NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 2024 Week 10 Recap

Episode Date: November 11, 2024

Gregg Rosenthal is joined by Patrick Claybon and Nick Shook to recap all of the Week 10 action from around the NFL. The show starts with a break down of Steelers at Commanders (01:25), followed by Broncos at Chiefs (11:44), 49ers at Buccaneers (20:16), Bills at Colts (30:09), Cardinals at Jets (37:10), Falcons at Saints (46:10), Patriots at Bears (56:07), Titans at Chargers (01:05:21), Vikings at Jaguars (01:13:15), Eagles at Cowboys (01:21:55), Panthers versus Giants in Munich (01:30:48) and Lions at Texans (01:39:30). Note: time codes approximate. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Welcome to NFL Daily, where we never let our last second field goal get blocked. I'm here in the Chris Wesleyan podcast studio. Not annoyed at all that the Chiefs keep just winning these games somehow. Next to my friend, Patrick Claibon. and joined by our friend Nick Shook, live from Cleveland, who gets in his one word at the top of the show. One word to describe week 10 so far.

Grueling. Grooing. Okay. Because of grueling. Maybe he's talking about the late after the window. The late window was rough, guys. It disappointed us, and that's the great thing about this week 10 recap show. Patrick, we just don't have to start.

Yeah, we can just move that along, as it did feel like we were in line at like a Swedish prison and we were getting grueled like ladled into us. Yeah, it's like in the late 18th. Like, oh, would you like a little more Cooper Rush? Oh, here's a little Trey Lance interception. No, thank you. I'll deal with scurvy. That's why we start at the beginning

when there was a lot of excitement, a lot of great games, not a lot of results that I think shocked me. I'm not going to say we're settling into the part of the season where we're figuring teams out because the second you think that it'll flip again. But this was a Sunday where I don't think there were a lot of results that were crazy, but there were results and games that were entertaining, starting in Landover.

Let's go to Steelers against the commanders. Wilson settles back, raises the foot, gets the snap, back to pass, looking. Going to float it up left for Williams, and Williams makes the grab in the end zone. What a throw, what a catch. Mike Williams in his first game and a Steelers uniform has hauled in a 32-yard touchdown strike from Russell Wilson. Oh, he threw that ball, wang-dang-doodle down to six. sidelines. I don't think I've ever seen anything like this. First target, first catch, could be a game winner, King, or unbelievable.

That was Rob King and Craig Wolfley. You'll hear from both Wolfley brothers on this show. WD.V.E. Yes, Mike Williams, his first target as a stealer was one of those teardrop Russell Wilson throws that, you know, he's made famous. 28, 27, the Steelers pulled on after a little bit of controversy, after some stupidity by Washington in the following couple of minutes. But Nick, I'm going to start this game without having one big takeaway, because this was not a game for one big takeaway. Like, if you watched every single snap, Jaden and Russell Wilson, both struggled for good stretches of the game. They only threw 50% completion.

Both special teams really messed up. You look at the final score. You think the defenses didn't play that well, but the two offenses barely averaged more than four yards per play. It was situational. It was coaching. It was a little bit of everything. But it ends with Russell Wilson making the plays,

having a couple great throws in the fourth quarter, one to Pickens, one to Mike Williams, and the commanders not being able to execute at the end. And after a while, I think you just have to believe that the Steelers at 7 and 2 are here to stay. They can beat good teams. They can beat bad teams and that they're going to be a main character in this AFC race the rest of the way. Yeah, I think that if, and this is no knock on Justin Fields, but if he was still their quarterback, this might have gone differently for them.

This win more than anything, I think, justifies Mike Tomlin's decision to go to Russell Wilson in the way that they finished that game. But that's not the only, you know, main takeaway from the Steelers' performance. What it really was to me, visually, was a battle between playoff contenders. And the records match what we saw. Now, not two elite teams, not a shootout, but a team that, you know, the Steelers is a good defense. It's going to limit the strength of the commanders, which is Jaden Daniels and the Cliff Kingsbury offense. And they're kind of going to go toe to toe back and forth.

They're going to have some mistakes. Like if you look at the possession chart for the Steelers, first off, a ton of possessions. But secondly, it ends an interception, fumble, touchdown, end of game. That's about the entire spectrum of how drives can finish for you. you because it was that type of game, but a gritty win for a Steelers team that just specializes in winning games like this, no matter the quarterback, and because they have Russ, they're able to throw themselves to victory in not a desperate situation, but a situation in which he's under pressure, he throws it off his back foot and puts it perfectly

on the new guy, Mike Williams, who makes a big play in a big spot. I joked because we had, the day on the trade deadline, we had Tom Pellasero on NFL Fantasy Live, and we're asking him about the Mike Williams trade. And literally, there were six Mike Williams highlights. in the package that we showed. All five of them were balls down the sideline, like go balls or deep shots down the sideline. And the meme and criticism of Russell Wilson is that's all he does.

Okay. Well, now Mike Williams comes in. And his first catch is a go-ahead touchdown. The Steelers were able to take risks. They had the fake punt early deep in their own territory. And they had that. It was a good look. It was a good call.

Just execution, a drop out on the edge. and so the commanders get their first scoring opportunity there but what leaps off to me was I was thinking the Steelers defense would give Washington and Jane Daniels problems with scrambling. He had three carries for five yards.

And I went back and looked his entire career at Arizona State and at LSU only one game where he had less than five yards rushing. It was when they got blown out by Georgia in 2022. Other than that, that's a carry. That's one play for Jane Daniels. The Steelers were able to shut him down all

game. They had a great rush plan where I think they decided to give up a little bit of, you know, getting sacks. It wasn't a huge sack day for them to stay in their, you know, with their integrity. And Tomlin said after the game, like, you've got to be careful comparing him to Lamar Jackson. That's a multi-time MVP. That's Mr. Jackson. We'll see him in a few days. And I think what he was saying was just, look, he's done it before against Lamar Jackson. Let's see what Jane Danos can do. And they only had 60 yards rushing the commanders all day. I think they missed Brian Robinson. And you're right pointing out how many possessions

they had. That short touchdown drive was part of a first quarter where they had four possessions and they barely moved the ball at all. Like three, three and outs. You just hadn't seen this. And yet they did get a lead because they got a short field. They had a nice touchdown drive before halftime.

They were really good situationally. They had another one coming out of the half and they're kind of rolling. Cliff is getting Terry McLauran open. I'm so impressed with how Cliff Kingsbury has called games this year, and I flip it around when they were in a good spot thinking they're going to be able to stop Pittsburgh. And I'm wondering, like, why aren't these teams playing Russ with split safeties anymore? I texted our friend Mina Kimes about it, and she just is going crazy because 83% they played cover three today. Russ was one for three

for 13 yards against cover three. And like, that is his one move. And I think if you're a defensive coordinator, you've got to do everything you can to stop it because otherwise their running game was okay, I would say on Sunday. But the passing game was very erratic. They had the great touchdown early that Pickens adjusts for. There's another deep sideline that Pickens makes a great play. But otherwise, it was a lot of go balls that Russ likes to throw to Calvin Austin and Van Jefferson. And they were not working. So this was a game with a lot of possessions. It was really intriguing both ways because Washington couldn't get much of a pass rush except for Frankie Louvre on a blitz. Their natural pass rush wasn't working. It was two, I think,

really well-coached teams, which is why the ending was a little surprising. Let's break it down here. Commanders get the ball back after that touchdown that we just heard. And Washington starts moving the ball. They don't get the first down on a play, a fourth and nine to Zach Ertz, where he's coming back from the ball. They rule him just short. The replays aren't really conclusive. I actually think they probably made the right call. It was, it was tough to really figure out. The Steelers get the ball back, just needing one first down to really ice the game. They get it to a fourth and one at midfield. They go out, then they rush to the ball to get a snap. They are able to draw Johnny Newton offside game over.

over. They were never going to snap the ball. They were going to punt it away. So in the end, in a coaching game where the margins were so slim, I think, like, the Steelers kind of won it in the end. And a rookie on Washington side, you know, failed them. And Pittsburgh gets out of it here with the win. Yeah, and that was a bummer for Newton. In that instance, you knew they were never going to snap the ball. At one point, they thought they were going to put the punt team out there. And then also the offense trots back out there. But it is what it is. That's what happens when you're a young player in the NFL. On that spot, though, they did get the right call. Like, it was correct. He was short, but

where they actually spotted the ball was wrong. I just want to point that out. I know I'm completely splitting hairs, but he was not at the 42. His foot was at the 42. The rest of his body was near the 41. So let's just get that straight. I'm with you on that, Nick, and I think it's something that and again, it maybe only bothers those of us who

truly are frustrated with consistent spotting of the football. But if you're going to review whether or not the line to gain was obtained, at the very least, the very least we could do, let's put the ball in the right spot. The Steelers are going to get the ball. Exactly. The Steelers are going to get the ball anyway.

Okay. But I would just like to have seen it, because if it's in a challenge situation, we see it happen a lot where the coach is challenging that they didn't get the line to gain, but the challenge does reveal the spot was way off. I think coaches shouldn't lose that challenge, but ultimately, yeah, it's a rough one for Johnny Newton. You could see, you could sell in the Steelers body language after they got him to jump off sides.

That there was. In fact, no way they were going to snap the ball. That's why they were celebrating so viciously, like six Russell Wilson fistpumps to to go with it. Russell had some nice dance moves afterwards. Like, I haven't seen him move that well on a field in a while. He did have one scramble, like for six yards. That was kind of key.

I was like, okay, he's moving a little bit better. I will point out, I think Jane Daniels was a little off in this game. Now, it might have been what the Steelers were showing him before after the snap. But you just missed about four or five throws that would have made a difference by just a couple yards. Like a Noah Brown throw on that final drive right before the fourth down. where Noah Brown had a chance to come back and catch it. But if he had led Noah Brown, I think, you know, maybe he makes that catch. There was a big miss to McCaffrey.

There was a couple others where maybe he didn't lead receivers in such a way. And just a couple misses that we hadn't seen from Jane Daniels most of the season. I'll give the Steelers a lot of credit. I think we're kind of confusing him. He only ends up 50% completion, massive win for the Steelers to get to 7 and 2 because their schedule is so tough coming up. The commanders fall to 7 and 3. And while we're giving Russ some love, let's look at his instant.

Instagram post, because I thought this was cool. Two of the class of 2012, him and Bobby Wagner, both getting it done in this game. They signed each other's jerseys forever legendary, forever brothers. Love you for life, bro. They gave us an

F grade in 2012. This is true. I do remember, actually, there were some like Fs. The Seahawks did not... He needs the name and shame. Yeah. This isn't one where it's a straw man, because I remember this was a story for a couple years after that where their draft grades were not great

when they drafted the great Russell Wilson and Bobby Wagner, maybe someday teammates in Canton. Let's go to Arrowhead where, yes, the Chiefs are quarterbacked by a man who will one day in being Canton himself. Go Lutz.

For Bonie the snap, Wiley the Hold, Lex the kick to win it. Oh! But! The Chiefs have won. The Chiefs have won. That is the great Kevin Harlan. We usually go locally, but Kevin Harlan's so freaking awesome.

I hope to one day do something, one time, as good as Kevin Harlan is on the microphone. That was the call of the block. Heard round the world. Leo Chanel, what a season this guy is having. Gets the Block more on him in a minute, 16 to 14. Looked like the Chiefs were finally going to get picked off. everyone would have been saying they were looking ahead to the bill

I don't know about that it was a division game Broncos played well but not well enough they fall to five and five and the Chiefs remain undefeated Patrick at 9 and 0 Nick rather it's your game when you saw that happen

did you think like ball don't lie that the Chiefs played well enough to win or were you just like no come on man no I was bummed for the Broncos because they played well enough to win I mean Bo Nick's had a great game made a rough second half but he put together They're a great drive to get them in position there.

He converts a third and six with a 13-yard pass to Cortland Sutton. Broncos fans are going crazy, both there in Denver, online, everywhere. They're going to pull it off. They bleed the clock down. They're in perfect position for Will Lutz to hit a relatively simple field goal. And then the overload block from the Chiefs just barrels through the left side of that line and they get the block. You know, if it wasn't Leo Chanel who got it, I think somebody else probably would have got it because they obliterated the left side of that line there. They were all out going for it.

