NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 2024 Week 6 Recap from London

Episode Date: October 14, 2024

Gregg Rosenthal is joined by Phoebe Schecter, Will Gavin, and Ollie Connolly in the TalkSport studios in London to recap the full Week 6 slate of games from around the NFL. The show starts with Commanders at Ravens (01:46), followed by Lions at Cowboys (11:57), Buccaneers at Saints (30:04), Cardinals at Packers (40:48), Jaguars versus Bears at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (47:11), Texans at Patriots (01:07:17), Falcons at Panthers (01:17:52), Colts at Titans (01:24:30), Browns at Eagles (01:30:44), Steelers at Raiders (01:38:37), Chargers at Broncos (01:48:06) and Bengals at Giants (02:05:07). Note: time codes approximate NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Hey, everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6th, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.

It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet. We've got the insight to help you crush your opponents.

Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Welcome to NFL Daily, where we're always on Pacific Time. Or at least that's helping me forget that it's 2.15 in the morning in London as we start the show in the beautiful Talk Sport Studios. So lucky today to be joined by Ali Connolly, fresh off his amazing debut preview show performance, Phoebe Schechter, straight from the airwaves at Sky Sports, and Will Gavin, who I believe lives here at TalkSport. Yeah, literally, I haven't left this studio in seven years. So it's a delight to be back with a lot. people because quite often it gets lonely at this time on a Monday morning.

This place is impressive and I love this foursome that we have. There is no one I would rather be in a car with at 1.30 in the morning on the way to this studio than Phoebe Schechter. Like we love honking so much about football and ourselves that we actually talk the whole way here after doing Sky Sports all day. It is lovely to be here with you. We were also at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium about 12 hours ago. I was going to say three different locations today for the win from the stadium.

I mean, I don't know if I'm okay to bring this up. And with your fans, you took a motorcycle to Sky and then we took a car. So planes, trains, and automobiles is occurring today. Yes, and we will get to that. We won't bore the people at the top. But we'll talk about that. Later, we're going to talk about the Bears' impressive win today. We were all at that game, but we're not going to start with that game because we've got to start with Ali's

favorite game here. Washington, Baltimore, let's hit it. Henry alone to the back field. He'll get the carry up the middle. Big hole. Touchdown for the king. Derek Henry strikes again. And the Ravens extend their lead. That was Jerry Sandusky of WBAL. Derek Henry on a day where it felt like he wasn't even that big a part of the game plan, wasn't that big a part of the win. And then I looked up at the end of the game and he has 24 carries for 132 yards. It is amazing what this offense is doing. Everyone is looking fantastic.

Let's start with you, Ollie. I almost am surprised looking at the final score that they only ended up with 30 points in a day where it just felt like they could have kept playing this game and the commanders were not going to stop them or catch up. Yeah, you get Zay Flowers in the first half, right? It gets what, nine catches in the first half and then nothing the rest of the way. and Henry, you mentioned with running the ball, the huge kind of game-changing aspect he brings to the offence is

the after-the-tackle stuff is just there's never, ever a bad down to run Derek Henry. I think he's up to now four games this season with 30 yards, over-expectation. I don't know what an expectation could be for Derek Heverner, frankly, but next-gen comes up with those stats. Last season, Greg, only one player had four games all season. Christian McCaffrey, Derek Henry has four already this season.

And so you've mentioned this before. What is the option to stop these guys when they're trying to run the ball? What can you possibly do? The idea of picking between Lamar has the ball or Henry has the ball, now the passing game is expanding. There's just no simple way to stop it.

Yeah, the linebackers for Washington. Frankie Louvo, you know, Jordan Rodriguez's favorite player who's been playing great all year, rendered almost irrelevant in this game, and then they picked on Bobby Wagner. I thought a decent amount. Also, I apologize, Ali, because I went around the room

and we did the little, hey how you going and I didn't include you and I got to say like your hair is, it's better than Kirk Cousins. I've been at 2.30 in the morning. You saw me zoning out after a 14 hour day I'll give this guy a break. You thought it was kind.

Were you, like we're watching this game. This was our game on Sky Sports Phoebe and like is your takeaway here more about how unstoppable Baltimore is or some concern with Washington? Where are you going? I think it's about how unstoppable

the Ravens are right now. I mean, to all these point, they were finding ways to win every single time they were on the field. And you know, the first half was a definite Zayflower show. Then you get to the second half. Mark Andrews starts stepping up. You start just finding

ways that they are attacking you. And Derek Henry, I know it didn't feel like he did much, but they're finding ways to utilize him, whether it's outside of the pocket, you know, straight downhill runs. And he's always the one to just punch it in in the end zone. 484 total yards in this game

and Lamar Jackson afterwards called it a pick your poison offence and I think that's before with this Baltimore team when we've seen them and expected them to go on deep runs and then they've stumbled in the playoffs there's been a lack of balance there's been a lack of weapons

there's always been something to point to it feels like there's no more excuses for this offence at this point it feels like they're going to be able to attack you in so many different ways but I have to say on the other side of the ball from what I saw of Jaden Daniels today both the touchdown throw

I thought were absolutely sensational to Terry McClure and brilliant timing throws, particularly that fourth down. And, you know, yes, we should be pouring praise on the bottom more Ravens here. But Jane Daniels still continues to impress and probably his first time going up against a proper heavyweight on the other side. Yeah, there is a sense with this team every week when they're facing a new kind of test. Last year was last week, rather, it was the Brown's defense, which obviously presents certain challenges.

And every week, it's like another piece of evidence that, yeah, this has staying power. This is a real thing. We know the defense just doesn't have the personnel and maybe not the scheme to overcome that personnel. But Daniel's doing next level things as a rookie quarterback keeps happening. And this is a case where he didn't really get help from his running game. I think we've seen the running games dried up, especially without Brian Robinson. But I don't think Brian Robinson would have saved them today. The running game is kind of stagnated other than his scrambles the last couple of weeks. Yeah. And even in the past, game. This was one of those, my guy Cliff. Cliff comes into this game. He knows

big TV spot. He knows it's a Lamar. Daniel's show. He wants to show off. Make sure people remember Cliff Kingsbury. Some of the situational play calling was really quite off. And I just didn't feel like Daniels had put in very good spots to succeed. It was really just on him. This was one of those ones where it's like, this guy has the special stuff. It was one of those anticipation throw games, go and make your own play games. It was not one where he's getting a bunch of help from the line who's played really well for most the season receivers springing open all over the place. It was him and Terry McClure in certain spots

and then him just going and make him plays. Olly, are you saying we might have overreacted to the first few weeks of the season as this Cliff Kingsbury Renaissance? Cliff Kingsbury, great play designer, not always a great play caller. He is a guy who I've mentioned before, likes to show off early in the season.

Here's all my bag of goodies. And I would like him sometimes to pass out over the year all the different stuff. He brought a lot of the goodies today and they had no chance when there was no blocking up from. I think that what happened, too, was Jaden Daniels did a really nice job of responding to what the Ravens showed him, right? So we talked about the first half. There was a lot of those passes outside the numbers, which we hear so much about.

And then second half, they challenge him, and he's throwing over the middle. He's finding Zach Kurtz. He's finding Noah Brown. And I think that just goes to show the versatility. He didn't have to use his legs that much either, which was nice to see because he almost became the top rusher for a second there based off of, you know, really not having Brian Robinson. Yeah, he ended up just 22 yards on the ground, and that was the top rusher for Washington. It is kind of crazy that a rookie quarterback is leading one of, if not the best offenses in football, with Zach Ertz, Noah Brown, yes, Terry McLaurin, who's one of the best receivers

in the league, and Zakias, as his top guys, Echler making plays in the passing game. And this could have been a blowout. Baltimore ended up with 28 first downs, 484 yards. There was early interception was the worst throw. Lamar Jackson made all day. But other than that, he was spot on, 323 yards and 26 attempts. And it could have been much more one-sided. But you mentioned it, Ollie.

Jaden was just making special throws. We're a couple of the third downs to McCorrin on the outside where there's really like no window and he's hitting it. He's looking off defenders. It was a back shoulder for one of the touchdowns. It's all just awesome stuff. And it's a wide open division. And they're four and two.

And they still kind of feel like, the team to beat, and the Ravens are maybe the team to beat in the AFC for straight wins. Travis Jones has another big day like Bateman and Andrews finally do a little. What gets in the way of this Ravens team, at least, do you think, during the regular season? I can't really see anything. The only thing I would have thought of coming into the year was would the defensive front really hold up? Did they have a special pass rush?

Could they get there? Can you be a team that blitzes and sims your way through an entire season? We haven't really had a full body of work of these style of defense. playing over a full season, particularly going into a postseason, having great success. But we've now got a deaf at Arway who has become one of the top preeminent pass rush in the league. Seemingly out of nowhere, they've been flashes in the past. Now he's developed into being a true every downthroat. I apologize.

I almost keep throwing it to Ali, because I'm just like looking straight at him. And I'm intimidated a little bit, Will, by your radio voice. You were born to do this, and I'm hearing myself in my ears, and it's like listening to Tom Brady, or something for three hours. And this is with my voice feeling pretty rough after the four-hour call today, which Ollie did join us on, on Talk Sport. Look, when Zach at all brings in Dean Peas

as like a kind of an advisor, and it did start to look, as Ollie was talking about, like, it weren't sure if this was going to be a sustainable thing. I just can't figure out if today was a case of Brian Robinson was out. Cliff Kingsbury didn't call a great game, and that's why they were so stout up front or whether this was a really good performance from this run defense, which hasn't necessarily shown up so far this season.

They've got the bucks up next, which I think we saw how high power their offense can be earlier today. And so that may be a better test for them. That, for me, is probably the place that they fall over. You know, Carl Van Nuoy, who has had a sensational start to the season, but has been their best player on the defensive side of the ball. Is that really sustainable? Is not having those kind of very special players up from?

He did it for a whole year with them before. They are crazy. When Yanik and Gakwe had a key sack in this game, I was like, they've done it again. They've signed a guy. No one wanted in the middle of the season, and he's going to end up having some big play that wins him a game in the divisional round. It's just what they do.

And one thing we talked about, Phoebe, was the play action and the under center game. At the beginning of the season, we said, it's almost like they have two offenses and they're not really married up. And now it's like, oh, they almost have two offenses, and both of them are awesome. Yeah, and they've done a really nice job of planning it out too, right? So you're looking at what they're doing. They might go in, have a deep pass.

They usually would return to the run. They mix it in a little bit. You got some nice play action. They found really great ways to move the ball around. And again, utilizing Derek Henry. They didn't even have to really use Justice Hill. I mean, he's pretty much coming in as a pass blocker at this rate. But I like what they're doing.

I think that Lamar is enjoying it out there. I think he wants to have a cleaner game I think we all want to see them have a cleaner game But it doesn't phase them in the fact that Yeah, they're getting turnovers But they're still finding ways to win ultimately Yeah, they look awesome I feel I was a little nervous

Before this where it's like 2.30 We haven't all ever done a show together Will this is your first time on NFL Daily That's very excited Thanks so much for having me And I gotta say I think we're gonna fucking Kill this show We are gonna knock it out

Let's go to Detroit where they were killing it in Dallas. Lions from their own 48 were the first down. Golf up under center, single back Montgomery. Jared takes tosses to Montgomery, flips it back to Amon Ra. He gives it to golf, he's going to throw down field. He's got Leporta, makes the grab.

20, 15, 10, 5. And go, touchdown, Detroit Lions. How about a little razzle-dazzle in the Lone Star State? 52 yards. That was Dan Miller on WXY, Yes, Jared Goff on one of the roughly 17 trick plays that the Lions decided to call as they got the ultimate revenge on that nonsense game that they lost in Dallas a year ago.

47 to 9. I thought it'd be one-sided if you listened to The Pick Show with Neil Reynolds, but I never thought it would be this one-sided. Them just dropping a hammer, Jared Goff completing 18 passes once again this week. This time for 315 yards and three touchdowns. Both sides of the ball dominated up front for the Lions, Phoebe. And after this game, like, what is your biggest, like, what's the best part of the Detroit Lions right now? The best part, my goodness.

I love the defense. For me, I love how much they have grown and developed. We've talked about it a bunch earlier. This tandem of safeties that they have going on. Brian Branch, the way that they stepped up, Kirby Joseph, the way that they're able to play and read off each other and take chances because of that trust,

I mean, they're being opportunistic and I think it's so exciting to watch because this is what they needed. We've asked for the secondry to be kind of bolstered. You bring in Terry and Arnold, I think they've done a great job of putting it together. It's really interesting. We caught with Brian Branch at the Super Bowl this year. He and

Aiden Hutchson were kind of doing some, you know, this is what we do, talk sport, check it out. But look, he was really down on his own rookie season. I actually wasn't keen on his own performances. And we talked about how he grew into the year, but realistically, he thought he could do a lot more. And I do

love the back end, but we are talking about this game without talking about kind of one of the most significant moments, which is Aidan Hutchison goes out of the game. It's a broken leg. He goes immediately into surgery. He's going to end up staying in Dallas for a period of time and missing, you would imagine

the rest of the season. And as much as... Okay, okay. You never know. Yeah, I don't want to be one of those internet doctors. I see you correcting like my hosting ability here. Well, you didn't mention the catastrophic injury that kind of put a cloud over this whole thing. Like, we were going to get to that, but we can talk about the win first a little bit.

It's fine. It was a phenomenal performance and they go into Dallas and we're going to talk about what an absolute stink show the Dallas Cowboys are. But I just, Vee-B brought up the defense and there's so much to love about it, but I do worry about up front without A-N. Okay, so yeah, when we saw that injury and they show those replays in slow motion and they didn't show it much in the broadcast. And yeah, it's horrifying. It's horrible.

And I don't even think it's worth speculating because you just don't know what these injuries, but it obviously looked like a clear fracture. And you just hope it's the type of injury that is as less long term in terms of what he's going to be like when he comes back from the injury as possible and that he can just fully recover. there's no sense speculating on that, but we can speculate on this defense moving forward. I think if the Lions had an issue, it might have been the lack of pass rush depth after him. It's really just Saleem McNeil, and they have injuries. Marcus Davenport has been out. Derek Barnes should be back, who's a linebacker, but they certainly use him to rush. I mean, he might be a starting edge player for this team now.

Like, what is your concern, Ollie, about what this team looks like moving forward? Yeah, it's obviously a major concern. you lose the best pass rush for in the NFL through the opening weeks of the season. The only thing you would say, maybe to offset it, is they've been so good in the secondary, which I didn't expect it to coalesce that quickly. And Hutchinson's face a pretty rough slate of starting players in the NFL. Most of them have been rotational backup guys that he's gone to work on. And you can go and find edge rushers on the trade block.

