. Right. And that's part of Armstead.

And then said win gets hurt. And so can you work? around it. I thought Tua made some really special throws in this play. I mean, they could have been smoked in this game. It actually, in a different scenario, like it could have not been closer. He had a great third and nine in the first quarter, which would save them near the goal line. He also had a third and 18 late in the second quarter, which was just an absolute dime. And they end up getting a touchdown right before the half in part because of that 1318. But he was not convincing otherwise. And to me, the biggest play of the entire game was

he leaves one up for grabs that Darius Slay picks off just left it in the air too long at first it looks like a touchdown then it very well could have been a pass interference so they got a little bit of a linebacker just railroads the receiver and and then Slay intercepts it and it was almost like the official got distracted

by the interception but either way just the timing was just a little bit off and this whole thing of like to a MVP it's like you got to play better in the big games. And he didn't play bad in this game, but they weren't enough. Like the best part of this game were the two Philly lines. Like they've been the last two seasons, they are the dominant force in the NFC. Yeah, there's a third and eight who it drops a gorgeous bucket past TD to Tyree Kill who runs through bracketed coverage. And again, it just showed with

39 seconds to play in the half that just shows you how different he is. But Tyree Kill also had a huge drop that would have been a back pocket touchdown that they lose that. And then a blown call by the officials on the next play, a no call on a fourth down pass turns the ball over. Now, they get the pick six. Football gods step in and go, whoa, whoa, whoa, pump the brakes there. Pick six right after that. So things kind of get evened out there. But in general, yeah, that was kind of to me when I was thinking about the dolphins.

They just have to take their game to a higher level because they're built right now. from a if you're someone who's doubting them like you are going to run up you're just going to run up the score against these bad teams but we're now seeing maybe a trend here of them getting punched in the mouth against bigger opponents so you know the afc yes the a fc was it though the afc uh is it a little bit interesting greggy oh you were enjoying this one you did not want your adult what so the jets so we got they got a break here by the from the patriots your your buddies the patriots helped them out today my buddies the patriots yes they they knock off the bills so the bills are now four and three dolphins fall so they're five and two the jets on by pick up a half game on both teams at three and three very interesting uh i still i mean who is the favorite in this division i i i guess i don't know i guess miami i'm not shaken that much by this is a tough spot to go on the road on sunday night after the loss that the eagles had um it felt like it was kind of stacked against them with armstead out they could not get the running game going at all they had negative eight

rushing yards the dolphins in the first quarter which is their worst since 2013 so in a lot of ways it was kind of uphill climb for them a tough game but i'm not i'm not hitting the panic button put it that way i i think the bills are still the favorites but they're one and two in the division with losses to the jets and the patriot so it it is a straight it is a strange season the dolphins have to feel good that they have a a game a couple games in the loss call or a game in the loss call them in hand, but they got smoked by the bills. And an interesting thing happened today, just standings in

general, including the Patriots. All these one-win teams won, Dan. The Patriots got their second win. The Broncos got their second win. The Giants got their second win. The Bears got their second win. So, you know, if you're the Bears, you're loving

life that you own that Panthers draft pick, that's a nice, solid number one. You got the Cardinals, but just big picture, like a lot of these teams at the Bottom got wins. Parity like a python around spray, even tighter its grip on the NFL. Two last things for me. Once again, the third and short, fourth in short set up for the Eagles is beyond flawless.

I will say one thing, and you listen to me, Eagles fans, Philadelphia people, sports fans who have a very, it's very nice time to be alive in Philadelphia is a sports fan with the Phillies and the Eagles. Um, you don't get it. No, it's not brotherly shove. You don't get it. I know you want it to be brotherly shove, but it's the touch push. And you got to live with that. That's the name that history will remember it by you have you noticed this. They're trying to make it a thing.

Yeah. Trying to change the name because they don't think that's a cool name. They're like brotherly shove. That's a cool name. You don't get it. I'd like that the NBC tried to split the difference in on the graphic tonight. They say they were four for four on the QB push play. I was like,

nobody wins there that let's uh but they were four for four it's remarkable how many situations they are in like that and you know they go for it they had to take a time out because seriani changed his mind thought better of it was going to punt it away uh in a one score game right that was bizarre midway through the fourth quarter well it's not that bizarre though because they're on their own 25 it's not that much earlier but there's not a lot of thinking going on in the NFL anymore it's all data driven right but no one is made you have a very 82 versus 79% win probability to go for it. Yeah, but I, I disagree because I think 31 other teams would have punted that

or maybe like 29 other teams, but because they have this superhuman play that can never be stopped, uh, they do it. And no one else can do it. What do you mean? Tush push. It is the tush push. And then they go on these long drives. It's been an inconsistent offense, but man, they go on these long drives. I got another thing. You had a second thing. Well, my second thing real quick is that, uh, no, you do your thing and then I'll do one more. I just want Eric to remind me who won the lockoff tonight. Yeah. I locked it off.

The bad for him by Sessler, like I, he said he had something to take care of this morning. I was like, oh, no problem. Because it's a long season. We got different things in our lives. But I had forgot that there was a lockoff. You can't abandon your post. You can't abandon your post on a lockoff. No.

And, I mean, he's abandoning a post in these lock standings. I think he's three back. needed this. Did he do it on? Was there more to it? Remember the Kaiser Soze Sessler that we discovered in the draft a few weeks back. Did he get bad vibes about how this game would turn out? Yeah.

Does that explain? Well, that's your opinion. He is not thrilled, I know, from hearing from him even before this game started that he jumped out of his Browns lock. Never jump out of it. But maybe it was ball, don't lie. You know, he's not here for the lockoff and ball don't lie. I have to say, I disgust me to say it.

But I feel like you're in a little bit of a groove in the locks right now. And I don't feel overly confident. In fact, I'm almost ready to kind of call it. Oh, this is the. Because there's no way at this point that we're going to catch you because you're just. This is like, oh, break out the locks playbook from Dan. It's like once he falls too back, he breaks out this old canard. Give me a break.

Last one. And maybe this is me showing my age. But is it just me or all these 80s throwback uniforms better than all the current ones? Like every team, I saw it with. the Giants today. I see with the Jets. I see with the Eagles tonight. I just, they're pretty. They're nice. Well, the Kelly Greens are particularly beautiful. They're among my favorite uniforms in sports history. Tell me one. Randall Cunningham back there. That's been, that's popped up recently that

you're like, oh, that's not an upgrade over what they usually wear. The Patriots, Pat Patriot. That's better. Well, those, how about those bumblebee uniforms by the Steelers? But that was like throwing it back to like the 40s. No, that's. No, that was ridiculous. That's not what I'm talking about. Yeah, I'm talking about those 70s, 80s. They're always better.

Yeah, whatever. It's, you know, everything's cyclical. All right, that's good. Thank you to everybody for checking us out. We have a big week coming up on around the NFL because the trade deadline's around the corner, so we're going to have a special trade deadline episode with Mike Garifolo, who's as plugged in as anybody in the league

and some other fun coming up as well as more NFL plus goodness. We have our Game of the Week rewatch, which is going to be Browns. Colts, that's going to be a wild one. Colts, Cessler will be there for that, I bet. So be there Monday. A lot of content and our Monday night recap and news. Wow, we're busy. Head the call.

This is an I-heartedly. Thank you.