NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 2025 NFL Week 8 Early Games Preview

Episode Date: October 23, 2025

Gregg Rosenthal is joined by Jourdan Rodrigue, Patrick Claybon and Steve Wyche to preview the early window Week 8 action starting with the Giants at the Eagles (03:15) followed by Bears at Ravens (10:50), 49ers at Texans (16:52), Bills at Panthers (25:13), Browns at Patriots (32:25), Jets at Bengals (38:35) and Dolphins at Falcons (45:30). Note: time codes approximate. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. I was the end of the show. There's a keeper. Into the show, no beeps. This is NFL Daily. It's week eight. We're doing a preview show. We're in the Chris Wesleyan podcast studio.

Yes, we're going to make you beep that. Eric. Steve Weish, Jordan Rodriguez, and Patrick Claibon are all here today. what a day it's going to be what a way to start week eight I love it it's the eve of the midway point of the season and we got it I was trying to think of the actor's name who I was called a low rent version of it was related to our conversation Adam Brody Adam Brody yes earlier today and I couldn't think of his that come to me so quickly I couldn't think of his name and we were having a conversation about lookalikes and whatever and I wanted to say I'm not a low rent

Adam Brody. I'm like a medium rent. You know, maybe not like Santa Monica prices, but like you're not, you're not saving money on me as, as Adam Brody. That's a pretty strong cop. I'm sitting here looking it right now. I mean, I would definitely no rent part to it. I mean, you're like, well, like literally lower, maybe lower ceiling. Yeah. I just, I won't take too much of everybody's time. But there's a segment of the population that over indexes in offering their, I'll save you the beep's opinion saying that people look like other people? Yes. And they're constantly wrong. They meet a stranger. And the first thing they say to this human being who has existed for the entirety of their life is that they look like somebody else. It's like, has anybody ever told you you look like this? No, idiot. Nobody's

ever said that. What about a hello? What if you could talk and meet with and greet with somebody in a normal sense? You tell them who they look like? They look in the mirror every day. Shut up. Yes. I recently had an experience with this where not only did, and I have a twin sister. So I used to being told I look alike. You guys too look alike. Yes, we do look alike. I was recently told by a man that I did not know at all who was up there in age, that I looked like somebody and he could have just left it there.

And then he decided to add. And she was my childhood crush, good for you. And I was like, I'm going to walk away now. That leaves the segment of people I was talking to and that just creeps. There's a Venn diagram happening here, Patrick. That's just bad old man came. One time you told me you were in line behind Adam Brody. I was.

I probably told the story on the same show like a year ago. And like everything else, I forgot all about that. So Adam Brody over indexing on NFL Daily, big fan. Check out, nobody wants this season two coming up on Netflix. We were actually paid. This whole thing was SpongCon. Yeah. It's our preview show.

And it's a little different this week. we're breaking it up but we decided this week because the AFC, the NFC, the NFC, it wasn't making sense this week. There wasn't enough. Too many buys. NFC games and everything.

So we're going to do the early games and we're going to do the late games just how you watch it on Sunday. And I'm excited for that. I'm excited for it too because shout out to chronological order. I know the algorithms got rid of that on social media because the worst people in the world who get to dictate how we consume content

and made those decisions. How about this? We're in chronological order, baby. And we start with the New York Giants at the Philadelphia. Eagles who have a chance to get revenge from the start of their disastrous stretch where they lose two games. Oh, yeah, they won

against the Vikings. They're back. They're good. They're favored by seven and a half. Over under. 43 and a half, Steve. Kevin Burkhart and Tom Brady on the call. Does Jackson Dart befuddle the Eagles once again? A seven and a half? Is this the Brandon Graham bounce? That's a big number.

That's a big number. Look, I love the way Philly played last week. I mean, he'd be able to hit the big plays. Now can they do it consistently? We'll see against his defense. I love Like Philadelphia in this game, that number is way too big for me. I like the fact that Jalen Hertz, though, showed up. He took everything. He said, you know what?

Let me throw it. Let me get it to my guys. Let's calm everybody down and let's play ball. Did he calm everybody down, though? Because A.J. Brown had another weird Instagram. It's just, at some point, like, AJ can just post on Instagram. Yeah. Like, we don't have to delve deep.

And it's like, it's like Taylor Swift tweets before an album release every single week. And people are like, oh, so AJ said this. this clearly means that like let's just using me but not using me we don't have to delve deep i think they'll be using him a lot though this week because this giant secondary already had issues if they don't have paulson adiebo and javon holland who were out of practice on wednesday they are in deep trouble because the drop off to dante banks who was a first round pick for them you could see it in that fourth quarter comeback by the broncos javon holland was actually out for for a lot of that game Drew Phillips is about the most targeted player in the league and he has made a lot of big plays and he has given up a lot of big plays.

But you have a lot of Giants fans who are not happy with that secondary. And I think that Eagles are admitting basically they should be a pass first team. They're not a good running team. Not that they have to give up on the run, but they should be better at passing the ball. It is October season of Halloween. I just kept having this image in my head of that famous. And now I can't remember the name of it because I've been. ill. But it's the famous movie with the Three Witches and they pull out this. Pocus Pocus. And they pull out

this giant book and it's got an eyeball on and it creaks open and all the dust comes off of it. That's the play action passing game plan. Oh, let's go. Okay. That's the only time I will yell today. Sorry to the listeners there on that one. But yeah, I think that them showing that a little bit more diversity in what they want to do and how they want to move Jalen Hurts spot. Yes, it was only technically four plays. Highly, highly, highly productive. passing plays 30 yards per throw per completion on those play action passing game concepts. And I just think that this is a promising start for an Eagles team that, yes, as Lane Johnson said, had to get a little bit more predictable in that regard.