You can call everyone up and say, hey, I'm Reddick. Do you fancy doing six weeks for us? It is a thing you can find and maybe patch together, bringing in a vet off the street, trading for someone and they will never give you what Aidan Hutchson does, but you can kind of scheme some things up and bring in a couple of veteran guys. If they were a mess on the back end and lost Hutchinson, it would obviously be a huge concern. But I think they've been so good on the back end that they might be able to find a way to piece it together. I'm immediately thinking of teams out of the mix, like who would be available. Is it Arias Smith? That could be one.

I immediately saw a speculated trade list from a lion's beat writer that included Max Crosby. Okay, stop. Trey Hendrickson. like those are teams out of them I mean, Trey Hendrickson did request the trade before the season the Bengals would have to fall pretty far out of it for them to consider that they also I don't think have made a transaction

in the months between September and January since like 1975 they don't really like get off their ass and do that but there could be some players out there that is fair to point out and yes yeah the secondary carrying on Arnold with some nice plays this was an example I thought of

what Mike McCarthy has been criticized for not creating easy passes, even against a team that plays so much manned defense, there wasn't a lot of separation and they weren't completing those throws Dak Prescott tonight. No, connection issues resurfaced with C.D. Lam in this game that we've seen time and time again, continued attempts to force throws into tight windows, which just weren't working terrible. Inception, I think it's five turnovers on the day in the end.

And it's just, I know when you're chasing a game, obviously you're going to have to try and make big plays and you're going to have to go after those big moments. But just every single time, the decision making from Dak Prescott, who I think pre-snap is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, but just the decision-making once the ball is in his hands just wasn't there today at all. I think there's an element of that, but I still think there are a lot of issues with this offensive line. And it's not necessarily giving him the time. he's having to throw into these tight windows. He's one of the top quarterbacks that has to do that in the league. And I think it doesn't help when you don't have a run game at all. I mean, you look at what Ezekiel Elliott was, I say, able to do.

I mean, he had eight carries today, an average of 2.1. I mean, you just can't survive like that. And if you have no run game, then the defense knows that you have to pass because they fell behind in points so quickly. I mean, there's naturally going to be pressure. And the lions are able to do whatever they want, essentially, because you're constantly playing from behind the sticks. They were so desperate. They had to go for everything. And there was that Branch interception early, which was a great play where I think he baited Dak Prescott in it.

Branch made it look like he was going to cover the defender in the flat, and Dak fell for it. And that's amazing that Branch is pulling off plays like that. But you weren't thrilled with some of the routes Citi ran. They also went for that fourth and two in their own end, and they had to. At that point, they're down, I think it was 14 or 17 points. It's like early third quarter, and it's basically the game's over because we know we're not going to make any stops. We have to go for fourth downs in our own.

And I'm with you. I don't think it's been the best C.D. Lamb season so far either. No, and I get your caring frustration with you, but your fourth and two, you know that you are the guy. They've paid you to be that guy. And you do a slow kind of hezy release off the line. You've got the defender sitting at the sticks the whole time. You don't even make him move or, you know, have that, like, explosiveness that we need from you.

And then the ball gets thrown and nothing's carried in. I mean, and that happened multiple times throughout the day today. Phoebe loves herself some football. So I like it when she kind of puts on her Ollie Connolly hat and gets a little more critical. Yeah, I mean, we spoke about this in the preview. Everything that they do on offense just looks like hard work. Every single part of it. And I love that probably more than anyone but Mrs. Brescott.

I really believe he is. I've called him before. He's the closest thing we have to pay to Manning pre-snap, as Will we're saying. He just loves to go out there to pick people apart, and he is a true football genius. But there comes a time when it's like, we need some easy buttons. There's nothing in that offense that is easy. Even when they have, they try and put different receivers out there, the commitment, the effort is so poor. They have to pull explosive guys off the field to put not explosive guys on.

They think we'll actually try. It's a huge, huge problem. Everything about the offense from design to details, to effort and intensity, the talent and technique, it's all so lacking. And at a time when the league is all about simplifying, right? It's all about just presenting quarterbacks with his read, one, two, three. We're not even going to make you read a defense. We're going to make it so easy for you within the structure.

And Dak Prescott's being told, no, you have to do literally everything. The most embarrassing part of the game is just watching the other side of the field and seeing all the creativity, all the movement, all the effortlessness, to the point where has there ever been a team playing their, own building, get hammered the way that they did, and this has happened now multiple times. Four games in a row, they've been hammered. And then you have a team

the Lions in the fourth quarter to say our only job is to get one of our tackles a touchdown. That's all we care about. And you were on our Jerry Jones beat. It was indeed, so please give me the report. It says Jerry Jones' 82nd birthday today, and this is coming off the back of the Cowboys

allowing 167 points over their last four home games. So it's not a happy time in Gera world right now and he was asked afterwards about the potential for a head coaching change. I'm not going to do the accent because it would be horrible at any time of day but particularly at half two in the morning

or whatever it is. Jones said I haven't even considered that. I'm not considering that so we're clear. And when he was told he had made an in-season change before he bristled and responded, do you think I'm an idiot? I'm not. So Jerry Jones in fine Jerry Jones form

afterwards going and addressing the media and this is their worst defeat in the Jerry Jones era at home. The last time they lost by this many points was the year before Jerry Jones bought the team. So right now he could be understood if he's having some pretty tough conversations with Mike McCarthy and the rest of that coaching staff. The positive spin is for as many issues as they've had, they've sort of managed the season

well enough that they're three and three at this point. They got that win in New York, which is a division win. They got that fourth down pick up against the seal. It's just that at least there's hope if you're, Jerry Jones, the eternal optimist at three and three. The bigger issue is if they lose to the teams that are their biggest rivals, or were, at least in the NFC. You're going to San Francisco, then you're in Atlanta, home for Philly in Houston and

at Washington. It is a tough slate coming up. So everyone's going to be on Mike McCarthy watch. We get it, but it's not going to happen. I don't think during the spire week. It's particularly going into a buy week as well. This is the buy week with San Francisco off the back of it. That's what I mean.

This is the time when a Jerry Jones makes a decision. Those wins saved him. his job, I believe, for sure. He's going to give him a chance against those rival teams and for Michael Parsons to go back. But they're in a very difficult situation. Before we move on from this game, at least we should just give a little love to the line.

This is the game we're probably going to spend the most time. We watched it very closely. I mean, Montgomery going 12 for 80. Jamir Gibbs 12 for 63. They're just leaning on defender. It was like Ben Johnson was just cycling through the team. Oh, we haven't gotten Amon Ross St. Brown a touchdown late in this game.

Let's get it to it. And then St. Brown, for some reason, just sprints to the bench and starts screaming into the air. I don't know what he was so worked up about, but I loved him. Oh, let's get the deep shot to Jameson Williams after he has a drop early. Let's have Tim Patrick make an insane one-handed catch early where he comes back for the ball. Sam Leporta, who's been quiet all season, only has one catch, but it goes for 52 yards at a beautiful throw. So it's like everything is just beautiful right now in Ben Johnson land. Like they just feel like they're in the fourth year of their tenure.

and it's like if you could write a book out of how to rebuild an organization, this is it. Almost everything is beautiful in Benjones. Well, okay, you're right. I keep forgetting. So the only thing from today that he was so desperate to get a lineman a touchdown after what happened against the Cowboys last season and he tried it four separate times and each time they got called for a penalty or something went wrong on the play to the point at which he was just stood on the sideline looking bewildered

after another one got called back. I felt bad. Ben Johnson was clearly looking to do something. something. And this is a league where you're not meant to run up the score and you're not meant to embarrass other teams. You felt like this was a bit of an emotional win for the Lions after last year. And I feel like Ben Johnson was just a little bit disappointed to not get the hands of a big man. I love that they kept going for that. If that's the topic on the dumb debate shows on Monday morning, I'll be so annoyed. But I thought you were going to point

out actually there was something bad that happened for the team. It was the catastrophic injury to the heartbeat of the team. That's like the number two overall picking the draft. I forgot to me. Before we go, I do want to just get your guys' thoughts on Tom Brady after six weeks, because this was the most locked in I was to a Tom Brady performance. I've been on Tom Brady Beatwatch, essentially. Most important player in the history of the game, modern-wise, steps into a booth gets paid, however much money by Uncle Rupert to come and call games.

The first week was horrifying, boardline embarrassing. He got really, really good, really quick, and no one noticed. Now, the voice is a concern, certainly. The voice is slightly grating, but he is... That can be overcome, just charm and one-liners. It's fine. He's really settled into them allowing him to nerd out over football. When he's nerding out of a football, he is as good as it gets with anyone in communicating.

When they force him to do football cliche, let's talk guy, he's brutal. You can see he's playing a character he's watched on TV. So we get these like four or five snapshots a game of Tom Brady being Tom Brady, which is let me just be a football dog. And he's really good at it. The more they can do that, the more they can maximize that, the more is at his best. But surely there's an element that he is still growing into this role. Just I get it.

They've paid him a lot of money. Everyone thinks he should be wonderful. But it doesn't happen like that. I mean, all of us have been in that situation where you're building chemistry with the person next to. You're trying to figure out so you don't have these awkward pauses. I think he's trying to figure out who is he as a broadcaster because that can't exactly be the same guy

when he was on the field and that's all he's known for so long so I think he's going to keep getting better like you said he's very coachable right? I mean that's why he's been so successful so he's going to be self-scouting he's going to be doing all this work on his own to make himself better.

I mean we're doing it right now on our first try as a four someone's not taking us a while of the world I'm buying all the stock I think he's going to be an absolute superstar Someone who is that homicidely competitive is going to go home every night. He's going to fix the voice. He's going to watch the tape. He's going to make himself be the best.

You got Romo hitting the links five days a week. Brady is going to be in the booth at home practicing. He's going to be great. So today was the day that convinced me that I think you're right. I think there are certain things I'll like other guys more or less. He's still got a ways overall to catch up with like a Greg Olson to me. But today I was like, oh, he is going to be really good at this. And I think part of it was that he enjoyed today watching championship level offense.

He was like, finally, someone who meets my fucking standards. Like, I can accept these guys. These guys are worthy of me watching them. I am enjoying great football. Yeah, after he'd had to sit and watch the Cowboys for four out of the first five weeks of the season, he was excited to see a team who legitimately have a Super Bowl possibility. Look, I think for me, and I'm with Ollie, When he gets nerdy, I love it, but we are a room of four nerds.

So, like, of course we're going to love that. I'd like just a little bit more kind of honesty slash reflection on his own career. There was a brilliant moment in week two when Jalen Brooks lost his footing on what was a wide open throw and ended up not catching the ball. And Kevin Burkhardt turned to him when he was like, Tom, would you go back to him immediately on the next play? And the stock answer is, yep, you go back to your guy. you have to trust them, you have to prove that you trust them, you have to build up their confidence. And Brady just went, no, that guy's not seeing the ball

the rest of the game. Just was honest about it. I'm not throwing to him again for the rest of the 60 minutes. Yeah, like welcome to Bethel Johnson's career. The best example of that was the Baker Mayfield one because they had a preset ready to go, they did it in the meeting, they had the graphic

ready, they're like, we're going to throw to Tom, what are you going to say, and they figured it out, we'll go to camera, it's Kevin and it's Tom, in camera, we'll do that. But before they could get to it, they mentioned it on air. He let out how he really felt, which was Passive aggressive and pissed off and annoyed that Baker Mayfield said that. And then was Anodyne when they actually threw it to the part, they had pre-planned. So if he can just let slip out more how he really feels.

I don't know if you can do it when you become a team owner. Maybe he's just going to be watching and saying Ben Johnson. I'll hire him for the Raiders. Maybe that's what he was thinking in the third quarter. But that real guy who's in there, who is part dork, part nerd, part business guy, I think if he can just come out more often, he's going to be great. You forgot like the 70% like pathological killer, which I like when that comes. out too. So yes, we're not going to do a

like a five-minute Brady recap every week, but maybe every six weeks we'll just check in on them. All right, let's take one quick break. We're going to come back. I'm going to talk a little saints, Bucks. Yes, the agenda. How did it do? What's up, everybody?

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

coaching strategies roster construction and the trend that shape the league year after year. Whether you're a diehard fan or just love understanding the game on a deeper level, we give you the full picture. If you want insight that goes beyond the box score, this podcast is for you. Don't miss it.

Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL fantasy football podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL fantasy football podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet.

We've got the insight to help you crush your opponents. Listen to the NFL fantasy football podcast on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. A second down five. In motion, Godwin. Play action, fake Mayfield, throws a pass.

Caught ball on the left side. With the, across the 50 to the 45 is Godwin. He breaks another tackle. Godway down the sideline outside the numbers to the 10. Five, three, two, one. Touchdown, Tampa Bay. Chris Godwin, fought through a tackle. Kane got his balance and scoots 55 yards to the Promise Land.

If it's Sunday, you know it's Gene Deckerhoff on WFUS. Another victory for the Go-Go Buccaneers offense. They put a 50 burger on Dennis Allen in the Superdome. Chris Godwood's showing up week after week. Ends up with 11 catches, 125 yards, and two touchdowns. We went into this game, Will, thinking Spencer Rattler. And I left this game thinking Dennis Allen and this defense that they've been building for so long

is no match for one of the best offenses in the league, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Yeah, I think your buddies at the Saints Block Party aren't going to be happy from what they saw from the Saints defense today because Tampa Bay... Good plug. They're joining me on Thursday night, not to cut you off.

Sorry, Will, but Thursday night could be a few. funeral for Dennis Allen with Sean Payton coming into the building. So I am looking forward to that post game with them on NFL daily no matter what happens. For their sake, I hope the Saints win, but if they don't, it'll be probably a better show. Look, this was a super fun game. 51-27 is slightly harsh, I would say, on Spencer Rattler and the New Orleans Saints. 24th quarter points for Tampa Bay put a late kind of hurting on them, but 594 yards of total offense. And Baker Mayfield had the most Baker Mayfield of days today. Opening drive, five for five, 58 yards, brilliant touchdown strike. I was like, this is the Baker that has come out in the last year or so

and really shown out. In the end, four touchdowns, three interceptions for his 325 yards. I would say only one of them was truly on him was a truly bad throw, but otherwise a really good all-round performance from Baker Mayfield. But it was the rushing. It was the performance on the ground. It was John Tucker coming out and having 14 carries for 130. 36 yards and a touchdown. It was a total rushing stats number of what they had 317 in the end, 277 yards on the ground. Astonishing. Yeah, and they've really struggled to run the ball for much of the year.