And I don't know if it was an answering of a prayer, but the Chiefs, were in dire straits there. And really it started on the previous offensive possession where it's third and goal. And Patrick Mahomes has Travis Kelsey open in the end zone and he sails it over his head. They have to settle for a field goal, which then opens the door for the Broncos to get down there. But yeah, I thought the Broncos played well

enough to win. They played probably one of their best games of the season. They came out hot. They took a 14 to 3 lead. Bo Nix was firing passes all over the field. But Steve Spagnolo's defense did adjust in the second half. They got more pressure on him. They had a Nick Bolton's sack on, I think it was second or third down, a long, huge loss that set them back.

and they had to punt and give the ball back to the Chiefs. So a back and forth game, a classic divisional rivalry. But the first time, really, I've seen from the Broncos, where I thought, you know, there might be a little bit of fraudulence to this team. They went toe to toe to toe with the Chiefs in a low-scoring affair, and the Chiefs were the same offense they were. And at the end of the day, the special teams, build them out. Yeah, and coming into the game, this was something Greg Rosenthal predicted,

that the Chiefs offense, despite how they looked against Tampa Bay, going in a familiar team against the Vance Joseph defense that has given them problems over the past few years would slow things down. Now, again, Baham's Salem won over Kelsey's head. That's just the universe. Sometimes it just doesn't necessarily work out. But I wondered watching, as you mentioned, Shug, just the wave of Chiefs Defenders over the left side of that field goal unit,

if we're not seeing the lingering impacts of the giants and the hold down block kick, where we've said multiple guys get jumped over. And so now perhaps these protectors are a little more upright in these pressure situations. and getting bowled over. Just something that jumped in mind. That's a losing strategy, Patrick. Low man wins. That's the basis of football right there.

My old boss, Florio, did some good reporting on this, talking to Chanel after the game. And they said some tape study, just how the person he was going against had set up the last time, indicated he would be vulnerable to just like a power rushing move that they could get him off his feet. But Chanel pointed out what you did, Nick, was that we had the time,

We had their snap timed up so well that everyone was getting through. So something that they saw on tape, just great job. It comes down to special teams. They've been one of the best coach special teams for a long time. It's Dave Taub there, right? And so the chiefs get a special team's win. They can win all sorts of different ways. What did you think about how Mahomes look?

And yes, Vance Joseph held this team to 14 points per game last year. They beat them by two scores last year in one game. I know that Chief's team was struggling at the time, but it was 24 to 9 in one of that Broncos game. So it doesn't surprise me coming off a short week, coming off a week where they had a ton of plays against the Bucks, 83 plays on offense specifically, and the Broncos' really good defense takes advantage.

What did you see out of Mahomes? Because I heard some that maybe didn't look a little gimpy on the ankle and the red zone efficiency, not great. Kareem Hunt leads them in receiving, which is a little weird. Yeah, they had some struggles in the red zone, but what really stood out to me was Denver's defense found a way to generate pressure all afternoon. Nick Benito went crazy against them.

In fact, he should have had another sack, but he slipped off of Patrick Mahomes' shoulders and then he throws a pass down the sideline to Samajai Piron, which then prompts Kevin Harlan to go, how does he do it? It's true. Like, it's a magic act that Mahomes pulls off, but they weren't as frequent as they were in past games. They very much looked like the same offense, except the pressure rate was so much higher. Their success rate drops down to 36.9% offensively for the chiefs.

And a huge, that was a result of this. this Denver defense, which did a great job. They finished with four sacks. They were getting after them all day, and it kind of undercut a lot of what they do offensively, which is not spectacular. They did take a couple shots. He had Xavier Worley down the sideline.

He kind of missed him toward the sideline out of bounds, and then Worthy got up slowly after that. So just one of those challenging games, and I think familiarity had a lot to do with it. Denver had a good game plan, and they were able to execute. The only downside for them is that they came out as the loser. Yeah, let's listen to Sean Payton reacting to the loss.

I felt like we outplayed them, but we didn't finish. and we had an opportunity to right at the end. We kind of controlled the ball, and we've got to be able to finish. That one will take a while. It'll sting. Yeah, it will because they're at 5 and 5,

and just the way their schedule sets up, that could have given them some cushion where they're like just solidly in for a while. Now they have Atlanta next week. That's kind of a coin flip game, but then they have some easier games, Raiders, Browns, by week and then the Colts, and then they finish at Chargers at Bengals, Chiefs. So the Broncos are going to be right in the thick of this.

This would have given them a little bit of breathing room before some of those tougher games. Yeah, and to make things worse, as you guys pointed out, this is a team that they're very familiar with. They knew that they had this opportunity. Patrick Mahomes got pressured on 20 of his dropbacks, which is the most pressure rate-wise since that Broncos game that you referenced last season. I was going to say, he doesn't allow that much. pressure, because pressure can be a quarterback stat sometimes, and usually he just avoids it, gets rid of it. But even with the way that NGS is generating pressures, and we talk about, it's kind of a

proximity alert, and it just shows that Vance is able to get bodies around Patrick Mahomes, where other teams don't necessarily get that. Maybe they don't feel comfortable doing it, but the Denver Broncos have the personnel, and they have the game plan to be able to do this. It's just, you got to protect the care. And Broncos fans, like, they want everyone to just, like, admit, like, just give Bo Nicks the credit. Like, he's got as many touchstones as any rookie.

And blah, blah, blah, blah. It's like, Bo Nix is getting better. I think it's the most important thing about this Broncos season is that Bo Nix has had a steady incline. I'm not, I'm not saying he's, like, going to be a superstar. Like, we don't know where it goes, but it's been obvious

steady progress to being a capable starter. Before we go, I want to give a little love again to our friend, Kevin Harlan, and then to Travis Kelsey, because he doesn't get enough love. he set a record today. First and goal, Gray, the tight end.

Mahomes, caught for the touchdown. There it is. The old-time chief's leading touchdown receiver from the Holmes. That will give you something to sing about. Perfectly timed with the shot of Taylor Swift. No one's doing it better than Kevin Harlan. No one's doing it better than Mahomes and Kelsey. What a big play that was down 14 to 3 on fourth down.

Kelsey somehow gets a free release. His numbers have been awesome, especially since Hopkins showed up 8 for 64 in a touchdown for Kelsey. So they win. What about the team that they defeated in the Super Bowl last season to Tampa? To win the game, the North Uprits, and to fire a cannon shot right at the Pirate. ship and win the game. Tabor Pepper will snap to Mitch Wischnowski. Number four, we'll try to make

it here. Good snap. Jake has it away. Jake has the distance and Jake Moody is good. Money! Moody! Wow. Somehow, some way the Niners win in Tampa Bay. That was Greg Papa on K-N-B-R. Yes, a game that changed in so many different directions. I don't even want to talk about it. I just want to give it to the man who was locked in because I feel like so much happened in this game that I don't know what happened in this game, Nick Shook.

Where do you want to start? It started with Brock Purdy. Everybody can talk about Christian McCaffrey's back that's going to change the offense. And he finished with over 100 yards from scrimmage, which is great, right? But what really propelled them to victory was Brock Purdy's ability to overcome adversity. He finished 25 or 353 and two touchdowns.

A lot of these drives stalled. A lot of these drives stalled and ended in Jake Moody missing field goals. He missed three of his six attempts today. Like he got to the point where I was like, are they going to leave him on the tarmac when they go back to Tampa Airport and fly home? Because it was that ugly. I thought he cost them a number of points, obviously, and put them in a position where they could potentially lose the game.

But when it gets down to the final seconds, he was able to squeeze one inside the upright and get that money moody call. If they don't, they don't get there without Purdy playing the way he did today. And he wasn't perfect. He put some balls in the wrong shoulders of guys and everything else, but he consistently moved this ball down the field for the 49ers. They nearly doubled the Buccaneers in total yards,

413 to 2.15. And that's only with a three minute difference in time of possession. That's how efficient their offense was. They kept getting down there. They just couldn't finish drives. He made one spectacular play, rolling out on the left, and he has basically nowhere to go and Kittle hit Scramble drill, goes to the back corner of the end zone and Purdy puts one perfectly on him.

He makes a toe-tapping grab in the end zone for a touchdown in a back-and-forth affair that required a full 60 minutes of effort from both teams. And the Niners were on the ropes. The Buccaneers led an incredible drive where Baker converts a fourth down while he's got a stiff arm holding out Nick Bosa off of him as he just lets one go out of desperation. They convert. They get down to the seven and then they get stopped and they have to settle for three, which opens the door for them to get back down the field

and kick the game winning field goal, Jake Moody, getting it done there. So I think it's a win that's typical, the Niners this season. Nothing is easy for this team, at least when it comes to final score. Even when they win games against Dallas, you know, they had to explode for points and then it got close late a few weeks ago. They lost that game to Arizona. At one point, Debo is getting in an argument with the kicking unit on the sideline that gets physical for a second.

Like the vibes are not good, but it was really good for them to get this win and get over 500 on a very trying day in Tampa. Yeah, if you're watching on YouTube, you can see the, the picture of Debo swiping at the long snapper, Tabor Pepper and Jake Moody. And that's crazy because, like, he, Debo straight up pushes the long snapper in the neck, who then follows after him. Debo talked about it afterwards and played it down, said, like, we'll talk with, you know, afterwards. Jake knows it's not serious.

And I think the long snapper was kind of like, leave my guy alone, whatever you guys talking about. Debo said it wasn't a big deal. I, you know, I lost my head a little bit, but you can't be swinging at your long snapper in the neck during the game. Yeah, Debo says it's probably a big deal, not a big deal because of the player was directed at, you know, we got to go look it up on the roster to see who the 49ers, a long snapper is, is not thinking too much about other than Tabor Pepper. Yeah, Tabor Pepper. He's got a fun name to say, and perhaps if things go great for him, we'll never say it again. Because that's the only time, shout out to Trey Junkin. We think about long snappers, especially with the San Francisco 49ers.

But looking over, it's hard to go away from this game thinking anything other than, because Baker Mayfield's stat line, 18 to 2,916 yards in a touchdown, nothing really to sneeze at. But this Tampa Bay Buccaneers team is hurt. They were down. The 49ers were coming off the by. They just lost an overtime game in the rain to Kansas City. And as Shook said, they did not go away.

it wasn't just that play. Baker had another incredible play avoiding a sack later on on that drive and perhaps they got rescued the 49ers did by the motivation of Debo Samuel because Jake T. didn't miss after that incident. Yeah, he actually even said like he he was trying to give Moody all the credit but he kind of made it sound like maybe he motivated Moody

and they were like, are you taking a little credit for it? He was like, no, no, they deserve all the credit, you know, for making that kick afterwards. It's like this could be a rare case where if Jake Moody wasn't drafted, I think he might get cut after hitting a game-winning field goal. But because they drafted him, they've really stuck with him for so long that maybe they'll bring in another kicker. Who knows?

I hear you on what you're saying about the Buccaneers. They're a really fascinating team at 4 and 6. This game reminds me just box score-wise a lot of the Lions game, which they managed to win despite getting doubled up in total yardage. And they've had a really hard schedule. and they keep just losing these heartbreakers often to really good teams. Here's their schedule after the buy,

and this is why they're still relevant at 4 and 6. Giants, Panthers, Raiders, Chargers, that's a tough one. Cowboys, Panthers, Saints. Those are six of the very worst teams in the NFL out of seven games coming up. So they have been consistently playing above their skis and they get Mike Evans back.

I think they have a chance. But, Nick, I want you to tell me, well, first of all, let's listen to the call of that Baker play, because that was one of the best plays I think I saw all year. 50% of the time, can we get seven yards, Baker-Mathield, get it to the 44, Can we? Good snap, dropping, pressure coming, out of the pocket, Mayfield with a step-bar. Looks up, Bill, looks up, Bill, throws the ball. It's caught, caught first out of the 45-yard line. Rashad White with a defender hanging on to Mayfield, and he throws a pass up for grabs,

a gain of eight on third and fourth and seven. He had Bosa holding him by one arm, and he's running and running, extending the play. Truly amazing, the game on the line, fourth and seven, got to have it. Truly, the game is over if he doesn't pick it up.