Yeah, and I'm with Greg. I mean, after seeing what Denver did to do that giant secondary once those injuries happened, there's no reason why Philadelphia's not going to attack that early, sort of soften it so Saquan can go ahead and get some against his old team. On the other side, Vic Fangio has been blitzing more to try to manufacture. pressure. And Brandon Graham coming back is great, but I don't know how many snaps he's going to

actually play right off of the podcasting couch. Shout out of our friend Bo Wolf and PHLY podcast over there. But if you can rush Jackson Dart with four, he is way, way worse than he is against the blitz.

He's actually playing pretty well against the blitz. He's getting blitzed a lot. And he's completing the fourth highest amount of passes per next gen in the NFL against the blitz specifically. But when he just rushes four, the numbers almost invert and he sort of fritzes out and then you can kind of see it because they just don't have a drop back passing game where he

hits guys on, like his best plays are create a play which he's been great at, but it's there's not a lot of conventional often. And to his defense, you know, you get late in that game. There's no Malik neighbors. Yeah. Wondale is seen coverage by some of the best secondary players in the NFL so

it's tough. But the one thing that we didn't see because he's average he's averaging 12 plus EPA on Scramble runs. since he took over, he didn't have a scrambling first down against the Denver Broncos, as well as he played in that game. And so this is our first chance

to get a defense's second look through at the RPA game with Brian Dayball and Jackson Dart. And I'm interested how... The great point. That's a great point, Patrick. And they're going for a sweep. This is such a big game in the giant season.

I think people have just kind of crossed them off. They could easily be three and four coming into this and trying to get the sweep. If they get the sweep, Like, that's a massive moment in the Brian Dable experience. But if not, they're one and three in the division already. They've played so many division games. They're pretty buried there at two and six.

And that little uptick is now really just a nice part of the season. And the rest of it is just about developing their quarterback. Here's the thing, though, there's zero chance the Eagles get pressure with four. This is the best tackle combination maybe in the league right now. I mean, Nick Benito, he didn't just get shut out last week. In the terms of pass rush win rate, you don't see this too often. It was a 0% and immediately you think Andrew Thomas, no, no slight. Everyone, that's happening against everyone with the Giants,

but it wasn't all Andrew Thomas. It's actually a lot of germane Illuminaur. So they were a really good pass protecting team on the edges. And I think the Eagles, that's a weakness for the Eagles this year. And here's a tease. Go read, my pal, Charlotte Carroll. at The Athletic, who has a feature coming soon on why, and I won't spoil it here, on why that offensive line is playing so well together right now.

Somehow their cosmic timing has all seemed to link up pretty well. And that's all I'll say about that. But it is interesting. We're talking about the Giants offensive line as one of the better groups in the league, and they look it. And we're also talking about the Eagles offensive line that needed a bounceback game and kind of sneaky got it last week in a big way, which I think is important. Yeah, especially in terms of the blitz pickup.

You would like to see Sequin get back because he's almost a full two yards on yards per carry behind where he was last year on outside runs. And, you know, we talked about imagination. They literally ran the same run play within five plays. They just ran it to the other side last week. So all the celebration of Jalen hitting those deep balls to AJ and Devontah last week, the run game still kind of needs to get a little more diversity to the same extent that they had last year. It's weird. Like, I mean, Sigmund Barkley is not on pace

for a thousand rushing yards this year. There's no explosives. I mean, every week we saw him hit one for a minimum 45 yards. That just has not happened this season. Landed Dickerson came back from an injury though and looked better.

We also should know the Giants cut their kicker, Jude, uh, Macatamney, you know, from Ireland. I feel for that kid.

At least they let him get back on the plane. You feel for him, a guy who kind of came from a non-traditional football background and got his chance. It did not go well. And we'll see. They could go with Young Waku who lost a battle to him,

supposedly in practice, or Graham Ganoe is coming off an injury and was activated. They were real quick to say that Graham Ganoe has been activated. So that was real quick. It's on them, by the way. They went into that season

with a 38-year-old kicker who hasn't been good and has been hurt two straight years. So Joe Shane, I'm watching you. Well, when you're in a place where a couple folks needed to be somebody else's fault,

It's a difficult place to kick footballs because it's hard to kick footballs in the NFL. To our next opportunity, the Chicago Bears, winners of two consecutive games, the ground game is going. And we get to ask Greg Rosenthal, as the Baltimore Ravens are at home favored by six and a half points. After coming off not being able to stop anybody, the over under is 49 and a half. Ion Eagle and Justin James Watt on the call, what is the value, Greg, of a buy and was it good enough for the Baltimore Ravens to fix things? Yes, if it means that Lamar Jackson's back on the field. Sometimes you wonder how much does Vegas know? Because this number was there before.

They know us, Greg. Yeah, he, well, if he's not out there, obviously that's not the number. And he was out there on Wednesday practice. But they said he was taking reps behind Tyler Huntley and Cooper Rush. So that's obviously the biggest factor. Maybe there's a thought, Patrick, and they are healthier on defense. They're getting a lot of guys back, including Rick Juan Smith. It sounds like that defensive performance, they did show something in their last game before the buy.

There were signs there that they made some improvements. The pass rush to me is still the biggest problem, but maybe against Caleb Williams, like this isn't that big of a week where you need the pass rush because he's going to hold the ball anyways and hasn't really been seeing things clearly. They've been running it. They've been running the ball well. I mean, DeAndre just said back-to-back good game. We talked about it before the offensive line, especially some of the combination. they have on each side.

It's performing really well in the run game. You see in the south side? Well, this is the inside zone right here, the way they're blocking on the video, the folks watching on YouTube. And that's what's setting up in the passing game. I do think Baltimore is going to be better. They have no choice, actually.