This is the first game. Last week they started to get it going a little bit. This one was where they were pairing the efficiency with the explosiveness. I think they ended up with 10 explosive runs over the course of the game. I think they had ones of 31, 3029. Big gashing runs. and Dennis Allen, if nothing else, will be furious that that team was pushed off the ball like that. Even the way they play defense, bunch of defensive backs, tons of dime, it is built structurally that we at least stop the run.

Then we kind of get funky on the back and then try and force turnovers. They got the turnovers, but they couldn't stop the run. I know I'm paying attention more to the Saints than most teams when while Brian Branch was having that game, I was thinking, the Saints drafted Isaiah Foskey over Brian Branch at a moment where they really could have used. used that position. Oh, hugely. I mean, it was definitely a situation where they need to be stacking their defense a little bit more. But even just looking at the game overall, I mean, just going to the Saints for a second, the fact that they scored 27 points in the second quarter, and that was all that they scored in the second quarter, that Tampa Bay let that happen. But then

they said, no, we've had enough of this. This is not going to carry on anymore. was really what was noticeable from Spencer Rattler's day. And it was a tough day in terms of Chris Alavi goes out with the, with a concussion on that fantastic defensive play, the fumble that was returned for the touchdown. But in the first half, 10 of 13, 137 yards, had the touchdown as well across the Saints' first six drives. And then it felt like at the half, Todd Bowles went, sorry, why are we letting this guy, like, why are we letting a fifth round rookie do this to us, dialed up a ton of interesting

pressures, forced him into going 11 of 23 with two interceptions in the second half. And Ye was doing it while they were taking Rashid Shaheed away down the field while he had no Chris Alave, you know, the guy who was seeming to see most of his looks was the fellow fifth round rookie Bob Means. What a name that is, by the way. Five catches, 45 yards and a touchdown for him. Overall, I thought for a first game, for a fifth round rookie, Spencer Rattler did enough for me to say, okay, this guy, could be something in the NFL. Yeah, certainly maybe one of these long-term career backup, swing, start guys,

comes in a spot and you get a three-week run where you're all really excited about. It's Rattler Ball season. You can move around and create. This is why I will always go down with Todd. He has never met an answer to a question that is not just let me blitz more. And it was very clear that you could see just seeping through the screen was Ball saying, I am going to light this young guy up. It's annoying me right now.

And they sent plenty of heat in the first half to, but he just decided it's over. I'm sending everything. and it was pretty clear too that Rattler was told stop taking off early see it read it look it throw it and he was actually playing efficiently as you mentioned well early on and had a few decent scrambles as well and so he's sitting in

not wanting to move and balls is sending all kinds of heat and you pair the two together suddenly you get a bunch negative plays but I thought it was as you said for a first outing against a really tough defensive look I thought he was impressive yeah they need to support him more

It was 14-0-0, and all he had done was throw a completion to a lave where it was a fumble return. Now, that was just bad luck, but your defense is not expecting to give up a touchdown on the first drive. Your defense, which is what the whole Dennis Allen thing is really about. Like, hey, I can't hire an offensive coordinator. We're going to figure out how to have an offense that's just good enough. We're going to play this defense that there's so much continuity in terms of the same. scheme goes back practically a decade at this point with Allen and the players that we're going to keep ourselves in games. We're going to try to run the football with Alvin Camara. That's certainly

dried up over the last handful of weeks. And we're going to be a top five defense. So if a division opponent comes into your building, this is one of the lowest moments of the Dennis Allen era. It just blows my mind that I did a podcast talking about how great the Saints were and maybe some Super Bowl hype in New Orleans and stuff. And that was just a few weeks ago. And now they're on a long losing streak with Sean Payton coming into town. And they just gave up 50 points for the first time since the Giants. And Eli Manning came in.

I remember this game well. It was a Sunday night football in October. And now if I get this wrong, everyone's like, actually you didn't remember well. But I'm pretty sure it was a Sunday night football in October. And I was in Stamford, Connecticut, just waiting for that game to end so I can take a car back to the city at like one in the morning. It reminded me of tonight with that Lions Cowboys Game, Phoebe. And we were just like, let's hurry this thing up with the reviews and everything. A big moment in the same season. It's a long way to go. But I do just want to give the Buck's credit

because I just think this offense has been shockingly consistent and consistently good. And now they're getting the running game involved. And Mike Evans said before the game that this game wasn't just about them. And I'm sure it was not lost on anyone with the devastation. of the hurricane this week, and they're spending the week in New Orleans, a city who it almost sounds like familiar to that it's only a football game, but it's also awesome. They went out and won this game, and this team has a chance to do something pretty special, which is win a division again, like they could win it four straight times, which is crazy.

Yeah, and it's amazing to see what they've done with Baker Mayfield over the years. I mean, he is someone that's really come into his own from when he left the Rams. to coming out to Tampa Bay. I mean, he's got an incredible crew around him. Like you said, you get the run game going. That's such a big part of what they've needed so far. And to run all over a New Orleans Saints defense that was keeping them in the games early on as well.

So I think that they have a lot to be proud of. And I think it's impressive that, you know, this team want to represent Florida. They want to represent Tampa Bay and be a beacon of hope, essentially. And this is a pretty good way to feel. 51 to 27 is a nice ending to this game. I also want to give a just a bit of a shout out to the defensive side of the ball in general. We talked about those blitz in the second half,

but Colisea Cancey comes back after some timeout, wrecked the middle of that offensive line throughout. And they've got so much kind of great talent on the back end of their defense, good young talent. But we mentioned the fumble play, the Chrysalavi. Tyke Smith, who made that play, also had an absolute day for himself. And they just keep seeming to find these gems in the draft.

When they went on that Super Bowl run, And yes, there was all the talk about it was Tom Brady and Gront coming back and all that excitement on the other side of the ball. But it was the brilliant drafting they'd done on the back end of the defence that I thought really won them that Super Bowl. And they just seemed to keep doing it again. So the Bucks are kind of a team that we're probably not talking about enough as could have an impact come January.

Yeah, I worry about the sustainability of them defensively. I don't think the pass rush is a true pass rush. I mean, they're playing today. It's a rookie quarterback. They're on the third centre, the Saints. Who is in charge of figuring out who's going where? Who's blocking who? What are we all doing?

Do we even know all the words in the calls? We've had the three days to work together, and top balls are sending six, seven guys, every other play in the second half. Don't ruin our fun. Sean Tucker had a hundred and ninety two yards from scrimmage. Sterling Shepard had more rushing yards than anyone on the Dallas Cowboys. Sterling Shepard, he's back. I tried to warn you that Liam Cohen was a major upgrade over Dave Canales.

And here we are. He's rolling now. They play with such incredible tempo and their feel of when to go to things, all the end-arounds today, all the creativity, they get guys wide open. Baker's playing really well, decisive, taking off and making a plays with his feet. He has become way more decisive with Cohen than he even was last year.

I got to say, yeah, that Gino-ish contract they gave Baker. It was very similar where it's like, you're not quite a super franchise quarterback, but you're not a mid-level guy. It's somewhere in between I think it's aging pretty well so far. There is separation in the NFC

south. There are the haves. That's the Buccaneers. That's the Falcons who will get to in a bit. And then there's the have-nots. It's the Saints and the Panthers. Let's go to Green Bay, where they were having a lot of fun. Dobbs now deployed a motion to the right side, snapped to love. Under pressure, love looks. He's it down the right side, making it just for catching it is down. Tiptoes into the end zone. A sensational touchdown. A desperation throw, Jordan Love to his good buddy. Romeo Dobbs and the Packers, 20-yard touchdown pass reestablished control of this game it's 30 to 13

Wayne Larravee of WR NW good buddy he is it almost felt like when they dialed up some big plays or like we got to get Dobbs some touchdowns today so he's happy with everyone and they give him big hugs after the touchdown Jordan Love finally has a normal game at least normal for him which is throwing just bonkersly talented throws To his receivers, Jaden Reed, Christian Watson, Romeo Dobbs, all get it done. Four touchdown throws for Jordan Love. 34 to 13 is the final, and maybe this Packer season is just kind of settling into where it should be. When they brought him back in week four and threw him in against the Vikings and he still clearly didn't quite look right and you knew that he was going up against that Brian Flores defense and all the exciting stuff that they do, like there was some little,

bit of kind of almost panic mode of, okay, how has Lafleur managed to scheme up some really amazing performance out of Malik Willis and then Jordan Love comes back and looks that bad? This is the Jordan Love that we saw last year. He still will have those moments and Olly will attest for this, I'm sure, where he'll make some boneheaded throws and just plays that you just do not expect a top tier quarterback to make. But I thought he was sensational today. The Romeo Dobbs touchdown, the one we just heard then, was one of the plays of the day for me, both in what Love did, but in the catch itself as well. And it was just fun to see them up and firing again.

In an NFC, which at the moment outside of the Vikings has looked like there's no one grabbing it by the scruff of the neck. This is a Packers team who actually finally might be figuring things out. Yeah, this was the love stripping away any of the errors of the last few weeks. He has been throwing it to everyone all over the place, no matter what, since he's returned. And this just kind of trimmed down some of the fact. He still had some of the most unbelievable throws of the day. The Inbreak is the Dobbs that he hits. It's between three players at once.

a lifetime type throw one of the all-time throws you'll ever see that will be forgotten but is incredible the things that used to be really difficult for him when he first started picking up pressure attacking the middle of the field are now the things that are easy for him

and the things that were easy before he's just now mastered I'm such a huge Jordan Love fan when you pair the efficiency the instincts, the anticipation with some of the off-script creativity that's when you start ratching up to like okay how high is he going up the pecking order here when he's at his best game he's probably in the six to seven range already and i think climbing oh yeah

and the in the great plays are so great that you forgive some of the downside i think packers fans had just been a little panicky and overreacting to the start they were weirdly like unhappy about a situation where you were three and two and malik willis had started a couple of those games it's a long season. This is a young team, one of the youngest, maybe the youngest team in the league. It's them and the Rams, I believe. And look, it's an overmatched Cardinals defense, at least talent-wise, but both sides of the ball played well for the Packers and they have to feel really good where they're at coming out of week six. Yeah. And I mean, look, and he was injured for those first couple of weeks as well. I mean, what Lafleur does and the way that he schemes things up and

the play calling that he has, he puts Jordan Love in a great position. I mean, he is, a coach that's able to really understand the piece of the puzzle he has. And we saw that again, Malik Willis earlier on. There's not many coaches. We're seeing that nowadays that have answers to the test for his players. Jordan Love, I love that he sat for a while behind Aaron Rogers. He's still learning. His actual rep experience is not as high as some of the other quarterbacks out there. So yeah, his line of success, he's going up, but it's not going to be without its pitfalls. And you're kind of taking that as he's still developing as a young guy. Yeah, I just want to

take a time out here where we've reached 3 a.m. Phoebe was actually a Tottenham at like 9 a.m. or something like that doing early hits. I want to just do a little bit of a welfare check because as we were in our break, Will said that you eat more than any person he's ever

met and it just felt like you needed a little more energy. So we'll give you a break to eat that candy bar if you need to. And for our American listeners who haven't ever watched any of the stuff that we out and talk sport. I am a man who weighs well north of 300 pounds. So I'm saying that you eat too much is really saying something. Oh, 145 baby, hench. No, look, I just, I need to constantly be fed here. So I appreciate y'all letting me have a couple bites of my candy bar.

Yeah. And if you, if you check out Phoebe's workout routine, like on Instagram, you understand how it all makes sense. 34 to 13, does any reaction to this Cardinals team, Ollie, who's up and down, not really up and down on the defensive side of the ball. They seem like one of those teams that on defense, they spin the wheel a little bit, and sometimes it'll work, usually it probably won't, but offensively a disappointing day, I would say. Yeah, and particularly in the first quarter, they just couldn't get anything going to open the game, and it just felt they were playing from behind from the get-go.

I think it speaks just more to the package as disappointing it was for the Cardinals. This is one of those take-care of business. If you're a real contender and you know you're overmatched and you're just more talented than the other team, this is a take-care of business win by two. two, three touchdown type game. When you watch the Cardinals play, particularly on defense, they're just not as athletic as everyone else in the NFL. And they're not as athletic for certain as that pack a team.

And you can just feel the talent imbalance all throughout the game. Yeah, they need their offense and Kyler Murray to be special. They need their running game to be way more consistent than it's been this year. A little bit of a disappointment to me. And they just weren't up for it today like they were in that divisional matchup last week. We've waited long enough. Let's head to the game that we started with. It is time for the Sunday Drive presented by the all-new hybrid Toyota Camry.

To Tottenham. Mercedes-Louis and Colquemette on the right-hand side of the line. On the left, Roma Dunzee. They've got a full back in in the form of an extra lineman. They put the ball in the gut of the Andre Swift. The Andre Swift into the end zone. Touchdown, Chicago Bears. A one-yard plunge for the former Detroit Lion.

Now Chicago Bear. And that is the cherry on top of a very good. Sunday for Chicago in North London. Oh, put that on the call of the year list. It is Will Gavin of TalkSport Radio. You have the power to do that. Will Barney behind the glass, right? You can put it on list.

Eric Roberts editing it behind the scenes. Yes, that was DeAndre Swift, finding pay dirt in a 35 to 16 victory for the Bears. Came into this game wondering, can the Bears continue? to beat up offensively on under or overmatched defenses they absolutely did it. Caleb Williams ends up with four touchdowns on the day and he didn't even feel like he had to work that hard throughout the game to do it. Yeah, I don't want to suggest a negative against the Jags immediately, but we knew going

into this game and we talked about this a lot with Ollie going into this weekend and on our call on Talksport today that they are a defensive play and a ridiculous amount of press man without having any talent in their back seven whatsoever. I actually thought the lineback has played well today, comparatively for a Jags defensive performance. I said comparatively, Ollie, I see you shaking your head over there. But I just on that back end, you know, Andre Sisko had the pick today, but on that Colquamette touchdown had two separate opportunities to tackle him and failed on it.