He's hanging all over him. Tom Brady says that's one of the best plays I've ever seen. So I want you to explain to me, Shook, how did they only end up with 105 yards net passing, 3.4 yards per play? And Baker's pulling off magic like that. Well, because they had three drives of double-digit plays the entire game. You went punt, punt, punt, field goal, punt, punt, touchdown, touchdown.

That's when the game got really interesting because it became a back-and-forth affair at that point. Three-and-out, three-and-out, field goal. And that drive only covered 19 yards because 39 came in penalty for a total of 58. So it was one of those games where like the Niners were in a bit of a meltdown on that drive. All the momentum is going in the Buccaneers' favor. Kevin Burkhart and Tom Brady are completely lost in. the sauce of the moment, like losing their minds over the fourth down conversion, the fact that they're even

in a position to potentially win the game, and then they run it twice on first and goal from the seven, go absolutely nowhere, kind of box themselves in and have to settle for a few goals. So that's kind of what, I mean, it was like offense in small spurts. The reliance on Kate Otten was not there like it was before he finishes with five for 35.

Like it was very much a checkdown to Rashad White. He had a really great screen pass for a touchdown perfectly executed. They got Fred Warner out there and then sealed off and White made a perfect kind of dance move through the traffic. the end zone. But like the highlights in this game were it. Like there was no like sustained drives otherwise. It was just like scoring drive and three and out, three and out, three and out, throwing drive. So you could watch the highlight package to basically get the whole

story of this game, at least from the Buccaneers perspective. Yeah. I thought Christian McCaffrey gets over 100 yards from scrimmage, but only three yards per carry on the ground against a bad run defense. There were a couple cuts in this game where I just thought, okay, let's like give it a couple weeks. I want to watch it a little closer more personally, but maybe not the quite the CMC we're used to. He didn't quite have the explosiveness that you expect from him as a runner, but I thought the best play that he made

was he ran the wheel route out of the backfield, did a little bit of a stutter step against the defensive back and purdy laid it out there perfectly for him to catch and run and it was a big completion in the time in that game. That was probably his best contribution.

And, you know, a little bit of a quiet contribution. Like, you know, he breaks 100 yards, but he wasn't the star of the show. What else can we expect from somebody who's spent, you know, all of the season up until this week trying to get back and get healthy with a muscle injury

that, you know, tends to affect your explosiveness. This is pretty much what we should expect. Meanwhile, Pearsall is a real thing. A 46-yard touchdown in this game goes four for 73. Juan Jennings is back healthy. That really helps them. He's a reliable receiver in a way that Debo is just a different category. And he comes back with 93 yards.

So all their big receivers had a 30-plus yard catch, which is crazy. Jennings, Pearsall, McCaffrey, Debo, and Kit. All the numbers looked like the Kyle Shanehan with CMC numbers that you're used to seeing. And this was a massive win for them to get to five. And five and four. I'm glad this NFC West race is going to be fun. And I'm telling you, don't dig dirt on this Bronco, this Bucks team just yet. We're just getting started on NFL daily. I'm going to take a quick break and be back to to see how Eric's bills. I mean, you kind of know how he did. He's in a good mood. And this is NFL Cover Zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different.

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

Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from scouting reports and player development to team-building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters.

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Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Taylor to the right of Flacco and the shotgun on first and ten from the Buffalo 45. Another fake handoff. Back to pass. Pressure coming.

And looking for Pierce. And it's picked off by Taylor Rap. It was tipped by Alec Pierce. And Rap was all over it. It's another takeaway for Buffalo. 23 to 13 was a. score when Taylor Rap made that interception. The Bills finish off the Colts in a 30 to 20 victory.

That probably wasn't even as close as the score indicated. Patrick, sometimes we play touchdowns. For this highlight, we played a turnover because it just felt like that was the story of the game. It was the story of the game for both teams. The turnover played game, there were five interceptions, but Josh Allen makes plays with his leg, 6.3 yards for carry enough for 50 yards as well as a rushing touchdown. The defense picking off Joe Flacco three times, once where it's tough to rank them in terms of decisions from Joe Flacko because that last one, Alec Pierce, fully extended at six feet, three inches tall with a 78.5 inch wingspan.

That goes off his fingertips, so I'm not putting that one on Alec Pierce. The first one was a pick six on the opening drive from Tehran Johnson, but that pick against where it goes off of Alec Pierce's hands kind of seals the deal. And it kind of wastes a very solid performance from Gus Bradley's defense. I had been maligning this season. Josh Allen hadn't thrown a single interception against zone coverage all season. He gets got twice today. One by E.J. Speed. The Colts playing a ton of zone.

But Josh Allen wasn't good in the snicks snaps of man that they played. With no Keon Coleman, no Amari Cooper, both out with wrist injuries. The Colts run game played well. 78 yards over expected for Jonathan Taylor. 21 carries 114 yards, but not enough to overcome these flaco I&Ts. There was also a Greg Russo strip sack that Damar Hamlin recovered for the bills. A workman-like road win in the AFC for both. Yeah, Dalton Kincaid also left this game with an injury.

I think he came back in and out. He said he just didn't feel good enough to protect himself out there. So we'll see if he's available. So any wins you can get when you're missing three of your biggest weapons, it shows you the depth that they can still get production. not a Khalil Shakir and James Cook in the running game. But, yeah, their defense, it's why the bills are so good. They can win all sorts of ways.

It's crazy that there was a sequence, a six-play sequence in this game where Joe Flacco was strip-sacked and then through a pass that should have been a pick-six. And then a couple snaps later had a fourth and two where he just couldn't get rid of the ball and got sacked. So whatever you were going for with Joe Flacco, it's turned out even worse than you could have possibly imagined

because you've cranked up the negative plays to a thousand but you actually haven't gotten many of the big plays shook. Yeah, for those watching on YouTube, you saw a look on Joe Flacco's face as soon as that ball was picked off. I think that explains the state of the Colts offense right now and especially in the last two weeks, which is, hey, we're going to make the change to Joe Flacco for the rest of the year because he gives us the best chance to win.

And since then, he's done nothing but turn the ball over fairly consistently. He had two touchdown passes today, but three interceptions. They had four total turnovers. You lose the turnover battle. You're going to lose games, especially against teams like the Buffalo Bill. Success rate below 40% for this offense. They're searching for answers, and they lose a game in which Taylor goes 21 for 114. Like, at this point, it makes you question the whole decision.

And I hate to do it because they've already committed to it. But did you act a little too quickly there thinking, like, we got to win games now. We're going to go to Joe Flacko. You got to remember this guy's near 40 years old. Maybe it wasn't the smartest decision right now. No, it wasn't. And you wonder now what the long-term aspirations and how you try to game out the rest of the season

with any particular decision that they could make at quarterback. But no, we have the benefit of hindsight. Some of us thought after immediately when the decision was made. It doesn't necessarily do anything for the Colts. Well, Shane Steichen hit the reporters with something that an adult says to their child. often, which he said, until I say otherwise, Joe is the starter. So like, just stop, until I say otherwise, like, just stop asking me. There was another time he said, as of now, there are, there's different reporting in

Indianapolis about, like, whose decision is this? I think the front office would have wanted Richardson the whole time, like the, the group that drafted. Ownership is a different matter. There's no way to know what ownership wants. There's no way to know for sure what Shane Steichen wants. Until I say otherwise. Joe is a starter is fascinating because they're right in the mix in the AFC at 4 and 6.

The AFC is different than the NFC in terms of that last spot. It's going to be wide open between, let's just say the Bengals, the Broncos, and the Colts. We've got a ways to go, but right now there's at least one spot for those three teams. And the Colts are one lost back and they're going to feel like they're in it. And yeah, on a day where you're able to pick off Josh Allen a couple times, you want to have a better final result than that. If I'm assigning competence points to these teams, like you just mentioned three teams right there, right? The Bengals, the Broncos, and the Colts. The Colts are a distant third as

they stand right now. Not that Flacco isn't going to be able to rediscover that magic, but whatever they're doing right now is not working. His accuracy is a little bit off. Some of it might have to do with pressure. I know it did the week prior, but like I feel better even about Bo Nix and the way that they run that offense to get him out on the perimeter and and about the Bengals, Joe Burrow having a fantastic year and just trying to keep that team afloat by himself that I do about this team right now. So they're filling up the fantasy stat sheet though. Pierce gets like 80 yards.

Josh Downs who dropped the touchdown. And the wins aren't there. To be fair, Josh Downs dropped the potential touchdown early. Yeah, that was one that was still a game. Yeah, 80 Mitchell goes for 71 yards. So yeah, let's listen to the Josh Allen rushing touchdown, which came in the second quarter. At this point, the Colts were leading late into the second quarter.

Allen in the shotgun. Here's the snap. Hand off. No, it's a keeper for Allen through the left side. 10, 5, and he's into the end zone for the touchdown. The Beast has been released. A 13-yard touchdown run by Allen. And yes, that was the most effective play in football.

There it is. There it is. I was waiting for it. Now, you misquoted me once. You said that's like the best runner in football. You said I said once. It's not that. Like, when he runs, it's the most effective play in football. Like every time it's like on a purple. play basis. It's a first down. It's a touchdown. They get through this game. When

Matt Collins is your wide receiver one and you get a win on the road, like that's a good organization. 8 and 2 headed into this Chiefs Showdown. I'm excited for it. Let's go to another game that Patrick and I were very excited to watch in the newsroom. We tried to say the late window wasn't that exciting, but this one was exciting. It's time for the Sunday Drive presented by the all-new hybrid Toyota Camry to the desert. Snap to Murray, drop straight back, a fade, right corner of the end zone Harrison. Oh, what a catch with one hand for a touchdown. Marvin Harrison Jr. hauls it in with his right arm.

Just a gorgeous drop in the bucket by Murray. Spin the pig, Kyler. Spin it. Drop it. A dime being dropped into the bucket right over the shoulder of Marvin Harrison, Jr. Spend that pig! Kyleer! Ron Wolfley, yes.

The second Wolfley, the best brother combo in the league. Ron and Craig. It's also Dave Pash involved there, KMVP. Marvin Harrison. Catching that pig. Kyler spun that pig. Two incompletions on a day where he scored three touchdowns. Two of those were on the ground, one through the air,

266 yards. It is a beautiful thing when this Cardinals' offense is humming. Drew Petzig, Patrick. He was calling up those plays. They were all working. Gosh, every single one of them. And I will leave the big references to Wolfley because I enjoy doing this

podcast with you guys. The Jets could do nothing, nothing with Drew Petting's play caller and Kyler's execution as well. Mainly simplified the fact that they started this game the Cardinals did touchdown, touchdown, touchdown. They only had one punt on the day, and Kyler Murray had a run of

17 consecutive completions breaking a Cardinals record. They gained 179 of their 266 receiving yards after the catch and garbage time came early much like us putting fraud watch on the Jets this season.

Defensively, the Cardinals held Aaron Rogers to two and a half air yards per completion. I wanted to shout out Jesse Lucetta and Xavier Thomas, who both came up with sacks. Buda Baker had one as well, but I'm not referencing him specifically because I'm affectionately calling this Cardinals defense

the search bar because every single time one of these dudes makes a play, I have to go into Google frantically during Game Day Live because I'm like, who was that Carmel's defender making a play? Those guys got sacks. One of seven under pressure was Aaron Rogers for six yards

on the day, dominant performance by the car. Yeah, another, what is it? The space bar? The search bar. That makes a lot more sense. Maybe use Bing. Google's fell offers. I did it as well when Rogers fumbled that ball, right?

And it pops up in the air. That was L.J. Collier, the big man, who could have caught it and started running. They were all over the place. It is a beautiful thing when this offense is going, like, it's intoxicated. Like, it felt like Kyler ran a lot in this game. He only ran three times. It just was, he's right there with Josh Allen as one of the most efficient runners in league. Whenever he runs, it's effective to for touchdowns.