I think if they come out and stumble right here, it's not over for them, but it's over for them. Chicago looks really one-dimensional right now. To you guys' point, it's good for them that it's in the run game. It's good for them that this is the foundation that's being said, especially post-buy. We talked about it on a previous show, especially their zone runs coming out of that

by week. It's like everybody finally got on the same page. And it's not just that Theo Medidae is in, has been, you know, has replaced the previous starter, but also this whole group is communicating really well. And DeAndre Swift is picking up more than what he's been blocked for. And prior to the buy, he was picking up less than what was being blocked. open for him. So that's a huge swing and a huge change. And it's good because Caleb Williams is still having kind of these up and down games. This last game against the Saints, the Saints can't

really rush the passer. The Saints can't really get pressure effectively. And he was holding the ball. And it's not like they were covering a crazy amount. He just wasn't like fully sure of what he was seeing. And when he was scrambling and when he was kind of moving out of structure, he was not picking his spots where he could run and said he was throwing. And then vice versa. He talked about it in the media and Ben Johnson did as well last week. It's like being a little bit more decisive, being a little more quick with his decision making. And Ben Johnson also put some of that on his own shoulders as the play caller as well, setting up a little bit more layers.

They also had five false starts. That's pretty embarrassing. Yeah. Like, for this deep into the season. But you can, at least with this staff, because, you know, Ben Johnson had said he had lost sleep personally over the lack of success in the ground game where he said sometimes they were, they were blocking it up properly and the holes weren't getting run through. Sometimes every hole they tried to run through or wasn't necessarily blocked up properly.

And I love the way that he has kind of vocalized the accountability for everybody without being mean-spirited or like undermining. That doesn't happen in the NFL. Perhaps we'll get to some other team where that's not necessarily the case. And the buy was had that value for them. And then you look over at the Baltimore Ravens where, you know, the buy gave a lot of Ravens fans chances to look at what was going wrong. And even when 8 was playing, the protection from Daniel Folele, it's been highlighted.

And so you look at where they were successful. Lamar was completing 91% of his passes on play action before the injury. And I really think that that was a virtue of, well, you have a play that looks like a run block to start things off. And then Lamar figures it out. The rest of everything needs to be figured out in this one. And I'm interested to see, one, if Falae is playing. in this game and to what the play calling looks like if he's in there. And of course, if 8's in there. And they got some outside zone working with Derek Henry, at least early in

that game against the Rams where they kind of look like themselves again. Your boy, Nate Wiggins, I don't know if it's your boy, but he's on the Ravens. He's been playing great. But he's on the Ravens. I just assume like anyone on the Ravens. He's been great. So not everyone is struggling, but their rookie Malachi Starks has been in the middle of a lot of problems. And then Marlon Humphrey was not at practice Wednesday, which is surprising because he was there. Monday, Jair, Alexander, still getting his knee drain. So people always think, like, oh, the buy, that's going to solve all of our injury problems.

But it's like, it's one week. It doesn't necessarily solve everything. Yeah, and you talk about Malachi Stark. I mean, where the Ravens, for two years in a run, I've gotten tagged this in the middle of the defense. You know, I think Kyle Hamilton can solve everything, but you can't just move into a certain position and think, okay, because he's back off the line of scrimmage,

it's going to solve everything. Everything else has to work. They ask their interior linebackers to do a lot in the past in the run game. And this is one right here, I think Chicago with their tight ends could do a little something and cause them some problems. The amount of a lot for everybody in that second and third

level gets to be more when as Greg pointed out, you can't get pressure on the quarterback. Yep. And then you're asking guys who, let's be frank, with the injuries who could not run to cover people that they can't cover anyway. So it's a rough opportunity, but perhaps the buy

well, we'll have a chance. It feels like kind of a massive game. I agree. I know you're a raven. I might have to take this game. I just feel like the Ravens got to win this game. And if the Bears actually can get this done, then it starts feeling like, okay, this is a real thing. All right.

Let's discuss another team that just keeps winning despite all the obstacles going on the road where they are favorite. It is Kyle Shanahan's San Francisco 49ers, one and a half point favorites against a rough look at Houston Texans offense that got the loss on Monday night in Seattle. As Jordan, the overrunner is 41.5.

Kevin Coogler and Moose Johnston on the call. What can Nick Cayley's squad do against this 49ers defense? This resurgent youthful group that despite the injuries keeps getting stops. Yeah, it's just a really masterful coaching job by Robert Sala and partnering with Kyle Shanahan again kind of back in his happy place. I remember talking to him during training camp about just the level of competitiveness that, you know, Kyle Shanahan, I think, especially after Robert Sala was a head coach himself, really has leaned on him. And there's been, I think, a little bit more like pure collaboration

versus pure competition. And several years ago when Robert Sala was there before, it was an all-out battle schematically at practice, even trying to figure out different advantages in each other's defense. It famously led to Robert Sala's wide nine and all of these types of things trying to stop Kyle Shanahan's outside zone and all of his like hybrid freak players that he had. Well, now, there's a lot of collaboration purely for the growth of the roster and they really, I think, in their scouting and their talent identification departments, have found young players who are fully bought in and have this energy. And like, I know 49ers fans don't want to hear it, but it reminds

me a lot of the 2023 Rams where there is no expectations. That was self-inflicted by the Rams in terms of the roster overhaul. This is less so because there's so many injuries everywhere. But you've got like Tatum Bethune coming out of nowhere, having just an absolutely electric game filling in for Fred Warner, wearing his jersey to the stadium. You have guys like Upton Stout playing bigger than his size week after week. You've got Alfred Collins who looks really good in the middle. Mikel Williams looks especially good against the run. And I just feel like this is a group. They're playing without the weight of expectations. And like every single opportunity is one for them purely to grow. And then the results sort of are speaking for

themselves. I think it's a fantastic job by that entire organization to come this far the way that they have. I played a Falcons team that didn't challenge them. Yeah. I mean, they just ran some obvious, okay, let's run a screen, let's throw everything outside and see if they can catch us. It was a terrible game plan.

