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

Episode Date: October 23, 2025

Gregg Rosenthal is joined by Jourdan Rodrigue, Patrick Claybon and Steve Wyche to preview the late window Week 8 action starting with the Commanders at the Chiefs (02:35) followed by Cowboys at Broncos (11:06), Packers at Steelers (18:45), Titans at Colts (27:35), and Buccaneers at Saints (34:42). Note: time codes approximate. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Welcome to NFL Daily, where we're never quite done talking about the dolphins and the falcons. If you happen to listen to our preview of the early slate of games, it was such a good back and forth. These ball heads, I don't know, ball knowers, football heads, they just, uh, crazy. They just kept talking about dolphins falcons and how many intriguing angles. And that's just how much we love ball.

You know how much we love it? How much, Greg? We're actually going to go back and talk about the dolphins again. Because let's just say, I'm the host of the show. And I wanted to get this Quinn Ewer's throw from last week's game as an official

nominee for throw of the year. Because sometimes in your life, you're watching late into the fourth quarter of a Brown's Dolphins 31 to 6 game and you're questioning what am I doing with my life?

Call the hotline. In the middle of the week. And then Quinn Yors steps up while he's getting absolutely leveled and throws the ball 50 yards down the field

on a diamond de estridge makes an incredible catch on the sideline and you think I don't care who the names are I don't care about the situation.

That's a throw of the year nominee, Quinn Ewers. I was so skeptical when you brought it up, Greg. Put it on again. If you're watching on YouTube, it's there. I support this nomination. Oh, absolutely. I can't lie. Yeah, it's solid.

It was a totally preposterous throw. Like, he is getting absolutely hammered. The protection on the blitz was horrible. It's just a beautiful, watch this. Look at five. Oh, you're not going to blow. Oh, I'm going to forklifted my guy. And right through.

And that's Dwayne. A.k.a. D. Estridge, who's, you know, just trying to hang on to his NFL career, making a nice contested catch. I mean, the jersey numbers. Yeah, that's not a de-catch. That's a D-Katch. That's a D-Katch. Other than his helmet not getting turned around? Is that not the Ryan Fitzpatrick? No-look. It's very similar. There it is. It's very similar. Maybe even a few extra air yards on that. We'll have to get next gen stats out. I just want to know what the game got the film room and the offensive line when that left guard. Because he got forklifted and dumped in a half. I think that was our friend Savanea.

Yeah, he's had a rough season. They've had a lot of rough season. I mean, that's, ooh. Okay. That's how much we love ball, baby. We're deep in the talking about the Miami Dolphins as we bid farewell to our early games and go ahead to almost as late as you can get some Monday night football, Washington at Kansas City where, oh my goodness, Greg, the commanders dealing with some injuries,

not going to have Jaden Daniels in this one. And do you remember the time when we were concerned about the Kansas City Chiefs? They have the perfect weekend. The rest of the division loses, including a team that they blew out. They're now favored by 10 and a half. They got Rashid Rice. They got Joe and Troy on the call,

47 and a halfs. The over under, the chiefs are going back to the Super Bowl. I would pick them if I have to pick a team. And I know power rankings are what they are. They're just opinions, but I mean, they would be my number one on the power ranking.

If you're not just judging off, if you're judging off record alone, then what's the point of a power rank? And I'm just saying I saw a few and they're not like not in the top five or not in the top ten. It's like they would be my number one. Name and shame.

I'm not going to do that. Oh. I'm not going to do that. Because either we work with them. Yeah. Or they're friends. Now everybody's wondering. Yeah.

Or they're friends. No, I don't know. Eric, Ed Holmes. I wouldn't do that to Eric. I don't know his right now. I just really appreciate the mental picture of just Greg just like, you know, seven screens open all around him,

a different power. rankings is up on every single screen. He's taking notes furiously. Not at all. It's like Tom Cruise and Monopoly report now. It was not at all. Nate, they self-destruct when he's done. I'm told reliably, Ed Holmes got him at three.

So that's respectable. I think... Still not one. Now I remember I was at the huddle about 30 minutes before we started taping on Blue Sky and I believe I saw the pro football talk power rankings. Underrate the Kansas City Chiefs severely. So you asked for names. I had to make sure...