Just was picked on all day long outside of that. And I thought that schematically, they again made it quite easy for Caleb Williams. But this felt for me like the day where we really got to see the fun side of Caleb Williams. Four scrambles for 56 yards. He made the right decisions in the right moments of when to tuck and run and when to pass the ball. And yeah, I just thought all round it was a not coming out performance because the last three weeks have gradually got better and better. But this was his best all round game for me. And like getting to watch it live, it was a real, real joy.

was the first superstar performance, I think it's fair to say, and it's the payoff really for all the pain they went through in the early weeks. You know, Shane Waldrum was getting just crushed by everyone. Your guy. He's burning through this young rookie. They threw the muddleode at him with the expectation by the time we

reached this week, week eight, week 10, week 12, we can start blending everything together, which is we have this really expansive, cool, cohesive offense that Caleb is running the show at the line of scrimmage all throughout the game. He's checking everything the whole time and then when needed, he can take off and create, and it was for him to figure out on what plays can I do my Caleb Williams

things, and on what plays am I playing within the rhythm of the offense? In the last two weeks when they came alive, he was just purely strictly, I play in the structure, I do my thing. They face a Jags defense that plays a bunch of press band coverage, like Will said, does nothing to disguise, create, blitz to do anything up front or on the back end, so it was time for him to say if it's not there, I can take off and play. And it was just finally seeing the first glimpse I felt of the USC style Williams in the league. And look, you still see some plays.

There was a scramble to his left in the red zone where, or no, coming towards us in the, like, deep red zone where he couldn't outrun the defender, where he finds, oh, man, it's not as easy to outrun people in the NFL, even on one of his long runs towards the end, towards our end, where he has a chance to maybe make someone miss. And you can almost see him thinking, like, what juke am I going to do? And he just sort of juke's back and forth and he gets tackled. that's coming after a 20-yard run. I've been really impressed, and I know Kurt Warner was on the NFL network broadcast,

and he's a hard grader when it comes to real quarterbacking stuff, that he seems so comfortable in this Waldron offense, and your guy does deserve a lot of credit, calling up good plays. I think making it easy for him sometimes, but also Caleb is making the right throws, throwing back shoulder, looking off defenders, getting to his second read. All the things that really weren't emphasized when he was a prospect are the things I think he's excelling at the earliest as a pro.

Yeah, and it's been great to see because he has been stacking these bricks week in and week out. And he faced a lot of criticism. And he's overcome all of that. And he's just putting out great work right now. I mean, look, it helps you get D'Andre Swift, who is doing a great job with that rushing. The offensive line is doing much stronger.

We'd seen previously really great glimpses of what Caleb Williams can be when he had an O-line that could protect him. And so now his accuracy, his decision-making, all of that is really coming together. And he's got this great character of receivers, you know, amongst Roma Dunzei, with your Colquettes, Keenan Allens. These guys are all really doing a great job. Of course, DJ Moore, so it's been great to see.

Like, they had a break at the end of the third quarter. And I believe the score at that point was 20. one to 10. And you're thinking, this is where, like, if the Jaguars have any chance to win, you're putting so much money in that defensive line and resources with Trayvon Walker as the one pick, and Eric Armstead, you know, has a good game to start out. And Josh Hinton's Island, like, go make a play. And they're on the goal line. And he doesn't allow them to make the play. He makes the absolutely perfect throw to Keenan Allen and being there. We were in that corner. it's such a basic observation being there live.

But you just realize how perfect a play like that has to be, how there's so little margin for error for Caleb Williams to be even a quarter of a second off and Keenan Allen to make that throw. And that throw has to have the exact right velocity, but also the right touch in the smallest windows. And he just hits it and you realize like, oh, well, great offense can just neutralize whatever the Jaguars wanted to do on this day. that was the case. The Bears now officially have an offense that will punish bad defenses,

which is a pretty major step, because I don't know if we can say that about any Chicago Bears offense that I've been alive for. Maybe like a great month of Jay Cutler that I enjoyed quite a bit. And the thing for me as well is that it wasn't completely perfect and there is still room for growth. You mentioned some of the scrambling. There was the one where he got, his long scramble of the day, the 23-yard away, where he got up to midfield and it ended up to sliding down. down on the shield. Well, there still wasn't a guy within 15. Yes, that's what I mean with the instincts where he's like in his own head a little bit.

It felt like he could have gone another 10, 15 yards there. And the interception, I think when you watch that play back, DJ Moore is wide open two or three steps earlier in that throw. And that's something he's going to have to learn to trust his instincts, learn to trust the play a little bit on. But I think it's the fact that he throws that interception when the game is still tight at 7-3 and then gets the ball back and comes out and has probably his best of the game on the next drive to make it 14.3 and essentially wipe out any chance it felt

like the Jags had of coming back. And it's that short term memory we always asked for quarterbacks to have on top of making the right decisions, on top of calling the plays and making the great throws. And yeah, just all round really, really impressive. I think the pick is an important point because there was a bad pick, bad throw, got out of the timing of the offense, took like two, three extra beats than you should have done. As you mentioned, it's wide open by the time he let to go. Not only is a bad ball, he hangs it inside. He lofts up for some strange reason. It never had a chance

because he just didn't get out in time and what he's done so well in the past couple weeks is understand which throws are knee timing and within the flow of the offence on which are the ones he can go and create on

and this to me was the most all-around package game because we got to see the creativity and the good sides we got to see him play within rhythm and within instruction what I think he showed today that he's not shown

a great deal of in the past is more general management of the game not in terms of just, you know, dealing with things at the line of scrimmings and getting the ball out to the right pieces, not going big game hunting. They didn't really spark to begin with. And his default has always been to slip into bad habits and just chase the deep ball every single time. And this was the first game where he's just kind of committed and stayed

to what the offense has asked of him. And then if he needs to do something, then he'll try and take off and do it. So this was like a true pro quarterback performance with some like magic dust sprinkled on top. and that to me would be the most exciting part of this development. Love it, love that recap, and I love that they took the buy after London. I always think it's a mistake when you take the buy after London.

Get the win. You sit on this. They're at a perfect point in the season. They're at 4 and 2. They beat the teams they were supposed to beat. The schedule will get harder down the stretch, but everything is on schedule. The defense we just take for granted is going to be solid.

And Iber Fluss has mixed things up a little bit more. If it was allowed, Kevin Bauer, Be a good comeback player of the year candidate, but now I think you're not allowed to come back from just being bad. So like Philip Rivers, that year where he went from the 18th best quarterback in the league to the fifth, like that would not have counted. But they were rock solid. Even like first drive of the game, you know, they give up a long drive and then they make the play to break up the touchdown in the end zone from Gabe Davis. Maybe Gabe Davis could have brought that in if he didn't double clutch it. but still Elijah Hicks didn't give up on the play.

And their defense, it's just a rock solid defense. And one thing I really appreciated being there was, of all the London games I've gone to, and you can tell me if you disagree, this was the biggest home field advantage. Like, it was a true Bears crowd, which was a cool place to be, I think, just being there. You could see it in the crowd, of course, but it was more of the reactions that there were a couple plays because we were doing sideline, me and Olivia Harlan Decker, who was fantastic. It was a lot of fun. Occasionally, we weren't turned towards the field for whatever reason.

We had to look at the monitor. And you could hear the crowd go, ah, and then the cheer. And the awe was, oh, Caleb Williams just threw that ball a little too high. But then the applause was, oh, Roshan Johnson came down with it with a one-handed catch. And just everything, the reactions to like a near face mask in the official reviews, everything was just like a home game, which felt very cool for someone that I've gone to these. these games quite a bit, and I thought it was pretty unique. You heard it from moment one when in the pre-game warm-ups,

the Jags came out to warm up and got booed out of the building. You never hear booze at this game. I've never heard booze at this game. And in the locker room afterwards, we were asking about that, and Jonathan Owens actually said, like, did you hear them boo? I was like, yeah, but the biggest boo of the game did come for a Packers sucks sign, which he didn't bite on, unfortunately. I thought we might have some fun with them on that.

There was also a lot of Packers' sucks chance. Yeah. Which is, you got to be careful of that. Ali, you've lived in Boston, although you live there after 2004. But Yankee sucks after 2004 feels way different than how often it was before 2004. And it feels like an inferiority complex when it's your chanting Packers sucks in London. Just enjoy your team. That's sort of saying we're the little brothers.

It is, but I think they recognize we got Caleb Williams. It may not be for too long. know, we'll get another year in of this, and then maybe just maybe we could be having division races for the next 10 and 15 years. Okay. I love that. I thought the Bears defense is the other thing that really highlighted for me today. You mentioned it, but, you know, they lost to Quambriska before this game.

Tyreek Stevenson out of this game. Even Terrell Smith didn't travel, so they're missing their third corner as well. Kyla Gordon, who's, you know, their big nickel corner who blitzes a huge amount, goes out of this game as well. and just the rotational guys that come in. Josh Blackwell had a big game. Jalen Jones had a big game. Elijah Hicks, who you mentioned, had a big game.

And just like when those rotational guys can come in and have a big performance, I think that defense right now looks like a top five defense in the NFL, which you pair that with the quarterback that we're all very excited about. Maybe I'm overstating it on a performance against a bad Jags team, but I really impressed with that side of the ball as well. And you mentioned taking the buy after London.

I like taking the buy after London. What I'm probably less keen on is teams who stay in, London after a horrible loss like that because what a rough week this is going to be for the Jacksonville Dragulus. I mean, it'd be rough in Jacksonville too. You're right. Doug Peterson might be happy to be here

because I think there were questions about his job security before this game, whether he was going to make this trip. They win last week. It's close. Next week feels do or die. He sounded very tight in the post-game press coming. He sounded tight at halftime speaking with our NFL network.

it just it's a tough situation just on field did you have any takeaways of like watching Trevor Lawrence and what this product is right now because there's just like a not a lot they can hang on to

and Trevor Lawrence played okay in this game was kind of a typical Trevor Lawrence performance where you look up and you're like hey he didn't play that poorly but he just leaves you wanting in crucial situations yeah and it's not always on him right

we saw you know fumbles from Evan Ingram Tank Bigsby I mean I mean that just puts even more pressure on him. No running game really at all. Yeah, no running game as well. I mean, we were all thinking they had a little bit of momentum from last week's win. You're coming out to London where you're pretty much the home team here. You've got two weeks of being able to build off of what you've done. I mean, last year they were really successful winning back-to-back games here.

I just think that kind of since the beginning of this season, that there's been issues in Jacksonville And whether we're talking about when Trevor Lawrence was playing the bills and he's rolling out from pressure that's not existing or there's conversations from Doug Peterson around, hey, I'm calling the right place, there's tension that's constantly building. There was a moment on the sideline right towards the end of the game where you had Trevor Lawrence, Christian Kirk, Evan Engram, all stood there silently, shoulder slump, staring out onto the field. It's after they sent Mack Jones into the game in place of Trevor Lawrence. And I just... One for one. Trevor Lawrence is... Just saying.

Yeah. Trevor Lawrence is supposedly not a big rah-rah guy, not a big kind of locker room leader in terms of making speeches and seeing people up. He's more of a do as I show, not as I say, kind of guy. And I look through that entire roster. And I think, right, who this week is going to grab this team by the scruff of the neck and lift them up? Who they're... Like, we went through it on air. And I think maybe Eric Armstead, who's just come in there.

and he was like four-time Water-Payton Man of the Year nominee in San Francisco. Like, he's a good locker room guy. But actually, there's no big veteran leaders on either side of the ball there. And so I think Doug Peterson's got a real problem this week where you could get to Tuesday, you could get to Wednesday, and these units have all gone off into their separate meetings, all complained about each other, complained about what the issues are, put blame on somebody else. And I think you could get quite toxic quite quickly there. Yeah, and I think you're right.

I mean, there is really no veteran leadership. And when a team is struggling like this, even if you're faking it until you make it, you need some sort of help from within. The amount of head coaches that I've known that have that player, that veteran player on the team, that they kind of have those private words with to really kind of help share that message. I don't know who's talking to Doug Peterson. And I don't know who Doug Peterson is talking to you right now because you're right, they all feel like they're all working in their own silos.

They could also need some cornerbacks. That would help, and then you maybe change your system. If you don't have cornerbacks, maybe a staff meeting that could have been had. I'm with Will, you know, I don't buy into the Rar-Ross stuff that much, but I was genuinely shocked watching them today. I've been to so many games in high school, college NFL. When you first start scouting, you get sent to really bad college games, and they say, just watch the sideline, check the vibes, put it in the report.

I don't think I've ever seen anything that bad before. It was so flat. The vibes were so off. the number of clicks that we're building throughout the game, where it would start with everyone together, slowly becomes seven, slowly becomes four,

slowly becomes sections of three. That just does not happen in pro football. It was really odd. And we'll mention the lack of leaders. There really isn't when you go through them, someone who's talented and has some, like, juice to them. Trevor's not like that.

Doug Peterson's not like that. Armstrong said you mentioned is more of like a Nobel Peace candidate type of lovely intelligent man than he is like somebody's going to grab someone and say, like, we've got to do well. Devin Lloyd is the only guy who profiles like that, and he has been shocking for most

of the season. So you can't walk into a staff meeting and say, everyone's got to pick the game up, they'll throw the film on and say, yeah, you shouldn't be playing in the league. So I genuinely think, having watched him on the sideline today, it's a bigger mess than actually thought it was just watching the tape. But surely that comes from the head coach, ultimately,

because I honestly thought the past couple years, you bring Doug Peterson in, he's this great coach, he's a quarterback himself, self, he's got all his experience, he's going to share. But then I still go back to that press conference a couple weeks ago where he's saying, well, I made the right decision. Well, that's

ultimately you. He said after this game, we need to have like a culture change and the culture change and everyone had the obvious reaction, which is like, you're it, bro. Exactly. Well, like Andre Sisko, I mentioned before, was also interviewed in the locker room afterwards after he'd said that. And he basically

went in and went, yeah, everyone kind of took the second half off. Basically accused all of his defensive teammates of just just giving up well it's true being there just there was no resistance it was tough to watch but i've seen it so many times i've seen teams right before they fire their coach and it's crazy how that happens so often so no one's going to enjoy that the london curse is real we're gonna it might hit twice this year we've we've never had a coach fired and they leave him in london as they continued to keep playing

and go on and play in London. No, that would be... And I know they wouldn't do that. I know that you wouldn't do that because you've ever done it before, you'd do it after, but that was a someone should get fired game. It was a someone should get fired performance.