By Atlanta, Houston doesn't have that opportunity. Their play calling was a mess against Seattle when they went for it, you know, the off tackle run, two plays in a row on third and fourth down when your offensive lines getting reset.

And the numbers weren't there. They weren't there. They ran it to the freaking weak side of the offense and got stood up twice. It's frustrating. You know, people can come down on C.J. Stroud, all they want. He's not blameless in all of this, but we've seen it when he doesn't have any time and he doesn't trust what's in front of him. It's a disaster.

And most quarterbacks are like that. Now, we don't know if Nico Collins is going to be able to play in this game. Yeah. It sounds like he won't. He's in the concussion protocol. all. He did suffer a concussion. He was not at practice Wednesday. Neither was Christian Kirk. Well, then that's kind of, if you're not a practice at all, because usually on Wednesdays, you're on the field in some way, shape, or form Thursdays you're going through it. That's kind of

leading to the track. So, I mean, they just don't have a threat offensively. And that's an issue. You know, defensively, those dudes are playing their hearts out. I mean, so maybe they can get some takeaways. I mean, you never know what's going to happen with that. Maybe they can Rattle Mac Jones because that defense is legit as it comes. Yeah. Offensively, man, it is a nightmare. I didn't think it'd get worse than it did last year. It is worse. It is worse.

Yeah, it looks certainly, the tape looks worse. Points per game is still about the same, but the tape looks worse. Because of that one game. Other in that, there's 16 points a game. That one game against the Ravens. That's it. It's the worst version of the Ravens. I would say this is going to be, I think, a game because you're looking at the practice

reports this week, injury reports, week and you potentially are without a couple of like still dependable guy and one very good player and Nico Collins. These young receivers, Jaden Higgins and Jalen Knoll, I have, I see their potential. I see their upset, but they're making mistakes. They're not in the right spot sometimes. They're dropping passes sometimes. C.J. Stroud is not hitting them other times when he, this is a game where you, if you're Robert Sala, I just don't think that you trust that their receivers are, or I just don't think you respect their receivers. I think you send everything you've got at C.J. Stroud, who I've got some pressure stats for him from last game, he was pressured on 31.5%

of his dropbacks. He only had 55 yards on those plays. Four for 14, one touchdown, one interception. So that's a 28.6 completion percentage when under pressure. But when he was not pressured, he's also not, because there's just ghosts or something is going on. That offensive line is what it is. And the scheme is not good either. When he was 174 yards, 19 to 35, no touchdowns, no completions or no, no interceptions, only throwing five yards per attempt on those when he's not pressured and just a 54% completion percentage. And it's just, it's all, none of it's looking good. And you're seeing sort of the, um, the bad habits could start to set in and the, like we, we joke about ghosts with Sam Darnold, but like this line is not giving him anything to

work with. Neither is the play calling. Neither is the run game because they look slow on the ground, They're just, and think about that. Strong got bailed out on that safety. Oh, they got bailed out a couple times. Should have been a defensive touch on. I mean, that's the potentially against the best team, best defense in the NFL. Those numbers tell a story, though, to me.

Because the fact that he was only pressured on 31% of the passes and he's throwing so deep. He's like, they're not even trying to let plays develop because when you talk about like the ghosts, it's just not having faith that the offense is going to work if you do throw the ball. And I do think we are seeing a different C.J. Stroud, unfortunately, because of all the free rushers.

And sometimes it's set early. Early in that game, I bet if we looked at the first two drives of the game, that pressure percentage was a lot higher because there were free rushers everywhere the first quarter. And then after that, he's just kind of getting rid of the ball and hoping. And it's hard to blame them. But man, it's depressing that they are an underdog, like against the team without, you know, without Purdy, without Boso, without Warner.

And without everyone. That's true. You do have CMC. You do have Mack Jones. winning now $100,000 every time he starts, Mac Jones. Actually, we don't know that Mac Jones is starting.

It's Wednesday as we're taping this and it could be Brock Bertie returning, but I don't think they're in a hurry and Turf Toe is troubling and he can do enough at least. Maybe? I don't know. This is bound to be ugly. Or? Yeah.

Ugly just for one team considering where things have gone. But hey, maybe Will Anderson can get in there and make 17 plays. And get his Texans. Maybe, maybe, you know, to go full circle. We could say maybe Houston looks like a team we saw a couple of years ago. That would be good.

And the 49ers did get the running game going for pretty much the first time all season last week into Atlanta where it was consistent success rate. Hi, it is the Robert Sala versus Domeko Ryan's bowl. I kind of like that. Like which one took took the recipe in San Francisco and did better with it. But Domeco is not calling the defense right now. Well, but they do have his defense. They do have something in common.

during their tenure as head coach, both of them didn't get to make all the decisions they would have liked to be done. There you go. There you go. Keep an eye. Derek Stingley,

not having a good year. Like, sometimes I, like, he's had more penalties this year than the last two years combined. He's given up a lot of completions where he's in coverage,

which is just not used to seeing, you know, in this matchup, unless Pierce, I mean, I don't know who's going to really bother him, but it has been interesting to see him not having as good a season.

Let's take a quick break and we're going to be back for another, organizational rivalry game. Man, no love for Kendrick Bourne. The Born The Born Identity.

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,

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Listen 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. Back on NFL Daily. And yeah, I mentioned a revenge game. I don't think Sean McDermott and Brandon Bean are looking for revenge because Carolina helped set them up back in the day for success. for success. Imagine if they kept them both.

Right. At various points over the last seven years, David Teper should have been thinking, hmm, maybe I had the right guys in the building back then. But there's a lot of guys who are the right guys for one organization, but they're another organization. They're not quite the right. Yeah, they would not be looking as good if they were with that team.