Get him, Greg. I got it right. The commanders are massive underdogs in this game, but they will be getting Debo Samuel and Terry McLaren back, according to Dan Quinn. Dan Quinn also said at this point last week, though, that he thought Terry McLaren was going to be back. So you just never know how these injuries are going to heal,

but he does say they will practice fully. That gives them a chance on offense, because Mario did not look good last week when he came in, but his other starts this year, he has run the offense. Well, if anything, I think there's been more issues with that commander's defense. Well, it's been the defense. I mean, and Jordan pointed us out last week.

They're having to do some things with Frankie Louvo to compensate. So he's playing more on the edge in the middle of their defense is getting tagged. It is, it's really weird. See, Louvo, like, teams like, okay, he's over here on the right side of the defense. We're going to go away from him. Yeah. We're going to pin Bobby Wagner or pin whomever back, and that's that. Now they're without Dorrance Armstrong as well, who's had a pretty good season.

That is my concern with the way Kansas City is playing, the way that they can take advantage in the middle of the defense with a tight end because Washington really doesn't have a matchup with a tight end. Now they can go deep and just Mahomes on the move. Yeah. The way he can fluster some of the way

some of the defensive structures Washington's playing, it's going to be tough sled. I'm almost more surprised to see the commanders play the game plan that they played against the Cowboys versus what they, you know, might have to do this week because Louvo, like, listen, I know Dak can run when he and when he does, he could pick up some yards and all this stuff, but it's not scrambling like Patrick Mahomes can scramble and make magic happen. And

what they were doing with Frankie Louvo was really, um, almost like spying him in certain ways against Dak Prescott. And he was just basically, they were, they were taking away their own mathematical advantage by doing that some of the time because Dak doesn't, Dak sees him and he just doesn't care. He's like, okay, you're over on that side of the field, sort of like hovering in the nether region here in the flat. And so this is just like, you, you don't, so we can dictate all of our other stuff just kind of away from where you are and now they only have 10 guys against our skills

and like that's where I think I was just, it was odd. And then there was a Javante Williams run last week that showed me exactly how teams are going to try to take away Bobby Wagner if they have a patient enough runner. I don't know if Pacheco is a quote-unquote patient enough runner but he can make things happen

where Javante Williams saw everyone crashing down into the middle. He waited a half second and then he bounced it. And he bounced into it in a new lane and Bobby Wagner, who is a sure tackleer, great run defender, was absolutely crushed into his own blocking in front of him and was not in the right place. And this is what you can do this mathematically over and over and over again. The bears did the same thing at the end of the game.

Yeah. Same thing. I'm concerned about, and they're older in spots and they look slower and it's like not for a lack of effort that Marshaun Lattimore had just like a miserable day against George Pickens down. This is not the same thing, but it's a lot of speed coming at this Washington commander's defense. And I, you guys know, I love this commander's team.

I have so much optimism for them for the short term and the long term future. They're well coached. They scheme well. They've got the quarterback of the president in the future, although he's injured right now. But I just think this is when we really start. This defense outplayed its roster last year a little bit. And even though they struggled at times, now you're starting to see the real problems with building a team like this. I do think the matchup, at least for Marshawn Latimore, who was in a situation where you like to hand fight, you know.

Yeah. George Pickens, famously Mike Evans, like there's situations where the hand fighting be a detriment. He'll bite you. Where I feel a little more confident, oddly enough, considering the speed mismatch with Marshawn Latimore,

playing up close and tight coverage with guys like Worthy or maybe Rice if they decide to send him to eat, maybe Hollywood Brown, where it gets a little bit better. But losing Dorrance Armstrong, where he has 25 pressures this season, that's nine more than any other commander's defender.

and like you're not getting to my homes. Rishie Rice only ran 16 routes last week and he got 10 targets. Yeah, that was a clear point that they were going to throw the ball. So like they were just picking and choosing what they got to do against the Raiders who might not be a real football team.

So we get a chance to see what it really looks like with Rice back this. Speaking of hand fighting though, Juju. I mean, Juju is like wide receiver 6. That was the Brian Branch. Yeah. Oh, happy birthday to Brian Branch, by the way. Who's celebrating the birthday.

I was still on trying to come off with a Chip Kelly. That was a good jujua. And the Chief's defense got as close to a buy as you can possibly have. Looking at the snap numbers. What's this true? It's true. Chris Jones had 22 snaps. That led the defensive linemen.