And just their players. are awesome, which is you don't want to forget about. Like, it's great play calling, but James Connor on that catch and run for 44 yards was awesome. That one-hander by Marvin Harrison. Trey Benson is making some plays, and let's actually listen to another call

of Trey McBride. He goes four for 71 and just made one of the most athletic plays you'll see it. Snap to Murray, deep set, looking over the middle, dumping it off short, and it's caught by McBride, wrapped up, broken tackle, though, and then he hurdles a defender at the 40, 45, out of bounds.

at midfield. That was bronch-esque right there on a 17-yard catch and run. Oh my goodness, Trey McBride on the crossing

round, put it on them, breaks the tackle of Sauce Gardner and then leaps the next tackler. You can't control Trey McBride. Just more

Wolfley. This whole show should be a Wolfley show. And yeah, Cardinals fans who have stuck with this team through a lot of bad times

our loving this four game winning streak. What a fun team. They're six and four. Not surprised that they won. One of my picks on game debut. We're rolling here, but surprised that it was this one-sided, that this Jets offense shook

just, there's just not much to talk about. They lose Tyron Smith at some point in this game, but it's just Dinkin and Duncan, even in garbage time, they weren't able to like push the ball down the field. Yeah. Olu Foshano replaces Tyrant Smith at left tackle. It's not good for them.

It hasn't made good for them for a while. Rogers is still throwing a good amount of his passes under two and a half seconds. It was basically even between under and over two and a half seconds this week. That didn't matter. I mean, they were fighting an uphill battle that you knew they weren't going to catch up. They had a pass to Devons Adams in the end zone that was broken up, initially perceived as a drop, but you could see on replay that a defender got in there. The Cardinals defense is playing well enough to shut down opponents like the Jets,

who are a short passing offense that likes to rely on Breece Hall out of the back. field a lot or go to Garrett Wilson and Devante Adams. And if that's not working, they're basically going nowhere. And I hate to say it, but at three and seven, I mean, we're beyond fraud watch with them. It's a team that like when they win last week, you're like, oh, wow, I can't believe they actually finished that game strongly. That's less likely and less frequent than the opposite, which is what we got more of on Sunday. So it's a bummer because they already fired their coach and they're still going nowhere. It's going to be a dark winter for them. They might pull out a couple more wins because Rogers is there. But the whole, this is

why you go get Aaron Rogers to make plays like this. It's gone. Like, it's, it's gone. Let's, let's get rid of the wishes for the Jets. It's over. But on the flip side, the Cardinals, Trey Benson, baby, is it we know when they run the ball well, when they run the ball well, James Connor, this whole offense opens up. Well, let's throw Trey Benson into the mix. And now you got a three-headed backfield of Connor, Amari Di Mercado, and Trey Benson combining there to break 100 yards on the ground in a runaway win. So look, man, they're six and four. And they're the team that nobody's paying attention to. And you always say, yeah, but with them. But, but,

they're fun to watch. They've been fun to watch. Kyle had played great today. And look, we're paying attention to them. We matter the most. We have to now. We have to. We have been. The rest of the world has to.

The NFL Daily, we over-indexed on Cardinals' content in late July and mid-August. We were in on the Petsig bandwagon. So I'm enjoying this. I'm not, at some point in this game, I was not enjoying watching the Steeler. I mean, the Jets offense. I got Devante Adams and Garrett Wilson on my fantasy. team. I'm just like, can we get some garbage time yards? And like, this is how it ends. They can't even get garbage time touchdowns. And at one point, it was 31.6. There was,

there was plenty of time left. I think it was six minutes to go, 316. And I was concerned, because I have Devante Adams shares, fantasy wise, perhaps it's too much information for everybody out there. But my concern was Aaron Rogers was going to get snatched from the game. He actually stayed in the game. They stayed in to perhaps work on whatever these offensive issues are that they need to try to get them figured out that maybe folks had hope. uh with the with what could have been other than a malachi corley uh fumble a near 30 point performance against the houston texans on Halloween nothing to speak up today just just absolutely nothing i understand the cardinals ran the ball well that they couldn't get the cardinals off the field they

didn't have a ton of possessions but they Aaron rogers threw the ball 35 times and and got 151 yard yeah that is below the gabard zone we used to call which is the five to six in yards per attempt. So if you're under five, that's even, that's even below it. The opposite of a Josh Allen or Kyler Murray run right now is a target to Devante Adams. I hate to say it, but 13 targets for 31 yards. And if you look at the numbers, since he's joined the Jets, it's one of the most inefficient plays in the league is throwing the ball between those two. And the crazy thing is a lot of times it's miscommunications. It's just like they're on, they're not on the same page, which is supposed to be the whole deal of this happening. And yeah, this is how it ends. I am not going to

forget this play. Fourth down, near the goal line, just trying to finish out a garbage time drive. Rogers gets flushed out. He's sprinting right. He's not looking fast. And he throws the ball kind of in the dirt behind Conklin. And then he just starts barking at Conklin. And I don't know what happened on that play. But it's just like, this is sad man. Like none of it, none of it is how you want it to look. And you start to think about the future of Aaron Rogers in New York, whether he'll be there next year, whether the Jets will be, they're 3 and 7, so they've got to just keep trying to win. Everyone's pointed out they have an easy schedule,

but everyone that plays the Jets says, oh, well, that's an easy team to play this week. So they're struggling for wins. That was the Sunday Drive presented by the all-new hybrid Toyota Camry, whatever your vibe. It's a Camry vibe. Learn more at Toyota Camry.com. And, yeah, we had to use the Sunday drive there

because we wouldn't want to be taking a drive in New Orleans after the mess, the enjoyable mess that was New Orleans versus the Falcons. Third and 21, stunt. Cousers to throw, does throw, complete to Kyle Pitts. Pitts takes it all the way down inside the 45-yard line. And here comes the May Day as they, oh, if they clock it, probably clock it.

You can't clock it. It's fourth down. They got to be there going for it. They can't clock it. Fourth down and. Step the ball. Oh, my God. Tackling in time.

And that should be the big. It's ball game. It's ball game. The clock's going to continue. The States are going to win it. It's ball game. You got tackled in time. It's ball game.

Come on, Mike Haas. Deuce McAllister is all over this. WW with the call from New Orleans. Yes, to start that harried sequence, the Falcons had the ball on third and long from their own 39-yard line with 28 seconds left in the game. You got to call two plays there, right? Because you can't assume you're going to get the first down on a third and 22, but they didn't have two plays called in the huddle. They threw it over the middle, and then Cousins comes up, calls the play. It takes so long to get that off. You don't even get out of it. Like this, wow, the Falcons in the most Falcons, Saints rivalry game possible. Find a way to lose a game that they absolutely will feel that they should have won based on the way they played the second half.

The ending of this game had everything. This was a fitting end. It started with Darren Rizzy, the interim head coach of the Saints, kind of getting a little nervous a couple times with some fourth down calls, punting it to the Falcons when he had a fourth and short at midfield. But you know what? His defense bails them out. And Kirk Cousins, who, despite not having a touchdown on this day,

I thought mostly played really well until getting frantic at the end, but throws an absolutely killer interception to Honey Badger with a handful of minutes left in this game, just threw it blind, panicked against pressure, kind of the Kirk Cousins moment that we haven't seen a lot of lately, but you used to see quite a bit. You think that the game is over there. The Saints just really need one first down to ice it,

and they don't get conservative. they drop a perfect play that gets Alvin Camara matched up against a linebacker. He dusts them by about 15 yards. Derek Carr who played well on the day, lays it out there perfectly, and Camara just blows it. He just

drops the easiest catch ever. He said it was the worst play he's ever made on the field. In his entire career, that was the most foul play I've ever made. And you think, oh man, they're going to blow it. But the Falcons,

end up blowing it right back. It was on a day. Yeah, Koo missed three different field goals in this game, including one that was blocked. And Darren Rizzy gets a win. America, be happy. I'm happy. Yeah, congratulations to Darren Rizzi.

Congratulations to all the Sands fans who wanted. Not that it was particularly Darren Rizzi, but the end of the Dennis Allen era was something that was wished upon by a lot of folks down in the 504. And they get this game. I think including on the team. I mean, judging by some of the statements afterwards, go ahead. No, clearly.

And Michael Thomas, watching from home as well. But this was the Marquez-Valdes-S-Cantling game. Yes. Just maximum, not game, the Marquez-Valdes-S-Catling first half, where somehow out of nowhere, MVS just gets to the team a couple of weeks ago. He has three catches for 109 yards and two touchdowns. One touchdown is a deep pass, and it's like, okay, you got beat by MVS. The second one was a 66-yard.

I bombed down the sideline where he gets out of bounds. And so I'm thinking, of course, typical NVS, he's only got three touchdowns shorter than 10 yards in his entire career. Well, NVS doesn't help you here. No, Derek Carr goes back to NVS on second and goal for the touchdown. Let's go! And then we never hear from him again. But again, this ultimately was just a nasty, nasty loss by the Atlanta Falcons.

Yes. Who, to, you know, the universe's point, right, the Falcons have been the beneficiary of some nasty losses by other teams, like the one where Saquan drops the pass in prime time late and then there's the Saints the initial Saints game when the Saints were a much better football team

before they went on the seven game losing streak where we've seen the Falcons now be on both sides of this thing how about either Bucks game they've won on both sides of it and yes you said did you say it was stinky this nasty nasty speaking of which

Darren Rizzy's toilet pre game that was nasty You guys know me. I'm a pretty open guy, so this is how my day started. I get down here to the stadium. I get down here in the head coach's locker room, which, you know, I've never used before, right? So here I am early in the morning. I go to the bathroom, and this is how my day started. I clogged the toilet. And I'm like, this is going to be a crappy day, pun intended. And so we listen, I'm like, okay, this is a really great start to the day. Here we go. And so, yeah, I'm not really feeling like a head coach. He's still talking.

So I'm like, really? This is really how we're going to start my day. Yes, Darren Rizzy. This is what we want out of our interim head coaches. This is it. Honesty. Information. I think he went back and he watched old Joe Vitt press conferences, not just Joe Vitt with the Saints,

Joe Vitt with the Rams and the Saints. About 1% of our listenership knows who I'm talking about here. But one of the great interim press conference holders. We want Dan Campbell when he was with the Dolphins. We want Basatia. They're getting the Rizzy Bump, shook. This was a fun game. Yeah, you know, as soon as this game in it, I was like,

there it is, the interim coach bump again. But my question is this. If you were watching on YouTube, you saw how red his face was. Was his face that red from that moment on the toilet? Like, did he just carry over the flush face all afternoon? Because that right there is the face of a man who was pushing one out earlier and then pushed his team to victory on the field on Sunday. I was worried about this man.

And when they blocked the coup field goal, which I believe was right before halftime, he was as intense in the next five seconds as any head coach has ever been on any sideline. He was so freaking fired up. Let's listen to him talk after the game. I yelled at Peyton Turner with 30 seconds left because he's celebrating before the game's over. So I screamed at him. And so he's spraying water and I ripped his ass, quite frankly. So when the game was over, he wanted to get me back. So he came up to me and I wasn't looking.

jacked me in the back and I got a history of stingers so my left arm I'm like completely no literally went completely no so I'm sure the video has me like this I'm like I'm looking at my thanks a lot Peyton so I'm fine I'm fine I just I got a little C5 C6 going for years from the old sound like the old guy

and I am that's what happened I literally Mike gave me a stinger for lack of a better phrase I'm sorry A stinker and a stinger on the same day for Darren Rizzy Oh that's awesome I'm sorry we're gonna just overend on Rizzy clips the rest of the season, and certainly tonight. You know, it's interesting. He brings up Peyton Turner to bring a real football point out that some of the players

were talking after the game to Nick Underhill of New Orleans Football.com that they changed up the rush schemes, that they were doing all these games and twists and having all these different assignments. And instead, their defensive coordinator, I think it was Joe Woods calling the plays, just got them singled up, just attack one-on-one, go win. Hey, Cam Jordan, you're one of our best players ever. We're going to give you 30 plus snaps. Cam Jordan with a big time sack.

They had more pressure in this game. That was the thing that was absolutely different in this game than every other. And Cam Jordan said it was validation of what he thought that they should be doing, essentially. He had a big day. Peyton Turner had a big day. They were pushing the pocket. That's why I think Cousins played well. He was actually he was under a lot of quick pressure all day and mostly got the ball moving.