They change. He's not going to let Pres Taylor go. He's been banging his head against the drum with this thing now for so long. They're not going to change Ryan Nielsen. The only one you could change is Doug Peterson. I get logistically, it's pretty much impossible

because they're over it for over a week, but that was not a... That was like an embarrassing Tony Khan coaches on Sunday they kind of make it a crossover where it's connected to the wrestling like everyone wins I think you do

you move the rest day from Monday to Tuesday and Monday Shard Khan just hosts any head coach who isn't currently in a job Mike Rables flying over as we speak Bill Belichick flying over as we speak all joining him on his multi-billion pound yacht on the Thames

just to talk about that job we're going to see it it's going to be all over the paparazzi tomorrow don't you all It is unfortunate. It does remind me, Doug Peterson, of the arc that he had with Philadelphia. Obviously, it's lesser here, but it's still similar. They won that playoff game. There was a moment, but it just got a little stale.

And it was a rough watch today. And 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.com slash Camry. I wanted to learn more about the New England Patriots, new franchise quarterback, Drake May, and I did today in Foxborough. Nixon in the backfield, CJ under set it.

Stroud gives to Joe. Over left guard, bounces to the outside, 15, 10, 5 to the pilot. He's got it. Touchdown, Joe Mixin. Checked back into the game and checks into the end zone for six on a 20-yard TD run. Patriots fans, Headed for the exits.

Have a nice day. Enjoy the shower. Oh, just stick in it. Mark Vandermere of K-I-L-T. He killed him. I mean, that is a Scott Zolak-level call by the Texans. They were enjoying themselves a 40-Burger in Foxborough. 41 to 21.

We'll get to the Drake May of it all, but I'll try to pretend that that wasn't the most important thing in this game. and recognize there was a five-in-one team in this game that had everything rolling on offense. This Patriots defense has quietly been among the league's worst this year. And C.J. Stroud with Joe Mixon and Damien Pierce back in the lineup really didn't see a lot of resistance from them. Yeah, big, big rushing day for them on a day where we've had a few of those, 213 yards on the ground. Mixing 159 of those seemed to really kickstart. So they're not just a five-in-one team.

There are five and one team where the only game they've lost was that road game against Minnesota where that defense just really, really picked them apart. But I think other than that, they've been incredibly impressive and they've beaten some really good teams on that run as well. And overall today, as much as Mixon was absolutely huge for them, on a day when Nico Collins was out, you have Tank Dell step up and have his best game of the season. You mentioned Damien Pierce coming back into the lineup. He getting his touchdown, lovely run to the outside, reaching for the part, aisle on. I just

this Texan's team, okay, again, a little bit like saying I don't want to overreact to a Bears team facing a bad Jags team. This Patriots side have lost to some pretty bad teams this year already but getting really excited about watching this Texan team play. I mean, there's no quarterback. I like watching more than C.J. Stroud

right now. No, he is I think in his own category with how he's actually playing at the moment. They, operationally, design wise, it's nothing that impressive. I think Bobby Slowick got a lot of attention and credit because CJ Strau walked in the building was very special from day one and their run game has been a mess

for most of the time he's been there this one the first times we got to see it actually succeed and it's interesting because he often looks really uncomfortable even though he's playing very smooth and bailing them out of trouble this was a great chance to see you look how easy and effortless it looks for them when they're playing a poor team

and then the operation becomes easy for him he can just plaster bad defenses when at least everything is okay or good or fine around him and if they can find ways to develop and improve if the line can get a bit better during the season if the run game can hold up then yeah they're going to be in the hunt in the afc yeah their success rate actually wasn't even that high on the rushing plays it wasn't terrible but it was essentially they popped a couple big ones but stroud on place he wasn't under pressure in this game was nearly perfect he did have that one interception early but but they scored early, they scored often.

It was, you know, it was pretty much 14-0 before Drake May got to do almost anything. And it's nice if you're a Texans fan to see that they can cruise to a victory like that because that wasn't the case a couple weeks ago. They barely won against the Jaguars. They've kind of been skating by and maybe not been quite as good as their record

indicates because Strau's been playing so well. This was a game where they looked like, okay, this is the real deal contender, even though they're playing without Nico Collins. Yeah, I mean, the run game week one, that was the Texas we thought we were going to get. Then you get some injuries and, you know, so it was really great for today to be able to see Joe Mixen taking off 102 yards. Damien Pierce, I mean, really mixing that in. And then Stefan Diggs is just continuing to grow and develop and become that number one receiver.

It almost feels like their game against the bills the other week has somehow brought them together and they're even better friends than they've ever been. But that's kind of Stefan Diggs's vibe. He wants to be that number one receiver go-to guy for their quarterback. But Tankdale continues to do some great stuff, you know, a really nice relationship with Dalton Schultz. So C.J. Stroud, I think he's just an anomaly ultimately where his poise, his patience, and then his ability to throw with such an incredible arm strength is pretty spectacular to watch. Do you want to give me your Ali Connolly review of Drake Mays? first start, just your first impressions before you've really grind, you know, grinded all the tape. I know you're going to give the review on the substack.

And I was happy to learn that some of our listeners signed up. So I go check out Ali Connolly's substack and, you know, continue to make us look good for Ollie Connolly for doing this work for us. I will say up front, this comes with a bias that I think Drake May has a chance to be really, really, really special. I had him very close to Caleb Williams coming out of the draft and so I'm going through that prism slightly

if I'm looking for confirmation bias that there may be some secret source in there that to me was everything you could expect from a rookie starting his first game with no offensive line they get the left tackle injured on the first drive of the game

so they're rolling through guys no one's ever heard of up from they're facing the probably if not the best defensive front in the NFL at least the one that gets the pressure at the highest rate so for him to have only a couple of brain

farts if we can put it that way to have the deep shot to Keisham Bouti to make some plays with his legs I thought he looked a little bit overrored the footwork stuff was a real problem it's going to be that way for some time with him and I just don't know how you can really critique him for it when you're trying to time

things up with an offence where there's no protection, there's no help it's not a great offense in general in terms of design there's not great receiver help so just seeing the traits translate the arms there he can move he can create he's got good instincts when he bales from the pocket, the throw down the field to booty was like a really high level timing, anticipation

placement throw. What more could you really hope for as like a flash of hope? Yeah, everyone that was so worked up about, oh, you can't have let him play football. The Texans have a high pressure rate. He has more touchdown passes on the season already than Jacoby Brissette. That's nice. On plays that he wasn't pressured in this game and there weren't that that many, he was pressured almost 50% of the time, which is a huge number. But on plays he wasn't, he goes 12 for 18, 162, three touchdowns, and that interception. I believe that was the early one where he just might have been a little too hyped up and he sails a pass. But overall, I was like, yeah, let's see our rookie quarterback play. And it's crazy that that might be four games this year that they've lost

an offensive lineman in the first quarter. It just like keeps happy. Like, as bad as their offensive linemen is, it even gets worse that they always have a first quarter injury to one of the key spots. So overall, it's like, yes, at least give the Patriots fans some reason to watch this Drek. It's six different offensive lines in six games, basically. And their starting sentence there was a guy they signed off the Raiders practice squad three days before this game.

Like, that is a level of not front office incompetence because you can't help the injuries. It was incompetent how they went into the season. Now it's just bad luck on top of incompetence. Yeah, exactly. And look, we talked a little bit about short-term memory. earlier. I think to have that bad overthrow, which led to the Kaelan Bullock interception on the second drive after going

three and out on the first drive, people feeling a little bit wobbly. It puts together the nice drive. It hits Kaylon Booty for that deep, Kishon Booty for that deep shot and suddenly a little bit of juice, a little bit of something in that offence. And you already mentioned it, Greg. More

touchdowns on the season already than Jacoby Reset. First time they've passed the 20 point mark this season, six games in as well. like, okay, it wasn't a great performance, but at least on the offense, there was something to get behind and enjoy. And Drake May was the driving force for that, even with past protection issues and interceptions and everything that came with it. The bounceback stuff will never be a problem with Drake May. He is like Eli levels of unflappable, just f*** balls all over the place whenever he thinks there's any kind of sign of trouble.

That will never, ever be a concern. The concern is, is he just going to get in his own head and start ripping it way more? I thought he played with more control than you could ever expect. You get pressured 50% of the time against a really good defense. They're doing all kind of quirky things on the back end to change the picture. You don't know what's happening. That overthrow we had was pure like, I don't know what's happening. I'm just going to throw it and the ball sailed on him because his feet got lost.

To not have 10, 11, 12 of those in those circumstances is to me pretty impressive and a really good place to build from. Yeah, Ramandre Stevenson was out for this game. Antonio Gibson gets the start, has 19 yards on 13. carries. A man named Terrell Jennings was significantly involved in the running game. And you know who else was involved in this game? A man that Tom Curran, who has the best eye out there of any Patriots beat writer, said was maybe the best receiver in all of training camp other than Pop Douglas. And that was Kashon Boutte. And I love that. You got him on the field with Drake

May. I just, I know we're not having a lot of extra calls today, but I do want to hear the first touchdown pass of Drake May's career. Now the Patriots have it from the 40. Chuck has got back. to me he's in the pocket he wears back he turns a long ball down the right side there's some separation and a touchdown pass kishon moody on a perfect dime from drake may as he beat stingley down the right side mayday what a time for the first touchdown of his career as a patriot just desperate for that injection of zolak at this time of the morning weren't you i needed wanted to hear how zolak respond i would say that was like a five out of ten zolak The fact they were down 14-0 at the time probably just like dimmed the level of sounding like he's on crack.

But good to have Scott Zolak on the show. Let's take a break. We are going to be back and talk about a high-scoring game in the NFC sound. What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks. you inside the game from scouting reports and player development to team-building philosophies

coaching trends and how front offices construct winning rosters every week we study the tape talk to decision-makers and share the insights you won't find anywhere else is the kind of conversation that connects the dots from college football prospects to the NFL stars of tomorrow we break down the draft analyze matchups and evaluate how teams put it all together on game day plus we dig in the coaching strategies, roster construction, and the trends that shape the league year after year. Whether you're a diehard fan or just love understanding the game on a deeper level, we give you the full picture. If you want insight that goes beyond the box score, this podcast is for you.

Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Matt Jones. I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL covers. Zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts Pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh, my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining.

And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen to NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL, Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast,

your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet. We've got the insight to help you crush your opponents. Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Cousins under center.

McLeod in motion, here's Algear. Straight ahead. Touchdown, Atlanta. Tyler Algear just banging away at the north end zone. It's his first rushing score of the year. That was Tyler. Alger's first rushing score of the year as West Durham of WZGT says 38 to 20. The Panthers hung around in this game for a while.

The Falcons pulling away late, as they do in their shootouts in this wild NFC South season. The Falcons are on a roll. And I thought Phoebe, in this late window, we might get a little bit of a shootout. We kind of needed a close game. We didn't get it, but we're getting a good divisional race now between the Falcons and the Buccaneers. Yeah, and we had a version of a shootout between the Falcons and the Panthers in this situation as well.

I was quite honestly shocked by the fact to hear that Bijon Robinson, it was his first time scoring two touchdowns, in a game like that, considering how incredible he has been. Look, when you get the Falcons, you just don't know which version of. Kirk Cousins you're going to get. So, you know, he wasn't perfect by any means 19 of 30 throughout the game, but he was finding ways. Again, you get the run game going. You know, great to see Tyler Alger, Bejohn Robinson doing their thing. And then spreading the ball around his kind of top

guys, essentially, Drake London, Kyle Pitts. It was it was kind of just a regular Kirk Cousins game for me. In every year, every week, rather, I go to the next gen stats box score to see the break. of like, okay, are they adding anything where Kirk Cousins moves? Just like even a little. Is there any play action? And every week, it's pretty disappointing for them. And yet they keep scoring. So today on play action, three of seven for 29 yards.

So it's still not happening. And yet they're one of the highest producing passing games in the league. Yeah. And even those play action things are quite junky. A lot of it is flash fake stuff. It's not really turn the back through play action heavy selves. because they don't trust him to move. And the Panthers got nowhere near

Co cousins today. They had four total pressures in the entire game, three came from one player and they came in back to back to back place. So for most of the game he is untouched, you would really expect and hope you would see even more from him, I think,

in that situation. If Cousin's going to sit back there and play C, throw at football, you would expect that he'd be able to carve it up if there's no pressure there. But they get the run game going, and that is a huge thing. If they could not get movement from cousins,

they have to find movement somewhere from the run game. And they're now integrating new things into the offense in the wrong game. They're balancing it more between Algeria and Robinson. So that would be the exciting thing to take out of the game. The Panthers defense are not a viable NFL defense. 34 or more points in four out of six games this season. And actually, we're talking about tradable pass rushers earlier in the show with the Lions.

Jadavia and Clowny, another one who probably should be on that list and probably could be picked up for something mid-round. It needs to get healthy, but yes, that makes a lot of sense. It just felt like last week, Kirk Cousins, what, 58 passes and 509 yards in that overtime win over the Bucks. Today, they just relied on the ground game, 200 yards between their two leading rushes, three touchdowns between them as well. And it was one of those games which was a little bit like Buck Saints that was actually quite tight in the third quarter,

and you were surprised it was so if you were watching the game flow, and then the better team just pulled away late on. And you are establishing quite a strong division between those top two teams and the rest of the division. Yeah, and this isn't a great week to measure it, but they keep trying to get this outside zone running game working. And that's going to be important for them to get better at or just stop doing it over the course of the season. And every week I look and I see, I look for one stat, is Tyler Alger's success rate higher than Bejan Robinson's? And every week it is. And so then I have to stop myself from criticizing them for using Alger equally with Robinson.

because he is an effective player and he is fitting what they do. But this was great that they both had a great game. They both had very high success rates. There wasn't much difference between them. And they're using their weapons. And you mentioned that about the Panthers pass rush. If you were just like power ranking different units in the league,

like every possible units, run defense, pass rush, like safety play. The Panthers pass rush might be there with the worst unit of any unit in the entire NFL. Yeah, I mean, we're picking between awful things there, but I would encourage you to go through the Cardinals' death char and you take Buda Baker out. The Cardinals are starting a team

that if you just go through name by name is the second string on every other team in the NFL, outside of Buda Baker. It's fair. It's a fair point. That's why I like Ali to be here to check me. But yes, this pass rush is rough. My other biggest takeaway from this game is

Xavier Lagetz I've got big balls touchdown celebration or the horse riding what is it and it's week after week I love it did he do that in college I'm in

it was it had to be better than the afternoon tea celebration that we saw in London today from the Bears surely like it must be his thing because he's now he's now broken it out on multiple one of his touchdowns and it looks like it was Nick Van Exel right after he would hit the big three

pointers and he would jump around and Xavier Lagan is either bringing that back or he's riding a horse but I think it's a cowboy really isn't he? And what I love about like yeah I think he's trying to throw people off he's got the accent thing he's doing this big balls thing people start thinking out this guy's not up

to much he plays really really intelligently and he's seamlessly slotted in and being a way bigger part of the offense and I thought he would be just based on skill set in college so I think he's just throwing defensive backs off with all this ancillary stuff. Good job making a real point. Thank you.