Like, Karloffa said 18. Like, they essentially played like a first quarter of a game against the Raiders. So they're rested. They're ready to go. You know who's happy that Rishi Rice and words? and Hollywood Brown are playing now the second game ever together. And this isn't, by the way, like rookie rice

or rookie worthy. They're better versions of those guys. Travis Kelsey, like, oh, yeah. He's suddenly just frolicing, right? Like, you don't have to worry about him. And I actually think, like, Tyquan Thornton delivering early in this season

was like a big foundational piece for this offense. For instance, the commanders have given up more of 50 plus plays than any team in the league. And the chiefs are one of the most explosive teams in the league now. Like, you have to cover him. You mentioned, you know, they're not totally benching Tyquan Thornton. So, like, he's not maybe going to have a huge volume number, but it's like, you have to worry about Tyquan Thornton while you're worrying about everything else.

He's in the MVS, so hope he drops the role, where it's like, all right, we're going to cover these guys up and maybe, maybe he'll put that one on the turf. They need to get back. They need, if they could win this game, it'll be that their run game and Bill and everything gets back a little bit for the commander. Having Debo McClorin back. I was at the game against the Raiders when Mark. has started that game and he's so comfortable getting the ball to Debo and

Tierra McClore and that that'll help yeah and I think back to Marcus Marriota catching his own touchdown pass against the Kansas City Chiefs yes in a bygone era back in the Arthur Smith OC days you're on it with all the parallel that was those were back in the the Mariota Winston Wars of like 2000 15 to 18 makes me think of that we try not to talk about those it was like a tough time for for a lot of people Greg, Greg sent me a clip of us from NFL Network up to the minute talking about the Titans, the exotic smash mouth titan. Yes. A young, a young Greg. We looked so young.

Even younger, Patrick. Back in the day. If I had only known then. Up to the minute. Rest in peace. Another ghost of a show. Great, great probably. Greg May wasn't even in Greg's life yet.

He was like in middle school. A great game. Opportunity where it's a force versus object game, the Dallas Cowboys on the road taking on the Denver Broncos, who were really good in the fourth quarter last week. We'll forget the first three. The Broncos favor Jordan by three and a half. The over under is 50 and a half. You know CBS loves it because it's Jim and Tony on the call.

The quantum superposition that is the 2025 Broncos, which one shows up against DAC and company? This has game of the week potential to me, actually. I really think that. I don't think we saw anything to sway any sort of opinion on Bo Nix from this last game, honestly, better or worse. He just is playing the way he's playing right now. Now, I did see improvement from the Dallas Cowboys on defense.

And I think they're starting to play a little bit more, what have we got to lose mode? And a little bit, I want to say desperation ball a little bit because they were wasting such a significant and extraordinary season by Dak Prescott. That last week looked more like a full complimentary team than we have seen the Cowboys look all year this year. and they are so fun on offense.

And I think that that's why this has such big game potential because it's Broncos games this year. Something weird always happens very much so last week. But weird stuff has happened in so many of these games. And you know Sean Payton is like wanting to kind of just just keep rolling and kind of keep like trying to be in his bag and all these things and capture that feeling that they all had at the end of last game and certainly in that fourth quarter.

and you know Dallas is like really, really good vibes with Citi and George Pickens back against these two corners in Denver. I love this game. Actually, I want this game if you will allow me to. I'm not sure what the assignment deals are. Sometimes Shook has already been assigned a game

for his writing, so that all plays into it. It's very complicated. I love the number. Doesn't seem that complicated. Well, because he already was assigned it. If he's got this game, you don't got it. Otherwise, he's pretty simple. Yeah.

We got, well, also, you know, maybe Patrick really wants it, you know? What if he fights you for it? I fight for this podcast. You're too nice. You see, Patrick's too nice. He just allows whatever to happen. You weren't briefed for that, for that possibility.

You got Justin Fields. Folks want to, yeah, I'm going to end up watching Justin Fields play, like, somehow, like, I would love a Nathan Peterman game, maybe. Oh, he always is just on some practice squad. You're just like, really? Peterman, still? I love the number in this game going over 50 and a half because the Broncos defense is a little overrated.

Let's be like, I don't think that's a hot take. Nick Bonito is listening. Let's clip it off. No, let's not. Okay. The fear every time we'd say. Sorry, Nick. Ominous respect.

It's like me and Kyle Shanahan. Ominist respect. They've played three games this year where they gave up at least 25 first downs. They've been, they were pretty well dominated by. the Colts offensively, which is a great offense. But you don't expect, you know, the Giants to put up 26 first downs, almost 400 yards on your defense and call you like a dominant defense.