And Bajon Robinson was awesome. in this game, 116 yards, a couple just magical plays. Tyler Housier played well. Kyle Pitts completely changed the complexity of this game by mossing Alante Taylor on a third and long. The very next play, Bison Robinson

goes for a long touchdown where he just shakes off two or three defenders. So it was a good football game. The Falcon Saints, they always deliver. Both games this year came down to the wire. But yeah, six and four, this does feel like they didn't deserve to be seven and three.

type of team and sometimes the schedule god just pull you back it's like the falcons were due like they're not a seven and three team six and four i'll buy there's six and four type of team shook yeah that's fair i'll take that too i mean it felt like when they won their last few games like oh they're getting hot but there was like glimpses of all right well there's a weakness or there's an issue or they're not finishing that properly or they're not paying attention to the details there and then it all kind of comes to ahead on a day in which you know they put up enough yards to win a football game like they definitely did that and yet they come away with just 17 points they have multiple missed field goals.

You leave points out on the field. I mean, you finished with 468 yards, but you only converted five of 14 third downs. That's kind of the story of the game right there. It's the little things. Look, the first half of the game, the Saints had a great game plan. They moved the ball.

They hit those shots. Derek Carr was very efficient. Those were dimes. Great job by Derek Carr. Second half of the game, it was all Falcons. And it was somehow like the coach bump gods, just letting them hold it on

because the Falcons really dominated for the most part in the second half. Good win by the Saints. fun game by the Saints and the Falcons let's go to another fun one unless you were a Bears fan Stevens in the single bathout

Hunter motions right May with the play pick in the pocket wide open receiver left hook and it's an easy flip and catch for a touchdown Patriots oh you have an infersity that hits you the first two quarters and Drake May settles down on his stride

that's a good job by him moving the football team to get a touchdown before the first First half hits. Hey, Jalen Polk made a play. That was Bob Sochi and Scott Zolak on WBZ. The Patriots defense closes out. A more Bun Bear's team, 19 to 3. Nine sacks on the day for the Patriots defense.

And that one out there is for my dad, who said he was listening to Scott Zolak and thought Zolak did a good job. even though he's a big homer. He was listening on the radio while raking those leaves because the Patriots, they don't deserve the television necessarily all three hours. But this was an old school Patriots win, defense, timely offense. And, man, just no pass protection for Caleb Williams.

Yeah, and Drake May and the Patriots offense did enough to get the win there. Didn't play perfectly, avoided some mistakes. Did have a couple, including an interception where he tried to fit a ball in the window. smaller than the football itself, which is tough to do. But disaster looms for a bear's offense that was one of 14 on third down. You mentioned the nine sacks. They lose 51 yards in that. A lot of that's due to the fact that Darnell Wright and Braxton Jones.

Both starting tackles were out. As well as backups, Karan Amigajay and Nate Davis. The only starting lineup that the Bears, the starting linemen that they had was the center, Coleman Shelton, which eventually led to this Patriots pass rush. And Kevin Jenkins was in there and then got hurt. during the game. It was brutal. They actually equaled the season-long output of the team we just talked about,

the Atlanta Falcons, who have nine sacks on the season. The Patriots got nine sacks today. Keon White generated six pressures and one sack on 35 pass rush snaps. He got two pressures against double teams as well. Just a great performance that it's almost difficult to celebrate and praise this New England Patriots defensive performance because the Bears, while being hurt, it just seemed like there was no plan on offense. Everything they tried, I'm sitting there watching, begging them to go into the two-minute

drill early in the second half because the play calls from Shane Waldron were not working. No. The Patriots go six and out, three-and-out, three-and-out to start the second half, and you're just waiting for the bears to do something, and they just can barely pick up a first down. This is one of the worst offensive performances by any team all season. 11 drives, only one went over 21 yards. They averaged 1.8 yards per pass play, which is just crazy on 39 pass plays.

Against a defense that only had 13 sacks on the season coming into today. So let's just get the praise for the Patriots out of the way. I think May has been building every week. You see smart decisions except for the really dumb ones. So he's just one of those quarterbacks right now, but some really nice throws down the field and they take care of. business. Brandon Schooler, their longtime special teamer, like, gets in on the SAC parade. That's fun. And these are the type of wins that I think are important for Drodmeo to just start

establishing some sort of identity and idea of what this team wants to be as they inevitably head to top five, top six type of pick. So good job by them. But this Bears offense right now had put up what I thought was maybe the worst tape by any offense all season in any game last year, all year against the Cardinals last week, and then they do it again. Let's listen to Matt Iber Fluse after the game getting some pointed questions. How do you defend your work as head coach

when it looks this bad? Well, I would just say that. I would just go back to, we have the men in the room, and we have evidence of doing it. You know, we've played some good complementary games in terms of offense, defense, and kicking, and we've, you know, scored points, you know,

a few games in a row, you know, and done a good job of that. So we have to find the winning way in our winning formula to get that done. Oh, that's rough. I think he, when he said, we've scored points a few games here. I think he missed the streak where they were scoring a lot of points, because, yeah, three points, nothing to talk about. Let's listen to Kevin Bayard talking after the game.

This is courtesy of the Marquis Sports Network. Guys in this locker room still believe in this coaching staff. I'm not going to go there. At any day, we've got to play better, and we've got to win. You know, maybe he's just someone that doesn't want to answer that type of question, but on the heels of DJ Moore, really not defending his coaching staff. You feel for Iberflus when I

watch some of his press conferences, there's a lot of tough questions in there, Nick. I actually think he's kind of built for this answering him well. He's not built for it in terms of being able to figure out how to fix his team, which is ultimately the thing that matters. But I'm impressed with how he

carries himself and handles that situation, but it doesn't seem like they have any answers offensively of how to turn things around. Yeah, you know, with Kevin Byard's comments, ever since he was in Tennessee, he's always been known as a straight shooter. So I think he just knew to a non-answer is the best way to handle that right now with so much of the season still left and things getting really bad. But Fluse kind of teed me up there because that's what he loves that coaches,

you would defend the coaches. Right, right. But he's not going to outright say that he hates them because there's still half of, well, about half of the season left to play. Flues teed me up, though, because that's immediately what I thought was this is a team that was ascending or at least building momentum. They put 24 points in the Rams in a win, 36 on the Panthers in a win, 35 on the Jaguars in a win.

But unlike, you know, coaches like Kyle Shanahan and Andy Reid, who are good out of the by week, the bears have been miserable since the by week, 15 points in a loss to Washington, nine points last week, three points today. There is no explanation for this other than pointing to your offensive staff and saying, what the hell is going on schematically right now? Yes, we can't protect our quarterback, but we can't do much of anything right now. DeAndre Swift Coast for 3.7 yards per carry, when you become one-dimensional with a rookie quarterback behind an offensive line that can protect you, you're boxing yourself.

even against a team like the Patriots who pinned their ears back and got after them. So if you look at their schedule going forward, like where does it get any easier? You play Green Bay next, Minnesota, Detroit, San Francisco, it's awful. It's just going to get worse and worse and worse. So now we're basically on a firing watch, I think, for the people involved here. Yeah, the only remaining non-division games are against the 49ers and the Seahawks. Like, that's it. They've got three consecutive division games.

And it's just a murderer's row of teams that they have to go up. And four of those games are on the road as well. And you wonder, like, you mentioned a watch for, you know, Matt Eberflus's, uh, bear's career. It's just anybody that steps in there, it's going to be a difficult. Or Shane Waldron, maybe they change out offensive coordinators. I thought this team was done for the season after last week, not like they wouldn't win any games, but they, I was like, this team is not making the playoffs.

I haven't really believed in them all season. So maybe it's confirmation bias. although that under 8.5 or 9.5, whatever it was, that that's hitting from that show way back then. But like, they just, I don't know. I am not nearly as worried about Caleb Williams as Bears fans seem to be. That's the only thing I would say to Bears fans out there. I've seen rookie quarterbacks really struggle and come out of it on the other side. And I actually don't think he's near that level even of struggle. Like, like of the, the Jared Goffs, the Eli Mannings, the Drew Breezes, like different guys who have turned things around.

He's really not at that level to me. And it is getting worse and he's not helping, but this thing just needs a restart. Amazingly, the Patriots have surrounded their rookie quarterback with a better situation, I guess. At least the vibes are better. Let's, before we take a break, let's at least listen to Drake May after the game,

try to get the New England media to appreciate their defensive performance. Drake May coming up to the podium after Christian Goodall. Phone's down, phone's down, no pass down real quick. Clap it up for the defense, man. Clap it up, clap it up. Somebody else clap up.

There we go. Appreciate you. There we go. That's a foul for whoever clap. I'm sure it was either a PR staffer or someone else that was not in the media, but it really cracked me up that Drake Day is like, clap it up for the defense.

It's like he's in there asking questions to Christian Gonzalez for during their press conference. Hey, good time. Everybody, take a knee. Take a knee. Coach has got to talk. Enjoy, enjoy a win while you can. Patriots get it done. They're at 3 and 7. The Bears at 4 and 5 and sinking fast. Let's take a break and we'll be back with a call from one of the very best play-by-play met in the world.

Yes. That's a tease. Very good one, too. Hey, this is Matt Jones. I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL Cover Zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts Pretzel?

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

Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from scouting reports and player development to team-building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. Every week, we study the tape, talk to decision-making, and share the insights you won't find anywhere else. It's the kind of conversation that connects the dots,

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this podcast is for you don't miss it listen to the move the six podcast on the i heart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts they're going to go for it to four this season on fourth down and they're going to go for it from the shotgun and they're going to go empty herbert rolling to the right and here he goes herbert into the end zone touchdown shot Rogers. Four yards. Justin Herbert puts the team on his back and delivers. That was some QB power by Justin Herbert. Got to love it. Got to love Matt Money Smith. And from K.Y.S.R. Yes, they're leaning into Herbo's legs. And I love it. You bring Greg Roman in. Let's see some Greg Roman fun, like QB power on the goal line. Herbert also.

juked a defender in the open field later in the game that had Derwin James and all the defense just kind of going wild. Like when you see your teammate just undress an opponent, how much you love that. The Chargers are having fun. 27 to 17. They're six and three over the Titans. And yes, another take care of business game by the Chargers. Nick, I have a theory on what this Chargers team is, and what it is, is it's so unchargers. If they were a running back, like, they would be Kairn Williams. Like, you block up four yards for them. They get four and a half for five. They get what's there. They do what

they're supposed to do. They don't make mistakes. In a league where teams are up and down, I kind of know what the chargers are on a week-to-week basis, which is wild. You know that they're going to play a team like Tennessee. They're going to go down seven to three and they're going to take care of business and cruise to victory. That's the first thing that you know. You also know that with a healthy Justin Herbert that the ceiling is much higher, both through the air and as we saw on Sunday in that clip just there on the ground as well because Greg

Roman's the one calling the place. And guys, I want to go back to the cemetery because I want to describe, I make a little bit of an analogy here of how Justin Herbert looked on that play. All right, last week, I'm working from home and I see a buck, a young buck stroll into the cemetery. I live in an urban neighborhood. The cemetery is fenced in on all sides. There's a little gap next to my house.

and wondering, how did he get in there? And about 30 seconds in, he realizes, oh, my God, I can't get out of here and starts darting around the cemetery, four-pointer, just running around back and forth. That's how Justin Herbert looked on that running play, and that's how this offense can look, no matter who's running the football, they're darting around, they're finding the gaps he eventually made it out of the cemetery, just like Justin Herbert made it into the end of them. They do the job that you expect it to do.

They have a physical defense, and they find a way to make it work through the air, whether it's Ladd-McCocky or if it's Quentin Johnson, whoever it is, they are a team that's tough to beat because they take care of the details and I'll tell you what as a purist, a football purist that warms my heart that a team takes care of the details.

They did and today executing all... Wait, we can't just move on off from his analogy. What do you rate? I didn't know if he was going to be able to stick that landing there with the moose

or if he's just jamming in a great story. A buck. A moose. Four point buck. I think he did it. I think he nailed it. The degree of difficulty

was extremely high. 9.7. No, yeah. It's up there in the 10 range. Okay. Now, all we've got to do, the folks are left wondering, you know, how it got in there. Did it get out the same way it got in? It's a very high traffic cemetery.