Well, not only can I tell you that Xavier Ligat is riding a horse in his celebration, but I can tell you that he's riding his horse, a dollar bill. Apparently he's dedicated the celebration to his horse, and we've got the answer. He was a cowboy. I could have used Google, and you've ruined my fantasy here. Let's go from one exciting NFC South game to an AFC South game. Colt Titans. Man of motion is Josh Downs down to the right side.

Flacco, five-step drop, throws off his back foot into the end zone going up and making a bit on the ball as Michael Pittman, Jr. Touchdown! I-D-Y! Pittman puts the Colts on top a 10-yard pass. Flacco to Pittman in the Colts lead 19 to 17 in Nashville. They can't keep letting him get away with it. Joe Flacco did it again. 20 to 17, that was Matt Taylor on WFNI.

Michael Pittman, who was supposedly going to injured reserve earlier this week and then ends up playing in this game. Not only plays, but catches the game-winning touchdown on a play where he landed on his injured back. A crazy Joe Flacco throw, very similar to the throw he made last week, which started the comeback against who were they playing last week. is absolutely late. Jacksonville in this game. The Colts win

this one, though. A key division win for them. They're managing the season. Well, like, not playing great, but they're three and three. They put the Titans in a world of hurt. Only one win on the season. Will Levis doesn't crack 100 yards in this game. Ali, like, I'm just happy Joe Flacco is still in our lives.

I am happy to. That was not a good throw though, right? Am I misremembering? No. It was a terrible throw. Pittman grabs it between two guys. I can't even if my... It's a result-based business, Ollie. It still counts. Pittman did all of the work there. He's going up against the best corner in football last year and somehow had to make it work.

It was third down and Joe Flacco has decided, I am too old to do anything on third down, but just throw it up. It was third down and Flacco, that's what it was. And he missed them on to pierce too. They had the big shot to pierce. That was another third down and just throw it up. I could not even imagine the toughness of Michael Pittman.

I don't know what's going on with the back injury. Back injury says, scare me no matter what. Anyway, if you're just a school teacher, football player, whatever it is, to say you're going to go to IR. He says, no, let me give it a go for a week and we'll figure out afterwards. He gets a catch-on collision with two guys for the game-winning score. Then they go back to him to ice the game.

And on both plays, basically, the design and or end product is, you have to fall on your back. That's what this is going to do. And he comes up for it and must-have-it moments. They only go to him three times. He gets them all. Just big-time, big-time plays. I mean, it's pretty amazing what drugs can do

to make you feel nothing whilst playing a game. I mean, but it's- The football player here brings us back. Saying the quiet, but out loud. I got you guys. Don't worry about it. It's too late. I have no filter anymore.

But look, I mean, Joe Flacco is just incredible what he's still able to do. I loved a clip from last week where he is thrown the ball and he has just stood there amongst the mayhem. He kind of is just living on free money right now. He's able to just have a great time and, you know, he's enjoying himself. He gets to keep playing weekend and weekend. out. And this was a weird situation where Anthony Richardson did practice during the week. He was a game time decision. They said they wanted to be extra safe. So he was the third quarterback. I think part of that was probably a calculus of Blackos a little more regular with the timing.

And I'm sure Richardson isn't 100%. But it's also not a franchise quarterback where, well, if he's at all able to play, he's going to play. You know what I? Like, if Dak Prescott had that level of injury, they would just play Dak Prescott. And that's fine. Like, there can be gray area. It doesn't mean that his job is at risk.

I would, like, expect he plays next week. Who knows? But they're happy that Joe Flacco got them a win in the meantime. On a day where, look, they're starting running back, when 18 for 29, Trace Sermon, their defense carries the load, holds Will Levis under 100 yards. passing. This was it.

They were very fortunate that on the other side of the ball while Joe Flacco was statuesque as always they had Will Levis who with Deondre Hopkins,

Calvin Ridley, Tyler Boyd, like there is no way. Like I almost feel like I could complete over 100 yards of passing with that collection

of receivers against an NFL defense. But Ridley caught zero of eight targets last night. And you just think to yourself like the Will Levis experiment feels

like it's already done. I just don't know what the next answer is for them they just seem to be floating through the rest of the season Titans fans and it's a rough point to be after six weeks too harsh that like that it's done one and four this was a sneaky big game not to the rest of the NFL but to the Titans this was a big game this now it just feels like they're pretty buried there

and yes they're not getting growth out of their quarterback with a coach that was hired in part to develop this quarterback I don't know if he was hired to develop it I think he was hard to figure out within six weeks, is he a real guy or not? I think they got their answer pretty quickly. It's not even if they had lost that that would be okay in terms of just Levis himself. When you watch him play and they're playing a defense that does absolutely nothing, they don't really have much of a pass rush.

They've been cooked for four weeks. They do nothing on the back end to try and weird out quarterbacks. This would be the game where you say, okay, even if we get the two or three classic boneheaded will Levis plays, we should put up 250, 300 yards through the air. We can make some plays. We can still evaluate Levers. So that would be more concerning to me than even the record and even some of the really unfortunate, dumb turnovers we've had this season

because you just think, well, they can't happen forever, you would hope. But the fact you can't punish bad defense is going to stay consistent. I think the biggest problem is that you would just hope to see development and learning. And you can see why they're getting frustrated when you're making similar, if not the same exact mistakes week in and week out. And yes, there's an element where he still is a younger guy in the NFL terms. you know, only going in his second year. He didn't play obviously a full season last year,

but you can't keep making the same mistakes. You've got to be able to show progress. Yeah, I will see you're making the same mistakes, and I will raise you from Will Levis, a Deshawn Watson. Let's go to Eagles and the Browns. Hertz in the gun, slot to the far side. Barkley to his right.

On second down, he's back. He's looking. He is going deep down the far side of the field, and it is caught A.J. Brown at 10. A.J. Brown and from 10. Oh, that's just fun. What a throw. What a game. That's just fun. There is something absolutely beautiful about a Merrill Reese call on WIP,

but there's something even more beautiful, Will Gavin, about a Jalen Hertz go ball to A.J. Brown. You can say whatever you want about Jalen Hertz. Like, that man throws a perfect go ball, and he has the perfect man. to catch it in A.J. Brown. It's funny how, you know, you bring A.J. Brown and Devante Smith back, and you're a little better on offense, at least enough better, to win 20 to 16 over the Brown.

Six for 116, A.J. Brown today, but the touchdown, he had 0.3 yards of separation for that one, according to next-gen stats. And you add that and you had Devonte Smith in, as you mentioned, three catches 64, and that fourth quarter touchdown as well. And suddenly, the Eagles offense. kind of starts to get rolling again. They still struggle to finish drives a little bit through this game. It felt like the Browns defense we've known have their strengths

and therefore restricting the Eagles to 20 points in a day where they are getting big games from their big receivers is relatively impressive. And actually, Deshaun Watson didn't have a terrible game, dare I say, probably his best performance for the Browns this season. So this was a much, much tighter game than I was expected. I thought Philly would pull away with it a lot earlier. probably watched this game closer to me. Someone explained to me how the team with 144 net

passing yards and nine points, like had a better quarterback performance. Because there might be an answer. There always can be. But what's not a very good game against the Raiders. And other than that, he's not like an NFL player. Honestly, it's just one drive on base. He had one really good drive. And that's essentially better than he has most weeks. And the only caveat, well, let me just say on Watson, the weird thing with him now is he used to be dynamite against pressure. Not only would he beat pressure, he was by far in a way the best quarterback in the league at throwing when he was under pressure. Now he is just in full on seeing ghosts, can't see the pass rush, can't evade it mode, and it's just become an absolute disaster. He's

turning down wide over open receivers, he's bailing too early, then he's hanging in too late on other opportunities. But there is a broader issue with them. I think it's way too easy to say it's all on Deshawn Watson he's not good enough he had an excellent game against the Raiders and they stung in that game as well just operationally

they're a disaster coaching wise it's really been really really really poor every single time they get into the red zone every single time and they're barely there they get some kind of penalty

and it's always a pre-snap operational one it's not a holding it's always a false start an illegal ship something to back them up they had a chance to go win this game

down the stretch and they blew it because they were having penalties in the red zone I mean we talked earlier about bad body language I mean, this whole team gives bad body language. I mean, I know Amari Cooper has a little bit of that in him, but how do you watch this team and think, man, these guys really want to play for each other?

They love playing together. Like, you have no strong leadership. You've got a quarterback in there who I truthfully don't believe that everybody wants in that building anyways. What makes you want to go out week in and week out and play for each other? I mean, I think back to the video clip of Joel Betone when, you know, he doesn't help up, he doesn't want the help of John Watson. That for me, and Joel is the nicest man I've ever met. Like, that for me says so much about a team. And so, no, I'm not surprised that if you have no discipline in the classroom, you're not going to have discipline on the field either.

And it's getting, to me, pretty evident that there's some mandate that they can't bench the guy, even for a couple of series. We'll see. Because they are running stuff. They had a second and 15, they called a draw play. They had a third and 17. They called a tight end screen. That is, we don't like and trust our quarterback. We're paying him more than anyone in the league.

And it's second and 15. And if that's Dak Prescott, Josh, Alan, any of these guys, you try and find a way to rip it down the field. And they're like, we are avoiding this. We are out of this drive. We may as well just punt on second down because we don't trust a Sean Watson. And then why is he the starting quadsback

if you don't trust the guy? Right. I should mention that the Browns only touched down in this game was on a field goal block recovered by Rodney McLeod. So when I say nine points, that that was what they scored on offense, just three field goals. And I think they're testing that theory of yours, Ali, that you can't bench him. Although I think his play has warranted benching, I think considering that once they bench him, he will never play for them ever again and everything that goes in that and ownership. I actually think it's predictable that to

this point, they wouldn't have benched him. I think this week is one inflection point. I think there's a chance that he is benched on Tuesday. Kevin Stefanski said, yes, he's our starting quarterback after the game. They always say that right after the game. So it's going to take a larger conversation. I think it's a week-to-week basis now and the next catastrophic game and maybe this is somewhere in between. So they string it out one more week. Like, it's coming. It's not going to continue like this. They, they just owe it to the rest of the team. And the reason is, even though operationally they're a disaster, and even though the defense is clearly not as good as it was a year ago, we've just seen every other quarterback who was playing under Kevin

Stefansky in Cleveland have such higher moments that you just got to just to feel like you're being honest with the rest of the team. The ridiculous thing is there's this idea that they're making a business decision because there's this $140 million worth of cap money that is still there over the next two years. But guess what? That's still there even if you bench him or even if you cut him and at least you might have half decent quarterback play. Like James Winston, we know, is not a franchise quarterback.

But what he is is a guy who gets people going, teammates love him, gives you that bit of juice. And we've seen him on the sidelines leading these huddles and leading these big speeches. He's a preacher. While he's also, then going back and sitting on the bench and letting to Sean Watson go in and make these horrible plays. And I just I cannot fathom at this point how he is still

even on the roster, let alone starting for them. It's madness. I can fathom ways on the roster because they can't afford not to have him on the roster. It's the weirdest situations ever they gave him the most ludicrous contract of all time and now they have to live with it. The business decision now is who wants to keep their job in the building? Does Kevin Svansky

want to have a job? Does he got a mortgage you wants to pay? Because he's going to have to start someone else to show something here. If, like you said, Greg, we've seen every, they bring Joe Flack off a couch, we can score points. He could bench him and show, it's not me, it's this guy. You screwed up the contract. You're going to have to figure out. I've seen that. Yeah, I feel like we have seen that over and over again, but you're right.

You could prove it on this particular roster. Hell, trade for Jacoby Brissette. I mean, I wouldn't want to give him. I kind of like, I like him having there with Drake May, but we've seen Jacoby with them. And this is a perfect win for the Eagles because, you know, coaches like to say, yeah, you like to coach them hard after a win, and there are things that they won't like about this. Sequin Barclay only ends up with 47 yards rushing, but more importantly, like, it's a perfect win for the media in Philly because no one's going to be happy with a 20 to 16 win over

the rounds. Everyone loses. Eagles, Browns. Let's go to a game where a team definitively won. That team was the Pittsburgh Steelers in Las Vegas, or was it Las Vegas? It didn't sound like it if you saw the crowd there. Harris alone setback. We'll get the pitch as soon as trying to seal the edge. Naji, oh, able to slide inside one tackle. Get down the sideline. Najee Harris, racing towards the end zone. Sprawls out.

Is he in? Touchdown. Steelers. What a run by Najee Harris. What a run by the Iron Horse. Did you see him? He ghosted two men on the end of the line. Then he took it up the sidelines and like Superman laid out and got

the end zone. I love it. Nagee Harris with a big play. Just haven't heard that enough. Not this season, not in a while. WDVEE, Rob King, Craig Wolfley, yes, Harris ends up with 106 yards on the ground and that touchdown. The Steelers pull away late. It's 12-7 at halftime. It ends up 32 to 13 will.

It's been a season where the Steelers make the most out of their offense. It's on a day that Justin Fields maybe had one of his worst games as a member of the Steelers. They still win by three scores in Las Vegas. Yeah, and look, Najee Harris is one of the most frustrating running backs, I think, in the NFL because you see him have games like this, and you see that there is clearly a level of talent there. And yet this season, prior to the game today, where he averaged 7.6 yards per carry, there was only one previous game where he went over four yards of carry. There's a lot of 14 for 42s in his past like he had last week.

13 for 19 like he did against the Colts. That feels like Nage Harris isn't the guy who falls forwards. He's not the guy who gained you those extra yards. And yet today, really, really impressive, fought through multiple tacklers picked up yards after contact and really carried this team for huge, huge stretches. So if you can get a run game going and you've got the defense the Steelers have, then you've got a very good chance of winning games of football.

Because you know who we haven't talked about as much this year because he's one of those guys who's always in the defensive. Player of the Year conversation, T.J. Watt had an absolute day today. Two forced fumbles, both times proper peanut punching the ball out, one of them right on the goal line, just when the Raiders looked like they were coming back into the game. And you feel like regardless of whether Fields has his best day or not, regardless if they end up giving Russell Wilson a try, this defense is going to carry them to the playoffs and maybe even to a couple of wins in the playoffs. But I think anytime you have T.J. Watt, you've got a chance, right? I love the way that he plays

because he doesn't play like you're winning or like you're losing. He is just consistent. And he's consistently coming after you, his ability, his physicality, the way that he's able to manipulate the offensive line. I mean, anytime there's a third down, you're like, all right, where's CJ Y? He's about to make a play. And he's terrific.