You know who was looking better? Patrick on Wednesday, surprisingly. Bryce Young doing cardio without a boot on at practice. Maybe these reports that he was. was missing this week or premature. If nothing else, it doesn't seem like a long-term injury. Yeah, everybody's body's different. They're not machines.

We love all of them. Could mean one thing for one person and something else for... I've never seen something reported as a high ankle screen and someone moving the way that they had cameras on Bryce Young, how he was moving on Wednesday. I've never seen that. But we allude, we allude to it. He is light.

A couple of franchises where you think back, a generationally talented, large, mechanized quarterback with perhaps some underperforming aspects around him spurning to long-term success. It's the Buffalo Bills and the Carolina Panthers in different

eras as the... Maybe there were a lot of former Panthers when they both got there. Oh, yeah. Where things have fallen off since then those former Panthers have gone elsewhere. Shaq Thompson on this Bill's team. How about that? Shaq Thompson revenge game? The Carolina Panthers

looking at the Buffalo Bills actually seven-point favorites. Who better to be on this call than Adam Ameen and G-Reg for this particular matchup where Steve, Bryce playing seems to be the main looming issue. But other than that, can the Buffalo Bills find somebody that could separate? Do they need to make a trade and go get somebody? Oh, do they need to make a trade? I mean, they can find someone to help out the secondary.

I mean, but every team needs, you know, secondary help right now. And so I'm looking at it. Bryce Young doesn't play Andy Dalton. They've got some running backs in Carolina who can do their thing. So if they could run the ball, and I think you run the ball on Buffalo a little bit. I mean, this is a way to play Keepaway. The number's big. I get it.

It's Buffalo. But Carolina's playing better defensively. I mean, that defensive line is starting to show some of the talent that's there, Dan Morgan. I don't know if some of that was there for Brandon Bean. I don't think so. I think so, but Dan Morgan. But they're starting to come together a little bit.

And so, again, I like Buffalo to win this game. I don't know if I love the number. But I don't know if it necessarily hinges on Bryce Young playing. Yeah, there's two of the biggest mismatches of the entire weekend are in this game. According to DVOA, the bills have the worst rush defense in the entire NFL. And the Panthers running game has been excellent. They're top six or seven on the season. And if you just looked at the last handful of weeks, it's even better than that.

Then again, on the other side, Derek Brown's a great player. And he can rush the passer a little bit. But this is one of the worst pass rushes in the entire NFL in Carolina. And it's going up against a great offensive line. Could it be because they got rid of all their pass rushers? Right. Like when Josh Allen, I know his receivers haven't been separated. But when Josh Allen drops back to pass,

he should have all day. And that is a dangerous scenario for this Panthers defense. But their DBs are playing better in recent weeks too. They're taking the ball away a little bit more. Against terrible competition. It should be said. but Buffalo's receivers aren't separating. Right.

And Josh Allen, it's kind of like we're seeing this a little bit with a less great offensive line, but with still similar kind of stakes as like, as Justin Herbert, where it's like, okay, all of this resides now on Josh Allen, go do something cool, right? And that's what kind of the story has been because, yes, this Panthers two-headed running game and not just their running game, but the way that they were deploying some of their screens, to me, you do that on purpose a little bit to get that tape. into Buffalo's heads a little bit because Buffalo is not defending

not just the run game well but also not defending second and third level stuff like those screen passes when they start to get rolling and Chuba Hubbard was great on some of their screen design could have picked up 10 more yards on that long one he pulled down the left sideline. I understand not wanting to wait for the big guys to run. You should wait.

Yeah, you should not wait for your blocking. However, your blocking probably needs to fast layer more inside faster. The thing that he could have a touchdown. The thing that's cool, though, is like, okay, from, you know, being in Carolina for as long as I was, and then like, man, the last several years, this fan base, who I think will really show up for this game because they've got hope and they've, and maybe more importantly than hope, they've got a freaking

run game for the first time in a while, this fan base has been dying for a run game since the prime days of Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams. Just rolling downhill on people. And this is just so fun to know that like, okay, if you can't hope you got something better. You got a good run game being a two-headed monster. And I know they want to know who the starter is. That's more fantasy football, whatever. But like, this is cool. This is potentially very, very cool and stabilizing if you're not really sure who your quarterback is going to be or what they're going to do. Wow, the shadow John Fox hovering. As he ever does. Chuba was great in the past game. And I understand his

utilization. But getting Rico the ball against this bill's team, especially, I'm thinking about the way Xavier Leggett has been playing with him and Teteroa out blocking. It's just a rough matchup for a bill secondary that really gets like kind of exposed every single week. Every week. In terms of making plays on the ball carrier, I think Carolina should take,

whether it's Andy or Bryce, especially if it's Andy, getting the ball in five's hands and letting him do work. And Dalton, before that car accident last year, was playing solid football. One of these years, this happens with these backup quarterbacks so we just assume are the same forever.

At some point, he will turn into a lesser version of Andy Dalton. But frankly, we haven't really seen that. Like, he was solid last year. I know you're talking about the... If you want to talk about seeing it,

I think we're about to see it. Okay. Finish against the Jets. Maybe that ball's not coming out as crisp. But basing it on his 2024 tape. Like, he was, he's now turned in, you know,

we used to do the Dalton scale on the show, which is if you have a guy above that. Now I would say it's kind of the Dalton scale for backups. If you don't have a backup better than Andy Dalton, you need a new backup. But he is a good backup until proven otherwise. And yeah, I'm curious. We mentioned a lot on the show how coaches show their work after the buy. Sean McDermott's been excellent at that over the years, diagnosing what's wrong with the team.

So I am curious to see what personnel changes, schematic changes, do they blitz smart? Like what sort of changes he does on his defense, leaning on, you know, Deion Walker. they're going to have to. Dayquan Jones, who's been solid for them. Another former Panther hurt his foot in practice on Monday, and it sounds like he's going to be out for a few weeks, and he is a big contributor for them. You talked about the line

and evaluating quarterbacks? What about having to play against the Cleveland Browns in 2025, where they have been great on defense, the offense? They are at the New England Patriots, the Patriots, and Drake May, who is all that matters, favored by seven points. The over under is 40 and a half.