You know, people are dying to get in there. The buck was apparently as well. It's able to get out. So the buck goes one and no against the cemetery. Everybody else having a little bit tougher time. But it was the start to this game. So because Will Levis was back. Yeah.

And the idea was, when's Will Levis going to implode? It just didn't happen. He hit Calvin Ridley for two touchdowns. One of them was late as we got closer in to garbage time. But the one, as Nick referenced, that seven to three lead, was a deep shot from Will Levis to Calvin Ridley. And they didn't have that. Taji Spears and Tony Pollard, both are, well, Tadier Spears was over 6.7. Six point, he actually did have 6.7 yards per carry.

Tony Pollard had almost five. And they weren't really able to get the ground game going because they were playing from behind against the Chargers team. that throughout this season where we've wondered, are they going to be in that 18 to 21 point range, get up to 27 points today, Greg? Right. Because they just squeeze you to death. They didn't get the ball because they just didn't have enough plays.

They only had eight total drives on the day because the chargers were so efficient with like a 12-play drive and 11 play drive, nine-play drive, eight-play drive, and they'll hit you with a couple big plays. Josh Palmer had a nice deep perception, Quentin Johnson, you know, found himself wide open once again somehow for a touchdown. Ladd-McConkie has somehow turned into a deep threat.

Like, he's had some days like this where he goes two for 52. It's like a 37-yarder, but another chunk play to Ladd-McConkey. And Herbert's just avoiding mistakes. I thought this was much better out of Will Levis. He spun it pretty well, but he probably over-corrected because he's been told so much to avoid making a mistake that he just held on to ball forever a couple times. And he took seven sacks in this game. And sometimes it was quick pressure. Tuli, uh, Tulli, uh, Tuli Poloos played really well since they're by.

Joey Bosa was better in this game. They played really good team defense. Sometimes Levis just probably held the ball too long. But I don't kill him for that. I give the Chargers defense a lot of credit. They're, they're very similar to me, Chuck, uh, to the chiefs. Good offensive line. Uh, a really great quarterback, uh, you know, obviously her, It's not Mahomes, but I think Herbert's playing at like a top seven quarterback level. A defense that's not going to give up much and they kind of just squeeze you to death. These two teams look kind of similar to me, even if they're not always the most explosive. Yeah, if you look at their margin of victory over the last few weeks, it's not really all that telling, but like 27 to 10 over the Browns, 26 to 8 over the Saints, 27 to 17 over the Titans.

These are all teams that they should beat and they're all beating them in similar fashion. The Browns, it was blown coverages and they were taking advantage of it this time. They just squeeze you to death. I think it's a perfect compliment in that division to the Chiefs. And I'm very, very much looking forward to their rematch, which isn't until December, because who wins in that battle of styles? You think that the Chiefs would, but the charges are gaining a lot of steam. My question on the other side of the ball here and the other side of the field,

what has happened to this Titans defense? That was their strength early in the season. I know they've had to deal with Mason Rudolph of their quarterback for, you know, the last month, basically, because Levis has been out. But that was the strength, and it just seems like it's not quite there. They were always one-sided. They've had injuries in the secondary. but the Ligeria Sneed pickup has not worked for them.

They really have not been a hard team to pass on all year. They're very tough to run against. They have a good front, and that's just no way to win in 2024. And who knows, they're getting later into the season. They're stuck at two wins, and they blow a lead quickly. I have been enjoying Jim Harbaugh, and I have really been enjoying Jim Harbaugh, enjoying Justin Herbert. I mean, I'm changing his name to Beast. He's Beast Herbert.

Half man, half beast. He made the two biggest plays of the game. You know, the fourth down, touchdown run that he made. I mean, I don't know how many people we blocked, you know, or who actually got a block and who didn't, but there was a lot of unblocked guys, and he just went beast mode and got that ball in the end zone. There was like one unblock guy.

They did a pretty good job, but that is what makes Herbert special. He makes that first guy miss, and he did a great job with that. They're six and three. They're at the point in the season where I would be surprised and disappointed if they don't make the playoffs. I think they are going to find a way to get in and they have a really fun Sunday night game. Great job by the Flex Committee, Bengals, Chargers, next Sunday night. Let's go to a team that was flex into Sunday night. It was kind of a snoozer a week ago.

Vikings Colts, did the Vikings give us more or less entertainment in Jacksonville? First and 10 from the Vikings 43-yard line. Matt Jones goes out of the shotgun, Travis E.T. N. to his left. The Vikings blitz. Mack on a very deep drop. He's going to throw it right. Nobody's there with the exception of a Minnesota Viking who picked him off. Interception, Cam Bynum.

And the Minnesota Vikings are going to improve to seven and two. Vikings get the win. 12 to 7. It wasn't quite over really at that point, though, either. A little early on the call, but you can't blame Paul Allen of K-F-A-N for his excitement. When you see a Mack Jones pass just fluttering in the breeze, and your guy gets it, you're going to get fired up. What a bizarre game.

That puts it nicely. The Jaguars were outgained 404 to 143. They had 43 plays. The Vikings had 82. They had the ball for 17 minutes. The Vikings had it for 42. The Vikings managed to get 28 points on the board without, 28 first downs on the board, without a touchdown.

And yet it came down to some Tom Foolery, a Mac Jones interception, and then a Trayvon Walker penalty shook is what actually finally sealed a deal for Minnesota. Yeah, let's not overlook that celebration in honor of the breaker Raygun from the Olympics, because that was a great pool by Cam Bynum as well. No, look, the only worst pass than any of Sam Darnold's three interceptions was the one that he threw that then inspired that celebration if you're watching on YouTube. I mean, good job, Cam. That's pretty good.

I don't know if it gets you in the Olympics, but that's pretty good. Sam Darnold was rough today, and that explains why they could not put any touchdowns on the board. He threw three interceptions. I suddenly found myself seeing Sam Darnold in a Jets uniform or in a Panthers uniform for the first time in a Vikings uniform this time. It was rough. He had one that he should have had four picks, but it got called back because of illegal touch. or illegal use of hands on the Jaguars, which, by the way, that return was fumbled back to the Vikings.

None of that mattered. Mack Jones, completely ineffective. This offense, completely ineffective. They lost Tank Bigsby early to injury. Travis E.T.N. goes 11 for 44. They just couldn't maintain possession at all. They very much missed Trevor Lawrence. And in fact, Mac Jones didn't break 100 passing yards

until that final possession, which ended in that disastrous throw that was picked off by Cam Bynam. It was an ugly football game. It was a football game that I thought the Vikings may not find a way to in despite piling up all these yards because Sam Donald was so locked on Justin Jefferson for so much this game before he accepted. Actually, T.J. Hawkinson and Josh Oliver are probably my best options,

which he then used to get them into field goal range. Weird, weird day in Jacksonville for both teams. Yeah, nine targets for Justin Jefferson. A couple of those were the ones that were picked off, one where the defenders fighting back through the ball that Justin Jefferson couldn't quite keep away from the defense. And it goes to the Jags, who kind of wasted, not kind of,

absolutely wasted their best defensive performance of the year. With Darnel Savage and Andre Sisko back there, the corners as well, dealing with Justin Jefferson, where the Vikings routinely were making mistakes, not just the three Darnold interceptions, but just miscommunications, a couple of third downs that didn't quite go their way. Aaron Jones leaves the game on a cart,

is able to actually eventually come back in, but everything that could go wrong for the Vikings did, but the Jags just out jagsing the Jags at this point where you had Mac Jones score on the quarterback sneak, Travis E.TN down at the one on the play before that. And that was it. That was the highlight of the game for Jacksonville was a one-yard quarterback sneak for Mac Jones. He did hit Gabe Davis on like a 17-yarder to get down there. But other than that, it was just absolutely nothing for the backup. Well, if you liked today's performance by Mac Jones, have I got a seven games coming up for you?

because it sounds like Trevor Lawrence could be out for the season. Since we last taped, we didn't even know he was for sure out for this week. But Diana Rossini and Mike Silver, the Athletic, reported that they're looking at surgery that would knock him out for the season. They're at 2 and 8. We'll see. It's not official yet. And so we'll hold analysis on kind of what's next for them and that decision when we know for sure.

I do think the Vikings have a bit of a darn old problem. and a bit of an Aaron Jones problem. Not that Aaron Jones isn't amazing, but just the difference of this offense when he's not on the field is so noticeable. He goes 17 for 88 today and has a couple of catches too, but when he was off the field and it was acres, it's not working as well.

And just little things are coming up. So just I'm really hoping that he can stay healthy and be the consistent back. Because they're at an interesting point in the season, Nick. They're seven and two. They're on this three game road trip. Very rare to have three straight, road games, and they're all very winnable. Titans next, Bears after that. And so I don't know how

for real this Vikings team is. And yet, if they can just win these games against teams that are really struggling, and I think they can, they're going to be 10 and 2 or something. At the very worst, 9 and 3, but man, Darnold, we've just seen like more and more of him making, fritzing out type of decisions. And that's why I've pushed back when I see people put Darnold and Mayfield in the same category this season.

No, they're not. Come on. I was like, Baker's proven a little more like Darnold. This is more of what we've seen out of Darnold in his career. So I need to see more good

to really believe that it's here for good. Yeah, and this is coming from somebody who is admittedly critical on Baker Mayfield. It has been in the last few weeks. That's you. And you're right in that criticism as well,

but he's proven himself. No, but Baker's like a better than average starting quarterback. At the very worst has proven himself to be a solid starter. I don't know if I'm there with Donald yet. Especially in a performance like today, because it's not like the Jaguars are doing anything that was completely mystifying or something that you wouldn't see from a defense prior.

It's just that he was forcing balls to Justin Jefferson in the first half. It's like he's got a crutch and now he's just leaning on it. And it wasn't until the second half came that he realized, oh, I should go look somewhere else. So maybe you learn from this and you take that and you build upon it. But, you know, mentioning that schedule, this is a perfect time for them to really seize upon it because the back half gets a little tough. Now you get Chicago twice over the next, what, five weeks.

you get Tennessee, you got to win Tennessee and Chicago right away, because then you play Arizona, you got Atlanta, you get Chicago again, then you get Seattle, Green Bay, Detroit. You have to be able to win both Chicago games, Tennessee, and try to equine out against the Seahawks in order to get to 11 wins. Because if you don't, if you drop a couple of those games, suddenly you're

finding yourself in a position where the pressure is quickly on you. And at that point, I'm going, is this, are they a fraudulent team like they were a few years ago when they were winning all those one possession games? Is this truly who they are? Now, they have a better defense than they did at that time, at least in terms of of scheme. So we'll see. But you cannot afford to put out another performance like you did today

or you will lose games against better teams. It's that simple. Well, it's very similar to their game last week. And look, they're showing they can do it. You know, they can win ugly games against bad teams. I think that's important. I think that's important. I don't think they're a super bowl contender. I don't think many people really do. So what's a win for this season? season. It's getting to the playoffs and you hope maybe you can win that game. And so beating bad teams, they'll get to the playoffs if they continue to do that. Let's listen to Doug Peterson after the game asked about what happened on that final MAC interception. What was the play? What was supposed to happen on the final MAC interception if he didn't get hit and throw the

pick? Yeah, I'm not going to go through the details of the play because you guys wouldn't figure it out. but we'll look at the tape tomorrow and we'll make those corrections. He's pissed off, Angela. What they do, Doug? Yeah, he is. You haven't figured out. I just want to know.

You small-brain journalists. Who in the room particularly upset Doug Peterson and why am I catching a stray for it? Right. You know, justice for John Shipley. One of the best beat writers. Oh, that was John's question?

No, I don't know that, but I'm just saying he's out there. He's saying y'all wouldn't understand. John Shipley would understand it. How about John Osher? One of the longtime beatwriters in the game. He works for the Jaguars as a senior writer there. He's great.

So he would figure it out. I take offense to that, Doug Peterson. I also take offense to the Cowboys being the only national game at 425. Get this team out of national windows. Stap. Hertz puts Calcutera in motion. Hertz back. Hurts looking.