I think that got a little lost in that game that, you know, they had no real answers in terms of their past rush. And they were going up against a good offensive line. The Cowboys maybe aren't as good. All I'm saying is if you're going up against maybe the most balanced offense in the league, I don't think they're going to, maybe they make a few big plays, but I don't think they're going to keep this score down. I think it's going to be a fun score fest back and forth.

Well, I mean, Dallas is going to point up. You know, Jordan just mentioned it, C.D. Lamb. I love the fact, and we're starting, people started to finally start to talk about him, his crossing route ability, just catching it and going. He is. No fear. His yak, he's such a fun player,

but we also know those safety for the Broncos will knock your teeth loose. And so, you know, that's interesting. Remember, Denver once again, again, it's not going to have Drey Greenlaw. Suspended for this game after. For going after an official.

So we'll see how this defense shakes out. I think Denver's offense though, Bo Nix, if he can figure out how to play in the first half. I don't understand why they don't move him more. He is on the move and he's pressing the line of scrimmage and putting the defender in conflict.

I think I know why. Like right here, look, they're putting the defender in conflict. That's a tip ball, but... I think I know why. And actually, I have a theory about this. don't know that it's not based in any fact. It's more observational and psychological. But there's been a couple, early in the season, there are a couple games where they did. They booted him out and they rolled him out. And then he went on the move. He held the ball forever. You could hear

internally his mind screaming at him saying, throw it now, throw it now, throw it now. Miss Corton Sutton on a big potential touchdown and then missed him again booting to the other side, rolling out to the other side. And I think that's a Sean Payton thing. If you do this and you're like, fine, you don't get any play action. Fine. You don't get any. You're no taste. I'm withholding, I'm withholding bootlegs from you as a punishment until you've earned them again. Like, that's kind of, you know, it's very psychologically farcical, but, you know, there might be something to it. They got so predictable with the short stuff, though, last week that one of, I didn't think, I thought that was one of Bo Nix's better games overall. The biggest problem they had was he had like six or seven passes batted at the line of scurray because the Giants knew all week, all they're doing are these screens and these bubbles and just everything is just short, short, short.

and they were just like, don't even bother and just knock it down. And they just kept knocking it down. It kept killing drives over and over. It was, to Jordan's point, like, maybe it is frustration where... Coaches don't play running backs for less. Like, takes the ball out of his quarterback's hands

weirdly for the majority of the game. And then, like, in those last couple of drives, you see Bo trust Marvin Mims down the side. Yeah. Trust Cortland Sutton down the sideline. On throws where earlier in the season, he's trying to put the ball in the absolute perfect place and flash the cannon and missed them deep.

He left the throw to Marvin Mims like four yards short. And Mims just went up and made that play in a got-a-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-tack-a-ha-ha-tall-a- and I think that you can do that. You can test this particular secondary, but with them playing more man, it's like what's, which version is this? Is this the Jadavian Clowney getting three pressures in a sack? And we're getting great cutaways of Maddie-N-Fluce on the sideline. They're going to get destroyed.

They can't play man against this group of receivers. Or against this offensive line either. And they're not going to have Trevon Diggs. it sounds like he had a concussion, some sort of accident at his home, and he is not a practice on Wednesday. Also, the Giovante William. I mean, it's a revenge game, right?

Is this? Yeah, I was wondering who was going to drop that? A little bit. I'm shocked that Greg beat me to it. I know. You've been on them the entire, yeah. Sean Payton pointed out, I don't know what his parameters were here,

but he cited a statistic that teams are 2 and 17 after having some sort of big, come back in the fourth quarter of the week before. I don't know what the parameters were. I'm a little skeptical of this step, but that's what he was, so he was, but he was just saying that the, that there's a natural letdown effect. Is he trying to psych out the gamblers? Sean, elitics.

Yeah, what? He was just saying like, don't, don't get too high, I guess. Man, I love this game. In Denver? I don't know who I'm going to pick. Hey. What about the Russell Wilson shade? That was nice, though.

I wanted to know. Pretty strong clapback, by the way. Yeah, I, he broke, he broke character. Yes, he did. In a good way. I love it. I like the theories that people. that Ciara wrote it for him.

Ooh. You know what? I love it. That's a legit. Iconic in every way. If so. Lots of, let's ride.

That's right. It's right. It's right. It's out there. It's time for the Sunday drive presented by Toyota. Let's go places. Sunday night football.