I mean, he gives that team life. He is completely the leader of the team, especially when Justin Field doesn't necessarily that guy. You look at who totally embodies this. Steelers. That is T.J. Watt. All right, we've reached 4 a.m. We are circling back for the Phoebe Wellness Check. You've been sneaking in bites here. How is everything in the corner? I have. I have been awake for 22 hours. We're almost there. One more game after this, then we throw it to our friend Nick Shook for Sunday night football. But I don't know what to think about this

Steelers team. But I do like that they're like a maybe not a main character. of this season, but a solid supporting character that, like, could get some awards buzz. Yeah, we had Wilson on the sideline, right? He's hanging out there, trying to poke his head around, seeing if he can get involved. I'm just still trying to recover. I'm very, very upset. I'm going through a personal thing right now. Zach Fraser left the game in a walking boom, who was my pick for Rookie of the Year and still

would be as good as Jane Dines being. One of the most talented players that's come into the league in a long time has been unbelievable. That is a huge blow. Give us a minute on Zach Frazier here because this is your chance. For him in the morning, Zach Fraser breakdown. Just the most well-crafted, well-honed center that's coming to the league in generations, I would say. Wow.

And not used as effectively, honestly, as he could be, but his ability to read things, pick things up, mostly in pass protection. He was known coming in as this undersized, explosive get-out-in-space blocker. You can do things where you can pin him and you can move him. You can build a run game around him. What's really being impressed about him is teams have gone after him trying to attack him in Passport. They've tried to get after him by blitzing him, standing two guys over him. He just has a great sense of awareness for what to pick up, who to pick up,

depths, really nerdy things none of you guys are interested in, I can see around the... I am, I'm super interested in it. I'm writing notes to support your point. So yeah, he just, he has walked in from day one an all-procaliable level at center which you never, ever, ever see with these guys. Usually you will see some flashy place,

some clips that go around and you think, oh, this guy's gonna be really, really good, but it takes them all, two, three years to pick up all the nuances of the position. He stepped in in day one, was immediately perfect. His tape against the Colts is the best tape of any center

you will see in the league this season. That is incredible. This is a team in the Steelers that has an insane history at the center position. And so it's so crazy. You say that generational how he's come into this season.

And so that's so important for him. So think about it. Mike Webster back in the day. Dermani Dawson and then Marquise Pounce and now it's the lineage. And there is something about the Steelers that they have a history

of these edge rushers and certainly their defense and they have these centers and they have an identity. And I was speaking with someone this week who was trying to pick what team that they should root for

as a British person who's learning about the NFL and they were kind of honing in on the Steelers. And I said, that's a great choice. And it was because of stuff like this, like that they actually have an identity that when you think of the NFL, you think of the Steelers, there's the lineage all the way back to the 1920s when they got that team by

having a good day at the horse track and it's still the same family a hundred years later. And so that's when I say I like that the Steelers are part of this season. It's because of all of that stuff. It's given me absolute life that we are doing a breakdown of the Steelers Center history at 4.05 in the morning. And I love Olly Connolly more than maybe any member of his family. I could listen to him talk about football all day long. I still will not get behind the idea that a centre is going to win

rookie of the year, no matter how good he is. His vote, though. That's why you've got to have some votes of other people. I know he's not going to win. I'm saying talent for talent, play for play. He has been as good as Jaden Daniels at his job. Jadens is more valuable and slightly more impressive because he's a quarterback. But being a centre is not easy.

He's just a good. I will just say, quickly, you've been just a good. I will just say, quickly, you mentioned TJ what before, doing this without Herbig and Highsmith, when those three are all together and they don't use Herbig as much as they probably should do, that is as good a front as we have in the league. So for them to continue to play at this level with those two guys being out for a couple of weeks, it's really impressive. Yeah, and we got the news from the Raiders before the game, like,

hey, we might not actually trade Devante Adams, which translates to, hey, we're not getting any good trade offers for Devante Adams. I do believe that they're willing to hold on to him until the trade deadline. And that's maybe what this is signaling that he could be on ice or he might even be back on the field and show that he's healthy. In the meantime, the trade deadline's still a few weeks away. I do not believe he'll be on the team after that. And, yeah, Raiders fans, like, if you want us to talk more about your team, do more.

Brock Bowers, that's all we have for you. Like, Alexander Madison is your leading rush with 33 yards. Aiden O'Connell's back in the starter, but it doesn't really make much of a difference here. No, it doesn't. Like you said, I think Brock Bowers is probably the most exciting player that they have going on, you know, kind of getting my vote for rookie of the year, essentially from a tight end's perspective. I mean, I think he's been phenomenal, what he's able to do, and how he's kind of transforming what tight ends are doing out there.

Nine for 71 today. Nice game. That's a nice game. Nice game for the young man. There was this idea that he was a level of talent coming out that should be. And listen, we're giving Raiders fans their flowers by giving them some love with this. Too much. That he came into the league as a guy who should be the best prospect of the position,

but landed at maybe the worst landing spot possibly for him because of the quarterback play, because they drafted a tight end high last year. And he's just blown all that out of the war and been absolutely brilliant. So there we go, Raiders fans. We were positive about your team. They're not done at two and four, but whenever a team. falls two games under 500 that's when it starts to feel closer I just seen too many teams bounce back after that but this team does not have the bones of a team that you would expect

meanwhile Max Crosby's out there getting eight pressures and two stuffed runs on on half an ankle and so he's still being Max Crosby but at two and four they had higher expectations in the building outside the building there really weren't that many high expectations all right we're going to take a break we'll be back in a second What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from scouting reports and player development

to team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. Every week, we study the tape, talk to decision makers, and share the insights you won't find anywhere else. It's the kind of conversation that connects the dots from college football prospects, to the NFL stars of tomorrow. We break down the draft, analyze matchups,

and evaluate how teams put it all together on game day. Plus, we dig in the coaching strategies, roster construction, and the trends that shape the league year after year. Whether you're a diehard fan or just love understanding the game on a deeper level, we give you the full picture.

If you want insight that goes beyond the box score, this podcast is for you. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get. your podcasts. 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. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season?

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

Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. So a third and two from the four. Herbert to Dobbins, Dabins, bounces off a defender, reaches the ball out. Touchdown. J.K. Dobbins. With the extra effort to reach out, punches it into the end zone for his third rushing score of the season. That was Matt Money Smith. He knows what he's doing. He's not letting Daniel Jeremiah get a word in edgewise

so that he can get on to his favorite podcast. The podcast he actually listens to 23 to 16. Chargers win this game in Denver. They race out to a 23 to nothing lead. And I'm feeling like, I'm feeling a little something. This Chargers team, Phoebe, it makes me feel things that like we need an interesting sixth or seventh seed option. And the combination of Jim Harbaugh and Justin Herbert is enough for me to be interested in this team, even if their style of play is a little blah. This game was weird. A lot of injuries early for the Chargers and that Jim Harbaugh leaves the game and is treated in the medical tent. John Harbaugh, his brother, actually left his press conference concerned about Jim, but then he's back on the sideline. So that's good

to hear. And yeah, a big division win on the road. Yeah. And it's, look, I love what Harbaugh's done with Justin Herbert. This is really what he's needed for so long. I mean, we've been, we've been criticizing Herbert over the years for not being able to kind of open up his arsenal essentially but you bring Harbaugh and he starts to change the culture in the building he's doing a really nice job I love to see that Ladd McConkey has been like the dude for them the past couple of weeks I think he's done a really nice job you're laughing already no that's a that's an Ali guy right yeah yeah it was a full fist bump and I what I love from Ladd McConkey today as well was there was real frustration from himself when plays

weren't going his way. Like, he was getting legitimately angry. And then when things started to work out, cheered up quite a bit. But I was just like, he is, he properly cares about this team being successful. I really, really enjoy it. It's such a weird dynamic with this team because Herbert's numbers are awful this year. And the offense is, it's figuring things out, I guess, to put it nicely. And this was a good step forward.

And yet, I agree with Phoebe that it still just feels like it's, it has a stronger foundation to build off of. Yeah, that's the perfect way to build off of it. Yeah, that's the perfect way to. But I think they feel like a professional team who wins games that's supposed to win. And when you go play by play, you go, everyone's doing their job well. Why is the ball not moving? And it just hurts my brain slightly. When they do that, you know, they came out in this game the first time.

Really, they've tried to open up early. They've done the classic Jim Harbour. I think we're going to run the ball. Run the ball. We'll take some shots. In this game, they open up first 10 plays. They throw the ball 10 times. You can see Justin Herbert, which I absolutely adore from a quarterback being like,

I have three plays. I'm calling the one where I get to throw the ball, the first 10 times. then gets a little bit of a telling off, but they have got a big lead and they start running the ball and it goes nowhere. And then to close the game, they return to saying, okay, Justin Trang goes over the line and we'll drive down the field and turn out yards that way. So when they let him throw the ball early,

I think they've got a better chance than when they're trying to slam away with the run. Jesse Minter's unit on the other side really impressive today until that kind of fourth quarter, was it garbage time? Did the Broncos figure it out difficult to kind of tell? But 25 quarterback pressures today, Khalil Mack with six of those and that's without Joey Bosa who should return to this lineup at some point

so really impressive on that side of the ball and actually like you mentioned Jim Harbour going out of this game with his art real flutter apparently he had one in San Francisco as well that never kind of came out like slightly concerning that but actually

when he went out of the game Jesse Minter took over as the kind of assistant head coach role but Greg Roman was left to call the plays on his own and they had a fourth and goal at the half yard line and decided to kick a field goal from there when I'm convinced that Jim Harbour in the game would have told them no, we're absolutely going for that, at which point it would have been 24 nothing at that point. And there would have been no concern about a second half comeback. Bizarre decision from Greg Roman, but I love you're

killing Greg Roman at this point. I will kill Greg Roman all day long every day. In his defense, Jim Harbaugh, I believe, went for his first fourth down of the year. late in their in their last game so they have gone for it less than any other team although the half yard line yeah that's too much jk. Dobbins I think it's big for them they need to be able to run the ball to be the team they want to be first couple weeks he pops off a couple big runs after that really not much today was a little more consistent out of him 25 for 96 and then offensively yeah you get your boy macakey involved but it's gonna just have to be different guys kind of

at popping up, not even with games, but with plays. Like, Semifioco had a, had a, had a play in this game. And Kamani Vidal had a play in this game. And Josh Palmer, who has been quiet this year, surprisingly, like, had a play in this game. And that's what they're going to need to do. And they did it against a defense that's been giving teams a lot of trouble. And they showed one way to possibly beat them.

The Broncos have to be disappointed. Sean Payton, like I said, going into that Saints game on a little bit of a role coming into this one and really to be humbled down 23 to nothing. You're more disappointed, Ali. I know you watch this game closely. The defense or the offense from the Broncos. The offense still for me. It just does not

look functional for such long stretch of the game. It really only gets going when they're able to crank things up, move with some pace, slim things down a little bit, go no huddle. When they're trying to run the true classic Sean Payton offense, there's just so many issues all across the ball. Protection's

bad. Bowenix is bad. They get the huddle's so late they all panic the first play of the game he throws an inception the first play of the game and they get to the play clock with two seconds left which is a guy who does not know if he's ready or not doesn't know everything everything set properly the way he wants it to be drops back panics throws a pig that happens to them five six times a game and we're not early in the season so much anymore where you should be either saying let's slice some of this stuff off he's not ready or he should be figuring it out and they've had weeks where they have completely stripped the playbook back

let him just play the screen game and then create game they've had some success doing that this was the first time they tried to say okay let's ramp things back up I'm going back home and next week I'd really like to run my offense and try and beat Dennis doing it that way and when trying it it just was not a success again and we talked Caleb Williams scrambled today

and he made smart decisions and he ended up with what 56 yards on the ground Bonix ended up leading this team in rushing today and almost all of those scramble looked like just pure panic and actually something opened up for him and he managed although that's like that's been all year and it's been quite effective it's the best part of his game like rushing value by kbr and everything he's one of the better quarterbacks in the

league for that i'm with you though it seems like there's no plan to it and it often happens when they're trailing and but at least he makes that work that that yeah why would you not just leaning into that being the offense be the most uptempo offense in the NFL try and move into 24 go and see what washington is doing with jaden daniels this is where he's being affected let's lean into this for four or five weeks when he's more comfortable with the other things then we can go back to that. So that is proper coaching. Just running your

offense when the guy doesn't get it. That's not coaching. But I think there's a bit of ego that's just in there with Sean Peyton. I know. Would you imagine? Would you imagine? But genuinely, I mean look, he's saying that this is my quarterback, this is my guy, we're going to

win my way. And I don't think he's in a position where he wants to step back and be like, ooh, maybe this wasn't the right scheme here. Maybe this wasn't the right move. Maybe we shouldn't have put Bo Nix in these situations. And then ultimately, it's probably quite frustrating when you look at the score line and you think you have two turnovers. You actually might have even won that even with the poor display of football that was out there. So that's the Chargers winning record, three and two, in the mix. I think there's just a spot here for whoever's second in the AFC West

to make the playoffs because their schedules are very easy. And so this game to me is a big one, because these are the two candidates to be second in the AFC West and you get a win on the road in the division, not a flashy game, but I think an important one for the Chargers. This was an important week for myself for NFL daily. It is always a huge treat to come over to London. It's always one of my favorite weeks of the whole year. Today, like Sunday game day, that's probably just about my favorite workday of the whole year. and this is that why you've made it so long it's true i just don't want it to end that now i'm going to like honk for a while more yeah i'm getting emotional listening to talking about it um

it's different this year too like i'm i'm not here with dan and mark i feel their absence more this week i always feel chris's absence this week going to hot tautenum hotspur where they they remembered him and we lived out our dreams and it was really special But doing this show with you guys, like, we could talk more. I love that we're breaking down Bo Nix's, like, running ability at four in the morning. And you guys have such great energy, and you love the game so much that this particular podcast was like a total treat and something that I'll remember. And thank you, Will, for providing us this studio and the energy. Because if we were all in our hotel rooms right now, this show would be a.

about 300% worse and adding your voice and your analysis, it was overdue. We need to have you on much, much more. And also thank you to the Will behind the glass, Will Barney. But thank you, Will. Absolutely gushing. I cannot get over it. I'm a man who has the ego of Sean Payton. So if you start doing this to me now, I'm just going to be on a high all week long.