Hurt's still looking. Still looking. Hertz is starting to run. Now he fires complete. Touchdown. This time it goes to Johnny Wilson, his first touchdown in the NFL. Oh, Johnny Wilson. Another guy that might have sent us to the search bar.

We're like, who's that tall 80? Oh, yeah. Literally. That's super tall rookie tight end. That was Merrill Reese. I'm WIP. The Eagles in the ultimate take care of business game. Get a 34 to 6 victory.

over the Cowboys, Jalen Hertz, gets a couple touchdown passes, gets a couple touchdown runs. He has 10 touchdowns on the ground in the last four weeks. That's outrageous. Field the 8th of ESPN pointed out, there's only been 15 seasons with that many rushing touchdowns from a quarterback in the history of the NFL. He's done it in the last month. I hope you are listening, everyone, that is tuning in to the man. versus model, Cynthia

Freeland and I, making our picks against the spread every week. When we're on the same side of things, and we both say, this is a no-brainer, it's a no-brainer. Eagles in the seven points. I mean, people were putting their feet up and just enjoying this game.

24 points. They won by, what, 28 points? We also had it as our survivor picks. A good job by us. Hey, we did it. We keep getting it done? Another week. Books. I don't know if this is the worst team in the NFL with Cooper Rush as the starting quarterback, but they're definitely in the mix, Chuck, right?

They got to be. Yeah, I mean, it's ugly. First off, a lot of courage out of you to pick this game, guys. Good job. We're trying to survive. It's against the spread. They're all even. It's all even.

That's why we said, wow, I'm surprised at 7. I would have thought it'd be 13 or something like that. If I was there, I'd pat you on the back, but I can't from 2,000 miles away. Yeah, this team's bad. Michael Parsons came back. I don't need to hear it from you. shook 3 and 0 this week, 6 and 0 the last couple of weeks.

I'm just going to press you on this every week now. People know. Sorry. Michael Parsons came back. He played about 53% of the snaps, I believe. Made a difference. I mean, obviously, he's an all-world player. And he got in the way the Eagles' offense in the first quarter.

But eventually, well, his snap count was limited, first off. And secondly, the Eagles found a rhythm after they turned the ball over twice early. And they went down the field. They scored a touchdown. And it was actually one of the best plays I've seen from Jalen in probably a few weeks where he evaded a free run. usher stepped up and found Dallas Goddart in the end zone for a touchdown.

That preceded the Johnny Wilson touchdown. A guy that I didn't have to search for because he's the only six-foot-six receiver in this past draft class. So that's his claim to fame. And now he's finally got a touchdown in his career. And then we officially could put it to bed when Jalen Hurts scrambled for an eight-yard touchdown run. It was over from there.

Designed run, got the job done. Put the Cowboys to bed. Put him to bed for the season. I don't care if Dak comes back or not. It's not worth it at this point. They have no talent offensively. their offensive line has been a bit of a shuffling, you know, act recently, and their defense outside of DeMarvian Overshown and Michael Parsons and Trayvon Diggs. They're just, it's not a good football team in general.

They're not exciting to watch. They were horrible offensively with Cooper Rush. They put Trey Lansson, didn't get anything better out of them. Cooper Rush finished 45 passing yards, okay? Like, I don't care what defense you're playing. That's awful. That's just not good NFL football right there. So pretty easy game to explain there.

Yeah, and you can see it, the lack of velocity, the Cooper Rush. has really jumped off the screen today, even more so than in his previous games. I'm not sure if he lost a few MPAH off the fastball or what. But just a lot of hot air balloon balls that really didn't have the opportunity. His best throw at a day gets defended by our dearly neighborly star 93 million miles away, sending photons in the span of eight minutes all the way into the eyes of CD Lamb, who he's looking into this beam of sunlight, can do nothing with it. that I also think it played on both sides

because Jalen Hertz got a strip sack where he's looking into a secondary and I'm sure all he could see is our friendly neighborhood star providing all the energy that we're that we need here on this planet. Hopefully we keep the planet long enough the sun's going to be all right.

But it's just a truly just a disastrous performance by the Dallas County. Trade Lance comes in and then comes back out so we get a couple of worthless plays by Cooper Rush including a fumble where it's what's going on and, you know, the president and the CEO's coming back and taking shots at folks asking him questions about this. Oh, yeah.

It's a lot happened and none of it was good for Dallas. Yeah, you mentioned Jerry Jones getting asked about the sun blinding C.D. Lamb on that potential, you know, catch. And Jerry said, quote, by the way, we know where the sun's going to be when we decide to flip the coin or not. We do know where the damn sun is going to be in our own stadium, which I read as they should have, you know, taken the side that wasn't going to have the son at that time.

He's blaming his coaching staff there for being on that side. Well, first of all, you might not win the flip. And it's he saying, we need to avoid taking the ball or not, you know, based on which side we want to be on to avoid our own son. No matter what, that's ridiculous. He said, they asked, well, why don't put up curtains over the windows?

Because they do do that for other events at that stadium. And he said, well, let's tear down the damn stadium and build another one. Are you kidding me? everyone's got the same thing every team has to come in here and they have the same issues but yeah not if you're happy to

face that way and then finally he said the world knows where the sun is you get to know that almost a year in advance someone asked me about the sun what about the sun where's the moon Jared Doff didn't know

on hard knocks yeah that's a good that's true it's a very good point he's come a long way so I mentioned the bear's average 1.8 yards per passing play earlier today which

you almost never see the Cowboys average 1.5 with all the sacks that they took. On one hand, I want to just blame everything on the Cowboys. On the other hand, this Eagles defense really is totally different. So I think the level of dominance is consistent with what this front has been doing lately. And that, to me, is the most encouraging things shook out of this season. Because Hertz, like he took five sacks, I think, in this game.

He was holding the ball forever. He actually had kind of an up and down first half. They probably should have put it away even earlier. But, man, their offensive line is awesome. And their defensive line in this young second, they keeps playing better. I know that there's almost not too much you can even take away from playing the Cowboys.

But I think this is a team that's building confidence. And again, we have another week where now Nick Siriani is not the main character again. He did it. Nothing weird happened with Nick Siriani. Congratulations. Congrats. You got to hang out in the background this week because it was that easy of a win. There was one sequence where the Eagles defense really shined to me.

And it was when they decided to. the trade fumbles deep in Eagle's territory. First, the Cowboys were on the goal line. Zeke fumbles in the end zone. I think it was Cooper DeGine. He got it in the end zone. And then Jalen hurts the strip sacked, and the Cowboys find themselves

essentially in the same spot they were before. First in goal. Four plays, one yard, settled for a field goal. Jalen Carter stuffing a run. I think it was on second or third down, just waiting for Rico Dowdell in the hole. Yeah, this defense is really coming together. And it's, it's, again, the result of investment.

Up front, in the secondary, those kids are all kind of mature. at the same time, and Vicks doing a great job of organizing all and taking advantage of their strengths. Bryce Huff got a sack today? Like, Bryce Huff did something. All right. Like, they're coming together. I'm super excited to watch this team because they've started to work out the kinks offensively. When Siriani's not the main character, they're really fun to watch, and the defense is coming together. So, like, this is a team that I see very much obviously contending for the NFC east, but also being a bit of a player in the playoffs in the whole conference where they're playing right now. You know, it's like, okay, who's the team in the NFC?

Yeah, right now, they're seven and two. They're one of the top two seeds in the NFC after 10 weeks. That's a good place to be. Not a good place to be this low in the order. And that's not the Eagles fault. That was me punishing you, Cowboys, for what you've become. And for putting, you know, being in such big spots. The Thanksgiving game is Cowboys Giants.

That's annoying. You got to get them out of Sunday night football in week 16. So, you know, it wasn't your fault. Philadelphia, but Dallas, we were putting you as deep into the rundown as possible. They were the final domestic game, but we wanted to save a really fun

game in Germany for the last game before Sunday night football. Johnny Hecker and Eddie Pinheiro going over the placement. The ball is on the right hash, just inside the right hash. Officially a 36-yarder for the

win in Munich. Jansen snap. Heckers. whole, Piniero's kick. It is up. And Eddie wins it for the Panthers in O-T. That was Anish Straff of WRFX. Yes, Eddie Penaero 20 to 17. Panthers get a win in Munich. They blew the lead late. They thought Danny Dimes was going to do it. But a fumble by Tyrone Tracy on the first play from scrimmage in overtime, forced by trusty veteran, Aishon Robinson, has had a nice career. People thought he was a bust in Detroit, and he's bounced around.

He helped help the Rams. Now he's helping the Panthers win a game here, 20 to 17. They get it done on NFL Network. It was close. We had back and forth scoring in the second half, considering these two teams. I think it was all we could have asked for, and one thing I enjoyed, and I have a feeling you'll agree, Patrick. is I think the Bryce Young rejuvenation is a thing.

I think he's played better football over the last three weeks. He has. And even in, because there were the 10 incompletions that he had today, one, a late third down

where I feel like the Giants got away on a hold on a wheeled route that could have been a first down. Coker had a dropped ball in the end zone that was beautifully thrown on a fade. Bryce stepping away from pressure

stepped up on the touchdown pass to Newton earlier in the game where the pressure is coming in early season, Bryce, maybe doesn't get to that point in the read. Maybe the rush gets to him, but he gets through there. The Panthers, as a team, look better. But I think it allows us to get a better evaluation of Bryce Young, who shows the things

that got him drafted number one overall in the first place. Yeah, his misses in the last few weeks, really all three weeks, I've understood them all, like all the decisions. Now, he's forced it in a couple times, but that's okay if he's being a little overaggressive. Like his misses today were all close. The decisions were good. They trusted him for a big third and eight late in the game that you thought was going to ice it

and he has a money throw on the sideline. That was to Coker. Did you mention that? Or that was that, that was to league at. Yeah, that was an example. And I thought that ends up, you know, icing the game. But he went out of bounds there. It's always a catch-22.

You got to get the first down, but he goes out of bounds there. And then the clock stops a few more times with Giants timeouts. And then Tuba Hubbard drops a swing pass. It probably wasn't going to be a first. down, but at least would have run the clock down a little bit. And so it gave Danny Dimes a chance to send the Giants to overtime, Nick, after just a dispiriting day watching Danny Dimes. And he

does what Danny Dimes does, which is after having so many bad moments, he actually has a really nice two-minute drive. And I'm thinking, oh, they're going to win this game. And then they're going to be in between again, not knowing what to do about Dimes. And then they end up losing through no fault of his own. But that was really the only, just about the only highlight from him at the end where he did conduct a good two-minute drive to get the tie at the end of regulation.

Yeah, sometimes in football, things don't go your way, but it ends up working out for the best because you can assign blame elsewhere or maybe you just, you know, avoid winning games that make you think twice about keeping somebody or proceeding forward with somebody into future seasons.

And I feel like this is one of those games because it's the Panthers, right? The same team that beat the Saints and forced them to fire their coach. it's a low level loss. Like it's one that you have a hard time explaining. But that's been dimes for most of this year. Like he was a guy who was good between the 20s for a stretch this season.

He's had some good games. He's also just been wildly inconsistent. And that was kind of you got the full experience minus like a million fumbles from him today. So this is what I've come to expect from the Giants. Tyrone Tracy had a good day until he fumbled away possession and overtime. The fact that they got to overtime, I thought was impressive considering the way that the game was going. But I was, you know, to kind of circle all the way back to Bryce Young. that was what stood out to me the most.

And he's been on this path for a few weeks now, guys. You know, it's got to the point where last week I wrote in QB Index, he deserves to continue playing. Like, there is no use in putting Andy Dalton back in. He had a throw early in this game. It was the top of my notes where I just said he made a really nice, like, off-platform throw. He's in the pocket. He's moving left and he sees a guy crossing over the middle of the field and rips it wide open.