Chris Myers and Mark Slareth on the hopefully with no audio issues for Chris Myers as he'd be getting chased around by weird audio bugs for the past three weeks. Something I've picked up. Wait, really? Yeah, he sounded like he was calling the game from a tin can in 1955.

Oh, boy. Last week for like a quarter and a half. Greg, yes. How concerned are you about playing the Browns defense? I am excited to watch it. I'm not playing them. I think it's nice because I'm trying to, I'm trying to tell the Patriots fans in my life.

Like, I get it. And Drake May is all that matters. So this season is beyond a huge success, no matter how it ends, as long as Drake May continues to show that he's that guy. And he has at a level that I don't think anyone could expect. But you cannot overstate how easy this schedule has been. Like, I do think as I get older, I don't know what it is. I do think schedule really explains like more than we want to talk about with the NFL.

That's without a doubt. Like who you play. Yeah. Right. It's, it really is on a week-to-week basis. hit us with the ads as I get older. I just mean, though, like, no matter how much we think schedule matters, as my viewpoints mature.

You know, as I continue on this existence on this rock, a little scheduling charingipity. I just mean like so much, like the commanders, for instance, it's like, yeah, their schedules harder that this, like so, like a lot, like the AFC West, oh, they're coming back to the back. Like, it's like, yeah, the Chargers schedule is harder this year. Like so much is explained by that that I don't think we can overrate it enough. And then this is a week where you,

you get to find out how good that offensive line is. I have my doubts about the left side. Like Gerard Wilson has been struggling a little bit, who's their left guard. So when the Patriots have the ball, like it is as good a test as ever. And to my point, Aaron Schatz's numbers say that Patriots have the single,

easiest schedule in the NFL since 1979. Wow. And that's evaluating how the teams have looked through the first seven games as well. I mean, think about that for all the years where the AFC East was this absolute dog stuff. And this is the easiest schedule. Wow.

This is an intriguing game to me because this is where I think Kevin Josh McDaniel is your OC and the way he can change things up week to week with a different game plan. I think you're going to see a lot of quick passing game and they're going to make guys chase. And we know that the Browns can chase,

tackle on the open field, this and that, but some horizontal stuff to get him chasing early because, you know, see if they can get him a little fatigued and then take some shots. I think we're going to see some of that action from the pageants and that's where Drake May is fine. If he doesn't turn the ball over, I don't see why they don't cover that seven

because Cleveland can't score. This receiver group has been better than anyone expected. Drake May is more than fine. I'm not talking to you, Greg, because I know you know all of these numbers because you lay awake at night and scroll through next gen Drake May stats and tape. But Drake May has the best,

the highest right now, the highest downfield passing passer rating in the NFL right now. And so yes, to your point, Steve, move them side to side a little bit at first and then start taking shots, get some of the quick passing game going and then start just blowing the doors off of this defense or trying to. Now he's going to have a challenge, getting protection long enough for that, especially against Miles Garrett, because on the left side, that's Will Campbell. So now you're back in the game

here, Greg. It's Will Campbell side. Miles Garrett is getting a lot of quick pressure. Will Campbell is giving up the ninth most quick pressure in the league among left tackles right now. Wow. I did not realize that her next gen staff you know i'm doing myles gear it i'm screening to death yeah yeah do just go ahead and do some slip screen throw it far throw it far to the right it'd be nice if that was travion henderson in it but something tells me it's actually got to be remandre and torel jennings yeah rabel coming out just celebrating torel jennings lifting up the cherell jennings it's like the preseason i guess just does not matter and especially for those in the in the fantasy community like it's it's it's time uh maybe we should

should be a little more skeptical of the hope for Trayvion. I believe because that guy is so special. I believe. On the other side, like it's a good test for the Patriots really built their defense around run defense. And they really do look like a pretty good run defense. And if you can stop Quintan Junkins, who when he gets in the open field, like forget about it. I had no idea he had the type of burst he has.

I mean, his balance and his strength is crazy. But he, look at this. acceleration. People making business decisions at points in the hole against Quinshot Junk and Succas, he is so aggressive. And he also, especially the Dolphins. Deliver's hits. But hell, like on that field in in Dublin against the Vikings, I mean, I, I love him.

And yet that was the highlight of Dylan Gabriel's three game career so far. Since then, my optimism about Dylan Gabriel has been dimmed. Now, last week was a little bit of a weather game. But like, they had like, 150 yards against the dolphins late in the, you know, midway through the fourth quarter. He needs to improve. I think. And Chiro is getting no start a mature take from a very mature take from a very mature.

He is very lucky not to have about eight interceptions and I think he has none or one, but yeah. Yeah, there's a couple of ways to take all the wildcat snaps from Quinn Sean Junkins. In one way, it's like, yay, Junkins, get the hands of the ball player, but also like maybe they're taking the hands out of another particular player. But when I see Quinshan Junkins, all I see is. offensive genius from Chip Kelly. Manified. Yeah, there it is.

In terms of a football player. And shout out, shout out to like these guys on the defense that, like Alex Wright and Grant Delpit, like they're in, obviously Carson Swessinger, who we've mentioned before. Like, man, he's playing. McGuire on the front, like, they have guys who are just playing their hearts out. And that's not always easy with, with a bad offense like that. Let's go over to another team that maybe has a chance to play their hearts out.