Cheers, Greg. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me. I've long tried to keep you in your place and not let you get too big, but this time I've got to give it up. This is why the debut has come so late in the day. It's just like, I could not let him on the podcast before. Now, he just would have been insufferable. We did have a wonderful lunch a couple days after the Super Bowl

at a Caribbean restaurant in Santa Monica. I think of that often when I'm driving past that place. I was like, this is where me and Will and his wife. A lot of people to think. Like, L.A., I mean, London's crazy. I'm not trying to brag, but it's the only place in the world that a cab driver could possibly. recognize me, which is crazy to me. And they have the little speakers and they're just,

are you Greg Rosenthal? And I'm just like, it's thaw. Why can't you motherfuckers say T.H? But yeah, he was a big NFL fan. He was a big around the NFL fan. He's a big, he'd the call fan. And he says he's a big NFL daily fan. And it really did mean a lot to me today at the game when we were outside on the riser, Olivia and I, and so many different people came up because that was the time where it's our people. It's the people at the game. And so many fans came up and they said, hey, we love the around the NFL,

but we really love what you're doing with NFL daily too. And we love it all. And we love seeing you here. And that was very cool. So thank you to everyone who did that. I do think the listeners are going to be slightly annoyed. Right at the top of the show, we tease that you're going to tell us about getting a motorbike from

something to sky. And yet you've still not told us about this magical motorbike ride. Yeah. Alex Jackson Jacko producer at SkySports called me yesterday evening and said Ask me I'm not going to do the accent

Because I know how you all hate the accent But that you know he asked me if I would take a motorcycle from the game Because I was going to be there doing hits Through the end of the third quarter And he was hopeful He'd be great to have you there for the start of the What here is the 6 PM games at home it's the 10 a.m. games in LA and he's like the only way I think we could do it is if

it's on a motorcycle and I was like oh I don't have to drive it do it that would be crazy like and I did ask the question that to me I was like do I have to be like holding the the driver the whole time that's like no there's handles I said sure that would that would be fun so I felt very cool very like I don't know like superheroish having to get to like the chase and we're in the motorcycle first motorcycle ride I'd ever been on seemed like pretty normal at first then you get on the highway and you're like okay this thing is is moving if you look down and everything but the scary part is definitely weaving through traffic which is why they wanted us to take the motorcycle there's London traffic's crazy it's worse than L.A and yeah he's he's weaving through that

and we're like two inches on either side of me and people are giving us dirty looks and I'm afraid they're going to like open their door but yeah we we made it the wind you know flying not through because there's a helmet on, but it was pretty badass. It was awesome. You know, Neil did the same thing last week as well. Neil Reynolds getting a motorbike from Tottenham to Sky. I can't even imagine. I don't know who looked like less of a badass in my picture. Because I did have them take a picture. I put it out on my Instagram story. I'll put it out there. And like, I was worried that I was going to be really cold because I didn't have a heavy jacket or anything. And

they had it all ready for me. They're like, oh, yeah, we've got a huge heavy jacket for you in gloves and I looked like a three-year-old thing like it was made for a much bigger person. But I will say the difference between you and Neil is that we were literally counting down 30 seconds to going live and they are having you run onto the dance floor. You have no idea what's happening. We're like, hey, we're hitting this, this is this. And we're alive. Neil, I love you, but you did not do that last week. Neil, this was Greg. That was the moment. I got out of the of the motorcycle and I'm walking up. to the building. And then I see our producer yell. And he's like, why don't you run, Greg?

We're three minutes from air. And I'm like, is he being serious? Or is he like, like, like being sarcastic? Like, and I was like, okay. And I started running. And yes, I got there about 30 seconds before it started. And it was really fun doing that show. Hannah Wilkes was just a beautiful host and her first day back from having her lovely daughter. So that, she had a hero performance too. I mean, she's feeding her, her baby. between breaks. So that is pretty freaking amazing by Hannah. And it was so fun to work with everyone this week. I'll stop talking. But thank you also to the NFL for sending me out there and Matt Schneider and Jason Kleinman and Eric Roberts back there and Randy Chavez, who are helping

us all out. Henry Hodgson, who makes a big difference in all of our lives. I'm just going to say it. Just by growing the game. When I see this game out here, Ali, like, you're a young man. Isn't it a different game? And I hate to ask this question, but it's true. It's different than it was doing an NFL game than when they first started doing these games. And certainly, like, the last, like, even since Tottenham, Hotspur Stadium's open, like, it's different. Yeah, well, the atmosphere is so much better at the Tottenham Stadium for one, the Wembley, next week could be fun. Like you said at the top, I've never seen an atmosphere like that in London that we saw today,

which was a true home crowd-type vibe. There was not the 50% home, 20% fan of another team, and then to spread around with all over the kind of jerseys. We still had some of that through there, which is always fun. But this was like a legitimate bears home crowd. I love that I made you talk about how the Graham has grown over here to close this show. The last thing that Ollie wants to talk about, I blew it. My brain is still hurting from the idea of having to take a motorbike through the middle of London to see a Mike McCarthy football team.

It's like, come on. Yes, to get there for the very first thing. to get there for like the little buildup. It was a lot of fun and I do not forget that we that we are lucky to do this and that there's nothing guaranteed. So if this was the last time they ever sent me to London, I feel like I made a count and thank you to everyone who is listening and I'll stop saying thank you. I apologize to anyone that I forgot to say thank you.

Yes, for Will Gavin, Phoebe Schechter, Ali Connolly, Will Varney, behind the glass. when we are wrapping this thing up at 4.22 in the morning. You know football is back and it's time to send it to Nick Shook to wrap us up here. Take us home, Nick, Bengals and Giants. Third down and 18 on the Bengals first drive of the game. Again, the Bengals with an empty formation. Shotgun snap.

It's a five-man rush. Burrow runs. Oh, baby. The 35. The 30, 25, 20, 15, 10, 5. Time for the pylon. Yeah. Touchdown.

A 47-yard. Touchdown run by Joe Burrow. I'll tell you, you talk about a defense getting distorted. The New York Giants gave up half a football field. Oh, baby, score, score, yeah. Welcome to the Sunday night football recap. Patrick Levon here with Nick Shook, as that essentially was it.

Nick, Joe Burroughs, long, career, long. touchdown run, almost held up as the score in this game as the Cincinnati Bengals knockoff the New York Giants, a Bengals team that was scoring a billion points, 17 to seven, but one was a touchdown that probably shouldn't have been late by Chase Brown, but yeah, just an odd game, but one that Cincinnati was able to come out on top of in the end. Yeah, and the Chase Brown touchdown, a perfect example of broadcaster timing, where they show a graphic that says the Bengals are like one in 138 when they score 10 points.

or less, and they're winning 10 to 7. And the next play, Chase Brown makes it 17 to 7. And, oh, you don't have to worry about that anymore. Yeah, this game lacked highlights when it comes to scoring plays, but didn't lack highlights overall. Bit of an ugly game, but I wouldn't call it a clunker or a snooze fest, but a defensive battle, if you will. We learned a lot about the Giants defense.

We actually learned a lot about the Bengals defense, which has been a sieve up front for most of the season. They got a little bit healthier up front. They did get run through pretty emphatically for one drive, but when it came down to making a play, They made the plays they needed to. They stopped Tyrone Tracy. They stopped the Giants offense,

which didn't have a ton of life if it wasn't running the football, and they were able to hang on and leave the Meadowlands with a much-needed victory. And a victory that was hard fought that came ultimately, Nick, on a fourth down stop where this was something that Brian Dayball was doing. It was almost consistent, pretty much in lockstep with the next-gen stats recommendation. I'm not sure if there's a particular sheet and situation that the Giants staff has, but these go situations they were successful for the Giants for the most part until they weren't ultimately at the end when you saw in similar fashion the two fourth downs that the Giants did not get in the second half Mike Hilton was back there doing his I'm Mike Hilton I'm a veteran pointing in direction almost kind of LeBron-esque on an inbound's play kind of guiding guys he got the past breakup I think it was DJ Turner that got the ultimate one that kind of sealed the deal where the Giants were band-aid and duct-taping their way down the field. And eventually, you know,

with Greg Joseph missing kicks, it's tough to sustain an offense like that. Yeah, that's the key is the fact that they scored one touchdown all night and, you know, you miss two field goals and there goes your opportunity. But yeah, they go three for five on third down or on fourth down. It felt like they went for fourth down 10 times. They were using all four downs. It's like that high school coach who refused to punt and made waves in the internet. Basically, the Giants became that team on Sunday night. And I think it was out of desperation. It was, okay, we know we're not only going to get so many chances to move the football. And if it's fourth and short, I think it's anything inside a six is usually a go.

I would envision a world in which they have the next gen stats model up in the box. And they're like radioing down like Brian, next gen says, go for it, go for it. As if they don't have their own analytics department. But yeah, they went for it willingly and often. And most of the time they got it, but they didn't get the most important ones. And that's often the difference in a game like this where the Bengals offense that had put up a ton of points like you said wasn't scoring. and the game was within reach and it's a Giants team

that took a step back I guess I don't know I wouldn't even necessarily say that it was a rough night for them against the Bengals Devens that played better I mean this is not the Giants team that we saw play the Seahawks a week ago

that's for sure but I mean sometimes it's about matchups and they lost out tonight well the other matchup that you pointed out the last time we were doing a primetime breakdown I'm sitting here in my garage

and I'm celebrating I'm heeping dimes with praise like this was this is a top 10 dimes game and you looked as you do, dead into the screen, you're like, it was on the road, Patrick. The home road splits for Danny Dimes of not being kind. And here we are, lo and behold, Dimes is back at home and the offense can't do anything.

What is it, Nick? Do you have a theory about Daniel Jones at MetLife? You know, I don't know. I mean, I've been to MetLife once. The lighting there is a little weird, but I don't think that has anything to do with it. It's just a little weird on the eyes. It's kind of a bit of an orange glow to it at times. Honestly, like, they didn't run the ball well until the third.

third quarter. And they had a very strong third quarter, but their offense felt very unbalanced. And every time you saw him drop back to pass, in fact, I looked at the pressure numbers and they were way lower than I thought they'd be. The Bengals got 15 total pressures of 33.3%. Exactly one third for you, math wizards. And it felt like he was constantly under duress or just slow, hesitant to make a decision. And I think that speaks to coverage, being sticky. If guys aren't blatantly open, you know, he's going to be somebody's a little bit indecisive and wait a second or two. But I mean, yeah, the home versus road thing, I don't know. I think it's kind of strange. I know New York's a big market.

And if I put myself in his shoes, I would have a hard time handling that, I guess, as most people would. But it is kind of strange. There as a team really bad at home in terms of winning percentage and in terms of primetime games over the last decade, too. So it's not just him, but when he was doing this, he was going up. For those of you watched on YouTube, I'm putting my hand on an upward trajectory on the screen right now. He came back down a little bit. We'll see where he lands in QB index this week. And yes, that is a plug. Yes, well, you have to because it's a lot of work and people should pay attention to it. There was an opportunity because the Giants on their best drive of the night.

I believe what was the penetration here? They got down. They were at the 20, no, they were snapping this ball at the 15-yard line. First and 10 from the 14-yard line. Dimes has the rookie, Tracy, out in the flat. DJ Turner is covering Tracy. Tracy in theory, but he turns to run to grass, Nick. Tracy is ultimately wide open. And for some reason, and Collinsworth pointed this out on the game, Dimes takes his eyes off

Tracy, gets hit as he throws, and throws a ball to Jermaine Pratt. He picks his off and runs it back to the 27. That was essentially their chance. That was their best opportunity. And there it went just on a weird decision by Daniel Jones. And that came in the first quarter, end of the first quarter, too, in a game that was only seven nothing. And they'd put together a strong drive. But that also speaks to what we've seen from Daniel Jones for most of his career, which is this is a guy who, when under pressure, tends to flail or tends to, you know, have an issue where he gets hit when he throws and the ball goes sky high and it's easy for an interception. I mean, this is just kind of who he is.

It's unfortunate that this is an offense that's so limited that they have so few chances that it then, you know, lingers. And by the end of the game, you look back and think, man, that was one of our big opportunities early in this game. But it is what we've seen from him for most of his career, which is why he has the reputation he has, which I was cheering for him, man, just like you were. I was like, man, he's putting together a nice month. Like, he's starting to build upward and, you know, it's a little bit of a setback. Yeah, a setback where they're going to have to get better.

Their next game is coming up against the Philadelphia Eagles, who just came off a win against the Browns, albeit an odd one, but they got AJ Brown back. And speaking of the Browns, that is next up a divisional matchup for the Cincinnati Bengals, who I guess, the caveat, that it was the Giants, Nick, but the defense did. You said it. Lose squad played better today. Yeah, I actually honestly think that that matchup, the Bengals face next to the Browns will be

very similar to this. And another offense that's incredibly limited, primarily by quarterback play much more than the Giants are, but against a defense that's going to give them trouble. And that really speaks to the Giants defense. You know, we look at them right now and they lose tonight and they're two and four overall. But they're better than two and four on the defensive side of the football. That front four has been very good. Dexter Lawrence is a machine. He breaks through a double team tonight and gets a sack of Joe Burrow. Like, he's a monster. He's doing a chunky soup ad and he totally deserves it because he's a beast.

You know, they, they didn't have their full group out there. Aziz O'Jolari, though, has had a great stretch and had a great game tonight as well. So, like, it's not all bad news for the Giants just because they put seven points in the board. They do have a really strong defense, especially up front. It's just that in order to win this, you got to put it together. So I think that, you know, like in comparison to this game tonight, the Browns-Bengals game is going to be similar, but the Giants.

The Giants got to figure out some way to put more points in the board like they were in the weeks prior because that defense is going to travel. It'll come to play. Yeah, the defense that deserved better tonight, especially as he's Osceolari and Brian Burns. We're playing incredible tonight. But you want to talk about a great team.

What about a team that spans between here in Ohio, Nick? We got 2,000 plus miles. I got 5,000 miles going to London. Thanks to Phoebe Schechter, Will Gavin, Ali Connolly, Nick Shook, Randy, Eric, everybody. This is a global. edition of NFL Daily. We appreciate you guys and I can't wait to get set for week seven because this is what

we do. This is who we are. This is what we're about. We're about outros. We're about fun. And we're about football. See you guys on the next edition of NFL Daily. Hey everybody.

On Move the Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else. It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael F. Florio, and together we host the NFL fantasy football podcast.

Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL fantasy football podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet. We've got the insight to help you crush your opponents. Listen to the NFL fantasy football podcast on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your Podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more.

This is an IHeart podcast.