I mean, great throw right on target. Did it again later with a touch pass over the middle. The overrouts have really been somewhere that he's found a lot of success. I love what I'm seeing from him. He's got confidence now. He didn't have any last year or in the first two weeks of this season. He's starting to build it now. They might be able to reclaim this and then get on a path forward and not worry about

quarterback anymore. Yeah, I don't want to overpraise him as almost like a backhanded compliment. He's just built up the last three weeks, consistent performances that looked like an NFL quarterback, like an NFL star. And that's a big change. And so it makes you excited for what they could have. Like they still have a lot more to see, but it's been really encouraging. encouraging that's like, okay, here's a dude that's an NFL quarterback. How can we figure out

everything around him? They gave Chuba Hubbard a nice contract this week. He was breaking tackles all over the place. He had a costly fumble in this game too, but ends up with 153 yards and a touchdown on the ground. And yeah, like the decision making on the dime's interception, there's just a couple plays that I think is why he's going to get benched during their by week after the game, Brian Dable was asked if he was still going to be the quarterback, and he said, we'll evaluate it. And usually, as I've said on this podcast so many times,

when they say we're evaluating it, it means the quarterback is going to be changed. Because in the past, he's always said he's our quarterback. And I think he'll look back to a couple decisions. There was a flea flicker in the first half where Wondell Robinson's just wide ass open. It's on a third and one and just Dimes just doesn't throw it. And there was just been

a lot of those. And then there was the interception late in the game where again, Kurt Warner I think was getting frustrated watching this. Like they're in the red zone. They're trying to catch up. They're down by three, I believe, at that point

in the fourth quarter. And the read is the slant. He's throwing on third down in the flat to a guy that has no chance to score, and not only was it a bad decision, but it was inaccurate, so it was behind the receiver, and then it pops up in the air for an interception. So it was like every dime's thing combined. Bad decision, like not being, not seeing the field well, and also just bad luck, frankly. Like it's also just bad luck. He's had a lot of bad luck. It's enough. It's not even about

the injury guarantee that he has. I think when they go into the buy, they will at some point announce that Drew Locke is the starting quarterback. And yeah, they might as well give Locke a chance. Maybe it'll be Tommy DeVito. Who knows? The Bears, I mean, the Panthers, rather, get a win. Three wins on the season for the Panthers. Suddenly they're on a winning streak.

Yeah, first ever with Bryce Young as the start. There we go. Back-to-back wins. So congratulations to the Panthers and to Bryce Young. But yeah, just a brutal dime's performance where it's not just the catastrophic plays because the ball goes off. Well, first of all, Zadavian Clowney, you know, six foot four.

long arm. Right, that was another bad luck play. He hits him in the face. It's not like JD got a hand on it. He hit him directly in the face while jumping to make a play. It's not just those, just the scattershot accuracy. Yeah. Because the doomed turnovers can happen, but just ball placement has been wayward all season long. They come into this game against the Carolina Panthers defense that hasn't stopped anybody on the run at a historic pace. And they end up throwing the ball 37 times with Jones trying to get, I guess, something going with the offense. He had his chance. Right?

They had like a 96-yard touchdown driving there. They have things to like. Like, Malik Neighbors is a real player. Theo Johnson keeps playing. He's a real player. You want the bright side, though? What's that? The bright side is, with the win, Carolina dropped to 10th in the tank-a-thon draft order.

And the Giants are number two right now. Now, we've got a long way to go. There are so many teams. 11 teams have either two or three loss, two wins right now. So more than a third of the league has either two or three wins. So there's a long way to go. But this could be a big one for the Giants, maybe getting their future quarterback. Let's go to Sunday night football.

The Lions and the Texans, two teams that they don't need a quarterback. From 52 yards out, hash mark left side. Bates was good from 58 to tie the game. Can he send it through from here to send the Lions home with a victory? There's the snap, spot, kick away. It is up, and it is good. He got it We're going to fly home

on the wings of Jake Banks Found baby Good from 58 Good from 52 And that's good enough For a victory For the Detroit Lions That was Dan Miller

And Lomas Brown From WXYT If it's Sunday It's Dan Miller Having a good time On NFL daily A victory You didn't see

Coming at halftime When it was 23 to 7 Texans But the Lions come all the way back to win it in the fourth quarter. A touchdown to Amman Ross. A round at the beginning of the quarter, a 58-yarder from Bates with five minutes to go. And yes, the buzzer-beater to send us home just a little earlier, Nick Shook. Although you're already at home.

What a game between the Lions and the Texas. It was crazy. It was sloppy. But I guess if you can't beat the Lions when you pick off Jared Gough five times, You just can't beat the Lions. Yeah, I mean, anytime you win the turnover margin five to two and you managed to go scoreless in the second half. I mean, there was multiple instances. Really, the turning point of the game was CJ Stroud having a wide open tank down the end zone and slightly underthrowing it,

almost because he was so panicked because Dell was so wide open that he left a little bit too much air into the ball. That was the turning point. And then it just started an avalanche of points for the Lions. You're right. If you turn them over five times and don't beat them, then you can't beat them. even if some of those picks by Jared Gough were unfortunate outcomes, not necessarily his mistakes.

What a crazy game, Greg. Even the field goals. They got by by about, I don't know, if you plucked three of my eyelashes and stacked them up together right here on the inside of the goal post, that's about the margin for error on those kicks.

Right. He drilled him knocking through. I mean, Collinsworth got us halfway there comparing it to Raftery, but he's got to do the impression. He's like, with a kiss, you know, he's got to do the whole thing.

And then he did it on the right side, too. The last one maybe didn't quite nudge the goalpost, but it just got in there. What a story. First of all, Jake Bates, again, NFL Daily July shoutout. This UFL kid who, yes, he was laying bricks in Houston at some point, and then he gets back into kicking. It was a soccer player and to be taken from the UFL to where he's built up now

and hitting nails kicks. Look, the Texans did a lot. of right things in this game and ultimately you can look at it like the officials I think missed a pretty clear PI on a third and four that would have gotten their field position even better would have given them a first down to run down the clock and try to get closer with about a minute 40 left they don't call the PI Terry Arnold leaves the game and they go for the long fair baron kick he misses it so one guy misses the long kick the other guy doesn't make it but I do look, and you can look at, okay, that's the difference in the game.

And I understand being upset there. But in the second half, they had seven turnovers, I mean, seven possessions. The first play of the second half was an interception by Stroud, great play by Carlton Davis. You mentioned the other one that he had, which was an absolute turning point. But they also had five other possessions where they just couldn't move the ball. All the problems that have been happening that were gone in the first half, that C.J. Stroud overcame in a really fantastic performance for 30 minutes were back where the offensive line couldn't protect their running game wasn't there

the whole night. And I give the Lions defense a ton of credit in this game. They sneaky had an amazing performance because Brian Branch was making plays. Kirby Joseph was making plays in the first half. And I actually thought a lot of the plays that Stroud made to Mechie, that last touchdown he had before the end of the half, some of the throws to Schultz, one to Tank Dell. These were just outstanding football plays that you give more credit to the quarterback than you take away from the defense,

and the pressure was there throughout the game. They ended up being fourth in the entire NFL, Nick, this weekend's success rate in terms of defense. So they really shut Houston's offense down pretty consistently in this game, and they get out of there in a win, and just I know Dan Campbell's going to love this, being able to win different types of games that's what great teams do.

Yeah, you know, the lions were on the ropes. I mean, you looked at the score and it was 23 to 7. You thought, where is this lion's team? I thought the score would be 23 to 7 in favor of the Lions, not the Texans, considering all the problems that the Texans have dealt with in recent weeks. And you're absolutely right. The passing protection really broke down the second half.

And a lot of credit is due to that Detroit defense. There was that one play in particular where James Houston just speeds around Laramie Tunsel, and he completely whiffs on it. I laughed. Like, I giggled as I watched the replay just because it shows the speed off the edge and how a guy, when he reaches out and tries to extend and whiffs, how it can destroy a play. I think it was on that same play

that Titus Howard tried to take the ball out of C.J. Stroud's hands. What is happening? What is happening? That should not count as a fumble on poor C.J. And it illustrates the breakdown that was the second half for the Texans who moved the ball a little bit, and then they just stopped. And a little bit and then just stopped.

What a performance. What a gutsy performance for the Lions. Where everything was going against them. They were not playing like themselves, and then they found themselves in the second half. They were able to create the turnovers. They were able to shake off their own turnovers because Jared Gough, you don't get to five interceptions without turn it over a little bit in the second half, too, which he did. And honestly, I think his last two picks were his worst two picks because one was an anticipatory throw to Sam LaPortle that was never open, and the other one was a great defensive play,

but also a ball that he probably shouldn't throw down in the deep third there. So they were able to overcome all of that. That is the mark of a winner. That is the mark of a team that has been through the fire like they were in the playoffs last year, and it's a very encouraging sign for one of the best teams in the NFL. It's a heartbreaking loss for the Texans. I think you just put it so well that these two teams are two of that cool, like rising, exciting organizations, teams in the NFL, and they're at different stages of their development. And the Texans were so close to having a signature

win tonight. So I don't want that to get lost in what happened because their defense was flying all over the place in the first half. Petrie was obviously. Awesome. They had injuries. Camari Lasseter with some friendly fire leaves the game in the second half. They lose Fatikasi. So they lose a couple of pieces. Will Anderson didn't even play in this game. And they really pressured Jared Gough. His pressure numbers for most of the game were just awful. The success rate on Detroit's runs were so bad going into the fourth quarter. And they're still pretty bad, but they finally got a running game going in the fourth quarter. So they were so close. They did a lot of really good things. I actually think This was the best Texans game that they've played in a while. They came out angry. They played really physical after that Jets game. And I'm seeing some like fraud watch with the Texans. And I get that actually.

I think to this point in the season, they have not been as good as their record. I actually do take positives out of tonight. CJ, I think, was more composed in the pocket for the most part. The fact that all fell apart is still concerning. The fact they don't have a running game and offensive line. Yeah, they're not real, super duper. Super Bowl contenders, but I do think they have a toughness. I think they have a defense, and I think they have a quarterback.

And when they get Nico Collins back and Will Anderson on the field, I do think they have things. I actually think this was the most encouraging game by the Texans in a while, maybe since the very beginning of the season, and that the Detroit Lions are just, they're just those dudes, man. They had individual players, Gibbs, Leporta, that made great individual plays, branches of a defensive player of the year candidate, a great call by Ben Johnson on a third and nine, like when they were facing on their own

end zone, like where they got it to Gibbs. Like they were in trouble there. There were so many little moments where they were in such big trouble. And so that's my long-winded flowers to the Texans fans who are probably not feeling too good right now. I'm glad you mentioned that Gibbs play because it was a beautiful example of Ben Johnson getting creative and getting a guy open when, you know, the situation is kind of stacked against you. He pulls Penae Sewell out

in the right side with a great little, you know, he sheds the rusher and says, all right, go after him. It's kind of like a screen action than you would get as an offensive lineman, gets out in front, perfect swing past to Gibbs. He gets down the field. They go from inside their own 10 to near the 40 yard line, and that jump starts a drive that was, you know, obviously crucial for them.

That's what the lions do well. They get creative in spots and usually it works out for them. The startling fact was that it wasn't working out for them two quarters, which is, you know, a credit to the Texans. I think that this, despite the loss, and, you know, you can say whether there are a moral victories or not. They are not because this could be a crushing loss for a worst team. But I think that the Texans are built to rebound from this because of what you just said

about their defense. They also get Dallas, Tennessee, and Jacksonville as their next three and a really late buy. So I think it's going to set up really well for them where they can go on a bit of a run before they go into that final month, which is tough. Miami, Kansas City, Baltimore, and Tennessee again, but you're coming out of the buy. As long as you can stay healthy, you get Collins back. I think you'll be okay. Yeah. Their defense played more than well enough to win one of the better games of the season by a defense. That touchdown, field, go, field goal, that's tough stuff in the fourth quarter to give up. But that was the 12th, 13th, and 14th possessions. The Lions had that in the game. They turned them over five times. The game

should have been over by then. And the Texans offense, they just couldn't hold up there. End of the bargain. Wow. What a fun way to end. A fun week 10. We will be back on Monday night. Bridget Condon coming into the Chris Wesleying podcast studio. I'm doing the Monday night Football, if you're watching over in the UK, so she's going to come up with me, and Nick has a night of the podcast off. Thank you, Nick, for an outstanding performance on this recap. And yeah, when the Lions are the best team in the NFL, you know football is back, back in the 1950s or something. I don't care if I went too long. This is an IHeart podcast.