It is the New York Jets going on the. road to take on the now Joe Flacco led. Cincinnati Bengals who are favored by six and a half points. The over and under is 44 and a half as we get an opportunity Jordan to see

what Joe Flacco can do for the second consecutive week. You know, I started writing these notes before last week actually knowing that some of the deck was going to be stacked against me in terms of just workload and schedule. So the first thing, I forgot to delete it this week, the first thing I've written down

in this game slot. Depression. And it was until the flaco bump. Not anymore. Until the flaco bump hit Cincinnati. They're having, they have some hope. They have a little hope if they can just manage, maintain. You rattled off some of their upcoming games. Cincinnati's upcoming games here in a previous show, Greg,

in terms of like, if they can just hold on, if they can get to six wins. Gotta get to get this one. Yeah, by the time Joe Burrow gets back, this is obviously a, every game from here on out is a bit of a desperation game for the New York Jets. I don't really see them making changes at their coaching staff or front office or anything like that,

certainly at quarterback. Yeah. Where there's a little drama unfolding earlier this week, apparently from the owner's meetings. Not apparently. I mean, that was very uncool. I mean, Woody Johnson coming out and taking a dump on Justin Fields,

you know, saying, oh, if we can complete a pass, the rest of the team's getting better, but our quarterback is terrible. Fields' his response, though, on Wednesday was fascinating. You pointed out... Yeah, I mean, he threw a fade at their media relations team.

Like, I didn't see your response because I don't have social media. Nobody briefed me on the comments before I got up here. This is the New York media, man. You have to let him know what's coming. But the crazier thing is that he said he doesn't know who's starting

at quarterback. And he's splitting reps with Tyrod Taylor and Tyrod might not be healthy. It sounds like he has, a knee injury and they consider him day to day. So if you want to... What a disaster. Specifically cite why making those type of comments aren't a great idea. Like that could be your starting quarterback Justin Fields this week. It's just so uncool. I mean, you paid the guy $30 million. You're hired a coaching staff, which you hope can develop

him. And you come out, you're just going to, you're just going to deuce on him like that. Publicly, you know, this is where you say, you know, owners don't meddle. He meddled, right? Now, Aaron Glenn is in a real tight spot. Like, I got to bench the guy because my owner came out and said that he sucks. I think he was ready to bench him anyways. Yeah, fine. But now he might not be able to.

Let him bench him. And also, you know, in defense of the media relations, folks, because we say it so many times with being able to make these decisions, a lot of people's job, like, is to keep their job. And so, like, how aggressively do you want to tell Justin Fields about this,

considering the ultimate boss who has no issue? Right. Terminating you or terminating the person above you, you know, in that particular situation where it's, everything's bad. Everything's bad. Depression. Yeah, like the run game is sneaky bad. Like, they're 25th or 26th in, in rushing efficiency right now. Well, that's what we're saying, Bree Tall is in the block. Right. Because, you know, he can't, you can't get going. And the quiet thing is the defense, you know, if they could have just combined one of the, the defense has played well last week, I mean, the last two weeks. They haven't given up more than 13 points in two straight games,

but this will be a much bigger challenge. No Soss Gardner, it sounds like, in this game. He's coming off a concussion. Garrett Wilson is very uncertain. So I think this is where you can absolutely crush Darren Muzi in this front office for showing up to this season with a receiver group like this because with Wilson out, like they have no chance.

Does Jamar Chase also get more than 23 targets? Why not? Maybe. Why not? It's, I think. As long as Joe Flacco can lift his arm above his head, throw the ball. Well, I think the most important thing for Joe Flacco is being able to put both of his hands under center.

And I can't believe that I didn't think about this initially because I was so skeptical of the idea. But they had, if you take out empty and shotgun snaps, Jake Browning just edged out Joe Burrow after starting more games in terms of being under center. Yeah. And already Joe Flacco has had more under center dropbacks than Jake Browning. And you could see, like, the improvement generally

and the offensive line, they're able to protect better. Chase Brown got loose. He had this longest carry of the season. And then seven plays later, he had this longest carry of the season. Once again, like the football team seems to exist. The defense is, but everything got improved. Defense is not better. The defense is trash.

But they're not on the field as much, right? The corner is playing well. He's one of the bright spots on the Spengel's defense, the corner who got demoted before the regular season began and then won his job back. He's playing really well. He's playing great, but the defense is maybe the worst. I think it's the worst defense in the NFL.

at least when Trey Hendricks is out of the field. The Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins, yeah, I would like a word. I love that point you made, Patrick, about being under center versus being in the gun or even in the pistol, which I love. But they don't really do that there. They do either mostly out of the gun.

But when Jake Browning was playing well a couple years ago, Greg's glory days of his Jake Browning love where it first developed and blossomed was, they were mixing it up a little bit like that. And then they moved him back in the gun. the same way that they've had Joe Burrow, keeping so much of this offense that doesn't necessarily work for every style of quarterback and for every experience level of quarterback, even the most experienced quarterback currently in football right now, who is playing for the Cincinnati Bengals

or second most or whatever. I don't know how many years he's got on Aaron Rogers. But he's even saying, I'd rather play under center. Why is it that this is the change they make for Joe Flacco, but you can't make life easier on your backup knowing you have some got-a-havit games coming up. Why is any of this? Like, I love seeing this offense click. I love seeing the receivers get the ball. Joe Flacco playing football is just fun, right?

But why is it taking this to change around what you're doing and make your offense a little bit easier on the quarterback? You know, I just, I don't understand. Maybe they're a staff that kind of likes the quarterback to dominate a little. You know, that's just like their...

Yeah, so. They're just like, they like, they're submissive, you know, you know, different partners are different. Maybe it's a coaching staff that's just like kind of a submissive partner. His Joe Flacco is the only reason he came in. It's like the opposite line looks better. Yeah. For a soft landing spot.