The Green Bay Packers are three-point favorites at the Pittsburgh Steelers who got TNF last week by Joe Flacko. The over under is 45 and a half. It's Sunday night football. So it's Mike and Chris. Shout out to Italy, Steve. On the call, the Packers.

Can they finish a team that they're better than this year in 2025? Woo! It's a good one. Big week for the Italian-American. Yeah, right? NBA on NBC with Torrico was great. I was big. Now he is here.

Stallion. It's going to be in Pittsburgh. This is an intriguing matchup to me. Because Green Bay's offense, Josh Jacobs just continues. I love him. He's just one of my favorite players. Every week he's got some type of sickness, whatever, and just goes out and does it,

puts a team on his back when he has to. And this is one with Green Bay's receiver speed where you can see Jalen Ramsey gambling because he's starting to play, he's starting to play some football. Like Jalen's starting... Not last week. He got cooked a couple times last week,

but he's made some plays too. But this is one where I think there's the speed of the wide receivers for Green Bay might be the difference in you. I could see that. And I thought the Steelers coaching staff was a big reason they lost that game. Like Joe Flacco knew it was happening before it happened because it's the same stuff that's been happening. For some reason, they thought, hey, Darius Slay and Jalen Ramsey, go to work.

Like even after the first half of that game, they came out in the second half and they're like, hey, go to work guys. It's like, that's not who Jalen Ramsey is anymore. But look, go back to last year when these teams played the 44-38 shootout that Pittsburgh ended up winning because Russ, I think, do four or five touchdowns. But Cincinnati knows how to play. offensively against Pittsburgh. That's fair.

And so this week is different with Green Bay. And, you know, we don't get into the narratives too heavily sometimes on the show. I love this one, though. But it is pretty amazing. It's one of, I think one of the 10 greatest quarterbacks that's ever played this game. At his highest level,

he still probably would be my pick as like at his very peak until Mahomes. Like, I think Mahomes has an argument. He's the best quarterback I've ever seen at his very peak, Aaron Rogers. Playing against the team that he was with for 18 years. And you know, if nothing else, that man is petty

and has got to have some salty feelings about how it ended and everything. I love it because he's playing as well as you could have possibly expected better than I expected coming into the year, showing a little more confidence in his mobility

and willingness to stand in just a little bit more. It's not like his numbers against pressure are great, but I think he's liking what his offensive line is doing for him and you feel like he might have something here where if it's a high-scoring game. I can imagine it going back and forth like he did with Flacko last week. This game, I know this sounds kind of crazy, but a game like this with the personalities involved

with as veteran and tenured of coaches on either sideline who know each other so well, going back decades of coaching, not just as head coaches, with this quarterback who at one point when Matt LaFleur took over in Green Bay sat on a call, on a Zoom call with Matt LaFleur and some of the assistant coaches for hours and days sifting through every single line in the existing playbook and also in Matt LaFle's playbook that he brought over from Tennessee and from Los Angeles and picking and choosing what plays they were going to run together, what plays they were going to try to tweak to do more of what Aaron wanted, what plays they were going to try to tweak to do more of what Matt wanted, and basically having it, just having, laying it all

literally laying it all out on the table and going in grouping by grouping, personnel by personnel play by play and that type of meticulousness and and type a from both of these people, this is going to be a game where we're going to see some cool Easter eggs. If we know what we're looking for. If we're going to try to look for some of these things, this is a guy who plays and sends a message with how he plays and the types of things he does, all the gestures, the hand gestures he makes and all of the talking back and forth depending on on the situation, the scenario and the looking to the sideline and the gesturing, but also the types of plays. And Matt LaFleur is the same exact way. He's what I would call a heart on the sleeve play caller where they're

showing you. Greg's talked about it a lot with the game script, but they're showing you exactly what they think of you and what they think and what they wanted the subliminal message. They know that the football people on the other side will pick up, not necessarily the viewer. This game is going to be full of them. I cannot wait. I love this game. Look at the edge rushers in this game. That's another storyline in this too. You know, you got Highsmith. and JJ on one side. Then he got Rashon Gary and that other guy

from Dallas. He's okay. Who just is absolutely just playing at another level right now. Who may now take away one of the top Steelers threats which is oddly enough Darnell Washington.

How about that? Who may have to stand and help on both of those guys where he's also been good. And I think it kind of takes away because the late stage Rogers dictating to wide receivers and making the lines.