Oh, I think he's just calling the plays out there. Jamar Chase is calling the place. Thank you. I'm getting the ick. Speaking of the ick, what about the 2025 Miami Dolphins who are taking their show once again on the road? there's hopefully they get the if there is rain they'll close the roof Mercedes spins stadium

taking on the Atlanta Falcons who are favored by seven coming off the lost Steve 44 and a half the over under the voice of God Kevin Harlan as well as Trent Green on the call are the dolphins okay no no they're not okay

they're disaster you know once Tua came out and said that it was over it was over I mean they may came out and compete and that's why this is an intriguing game to me. Because the Falcons game plan offensively was terrible against the 49ers. And you talk about how you love the pistol.

That's when the pistol gets you into trouble when you're not creative. When you're not running Texas routes with your running back against a team that's without a starting linebacker, when you don't put any stress on your weaknesses and you play right into sidelines, hash marks, and things to give them an extra defender. So they're going to have

to be more creative in their short passing game, quick passing game against a terrible Dolphins defense Atlanta's just one of these teams where it is a week to week. You can't get a feel of what they are. Defensively, they're a good football team. And that's why they're going to win this football game because Dolphins offense is just non-existent.

It's an absolute mess. But I'm interested to see if Atlanta should come out and put up the big numbers as they should offensively. Darren Waller was Miami's best offensive player and he's on injured reserve. I are now. Yeah. And I am mad at Atlanta.

I'm mad at the Falcons. because it is exactly what you said. They come out two weeks ago with an absolutely incredible game plan offensively that funnels the entire offense through one of the best football players on the planet right now who can do everything,

who did do everything in this game. And then just a few days later, they almost like put one hand behind his back because they're not giving him, even when they were aligned with him to the side as well. And yes, they still run a lot of pistol. Two back with Al Javier. They did not give,

the same autonomy. They didn't attack the second level. Part of what I loved about when they ran so much out of the pistol two weeks ago was he was directly attacking the second level. Whether you could see it obviously or not, every single movement and shift that he's able to set up affects the middle of the defense,

whether they're having to flow side to side or come and crash down. This was not the same stress points that they put and they should have. And I don't want to take anything away from Tatum Bethune who played awesome. Saw it well, read everything great, played it awesome. But Atlanta is not

stressing defenses enough in enough types of ways. And that makes me annoyed because they are better than this. And they know it and they're not doing it. I do. I struggle with them and I wonder if they're coaching around whatever Michael Pennix's

limitations are. And you know, if you listen to Chris Collinsworth, maybe not getting under center. Right. If you listen to Collinsworth, it's thrown over the middle and you know, he's he's such a good throw her to the perimeter, and that's a great skill to have. But it doesn't really show

up when you look at this team. The baseline for Pennix this year has been a little lower than I would have expected in the passing game. Like, they are a team where their quarterback holds onto the ball quite a bit, but they don't push the ball down the field, which to me is, it's a frustrating combination to watch.

For whatever reason that's happening, that's what the numbers tell you, that he's holding onto the ball a lot and it's not going, it's not like they are a bombs away deep type of offense. Well, I think one of the questions that we had last year was about play action, and we thought it was related to the health of Kirk Cousins. What did JJ McCarthy, Cooper Rush, Jake Browning, Marcus Marriota, I could go on and on, have in common. Their completion percentage with play action is better with than Michael Penningstead. They're actively not running a whole lot of play action passes.

And when they do, they're not successful. And some folks have pointed directly that they've obviously pointed oddly enough at the pistol. Well, yeah, that's exactly. That's a knock on the pistol scheme. That's part of the reason why because that's part of the reason why you run it so much because it gives the illusion and now it's not doing that for them.

Let me be clear. But in theory and it did this for the Rams a couple years ago, when the quarterback didn't want to be turning his back to the defense so much and wanted to see everything in front of them, it gives the illusion that you still could get the play action game out of that

even though you're in sort of a more gun look. That's the thing. You still are trying to keep the run. fun fakes available to you, but just moved backwards out of the stack of offensive linemen so that the quarterback can see everything in front of them, which then should lead to a deeper downfield passing game, but is not in this case. So all of these things that we're talking about are very much connected here. And it's all of them not working the way that they should in theory or an execution is what the Falcons. But here's it. Sometimes they do. That's the thing that

they're hot and cold. Sometimes they look brilliant. Sometimes they look terrible. Take a page out of the Bengals book what they do with Joe Flacco. I mean, no bull stuff here. They must have thrown 80% of their passes. We're slants. When you're playing a team that is struggling in the middle and you've got those receivers you have, especially two big bodied guys, slant them to death.

I low them, do whatever. Like my number one test of, you know, do you have an effective quarterback? Like, are you going to have a long career as a quarterback, first of all? And are you have a good passing game? Which is like, are you good, like you mentioned before when you're not pressured?

Because almost any NFL quarterback can, be good if he's not pressured. And Panix does have some of the worst numbers this year when not pressure, which does point back a little bit to scheme, because I don't think it's personnel. I know they don't have a right tackle, but overall, their past protection is fine. Like, it's, it's in the middle. It's absolutely fine. On the flip side, Mike McDaniel, like, there's many cries for help that he's had. The fact that he said publicly that they played hard, but they're not playing hard executing his assignments is the most insane quote I've maybe

ever heard from a coach in terms of just like I'm done. They don't listen to me. And you see that in the running game more than anything. They are 31st in the league in success rates. The missed assignments, what you see from the offensive line is crazy. And that was supposed to be Mike McDaniel's thing. Run game coordinator.

Devon A-chan pushes back at your best offensive player. You know, so does Jalen Waddle. Is Darren Waller? Like, because Devon A-Chain looks awesome this year. And Jalen Waddle is like a good player. But like they can't figure out their running game at all. It is brutal to watch. You know what? You know what's not brutal?

What's that? Breaking it up between the early games and the late games. That's it for the early games. It's a pretty light early slate. Seven games early. We're going to talk about the late games and a really spicy Sunday night football game in our next one.

So just go right over to that show. This is an I-Heart podcast. Thank you.