If you take those guys off the field because he got so many tight ends, then you can't necessarily. do all of those things and it kind of gets like late stage rogers right exactly where arthur smith would would like him to be just by purely changing the personnel yeah on the field we saw three tight ends he loves darnell too though man and like yeah he's like hand signaling to darnell who was lined up out wide where it looks like the green giant like standing on some soup can out there they did link up there but they target the wide receivers at one of the lowest rates of the NFL and i think

about how good the coverage has been in the secondary for Green Bay, like Kashon Nixon and all those guys were like, maybe they, they're in run support this week. Yeah, it's going to be a test for the Packers offensive line, which overall looked better last week. They are healthier. Did we just have a small earthquake or am I crazy? No, it's probably I move my chair. That's probably it. You know, we're just always, we're starting a lot. We're just always on alert. They looked better last week, but this is a different passers. The problem is like, well, Mike Tomlin even, like, have the best pass pressure on the team on the field.

It was a little insane last week. Like, at the end of that game, it's like, they're still in main coverage. And Nick Herbiggs, the best pass rush is literally not on the field. And that's why I think the Packers are going to win this game. I think they've been really close to putting together more of a complete performance. If they can pressure, Jordan Love, that is the recipe.

He hasn't been great against pressure this year. But I like the coaching matchup for Matt Lafleur over this Steelers defense. And for them to. put up a big number and challenge Aaron Rogers to match up. I mean, I was thinking of making this my survivor pick. Listen, I know there's a ton of respect. I know there's a ton of respect. And they're going to all, everyone's going to say the right things.

But how delicious for Matt LaFleur. If he can dial up these explosive plays that the Steelers are given up in big fistfuls and bunches here lately, you can dial up these explosives and the quarterback on the other sideline, his former quarterback and collaborator. is helpless to do anything about it. And here's something to add to that and so dialing up plays. Of all the tight end talk we're talking about

for Pittsburgh, Tucker Kraft, when you talk to defensive coordinators around the NFL, they will tell you every game he scares them more than anyone on their team because he's huge, he can run, he can block, he's like a bigger George Kittle. And the way these defensive coordinators talk about him, it's like, that's the guy

we don't have an answer for. And you're seeing it show up weak after week. Yeah, some of the numbers are surprising that the Packers have created like the smallest separation in terms of their receivers

of almost every any team in the league, which is surprising, especially I've been watching how it looked last week. I thought Lafleur had a really good game, but Tucker Kraft is the guy you worry about. Shout out to Jalen Warren, by the way. I do want to ask before we take a break

whether Patrick, you're ready to take the L on years long of hate of Jalen Warren. Because that man is making someone miss every time he's got the ball. Yeah. Shout out to Jalen Warren on making that guy miss. I'm sure the home runs are eventually going to...

Not a big home run hitter, but this season, I feel like if you look at it like his miss tackle rate and everything, it's there with the best running backs in the league. All right. I'm just saying. Not taking the bait. Like the Mariotta Winston Wars of 2015, the Jalen Warren, Najee Harris Wars. All right. Still continue.

Maybe Greg and I are going to take a long-term Kenny G. Jailen Warren prop here. Okay. Let's do it. Let's come back, and we will wrap up these late games in just a few minutes. Heavy icon. I mean, he's been playing well. Okay.

Playing great. Greg loves Joe. That was the Sunday Drive presented by Toyota. Let's go places. Toyota is all in, all season with another year of Toyota game day giveaways, giving football fans the chance to win big every week of the NFL season. Terms and conditions apply to individual giveaways, enter to win and learn more at Toyota's gameday giveaways.com.

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Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from scouting reports and player development to team-building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. Every week we study the tape. Talk to decision makers and share the insights you won't find anywhere else.

It's the kind of conversation that connects the dots, from college football prospects to the NFL stars of tomorrow. We break down the draft, analyze matchups, and evaluate how teams put it all together on game day. Plus, we dig in the coaching strategies, roster construction, and the trends that shape the league year after year. Whether you're a die-hard fan or just love understanding the game on a deeper level, we give you the full picture.

If you want insight that goes beyond the box, score this podcast is for you don't miss it listen to the move the six podcast on the iheart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts hey this 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 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 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. Back on NFL Daily, one of the biggest mismatch of the season is Titans Colts coming up. And you just mentioned poor Mike McQuay. It got me thinking, I have a question for you, Steve, that I don't know the answer to you. What kind of pay bump do you get when you get the interim head coaching situation? Is that a negotiation? No, no, it's a negotiation.

It's probably different in Tennessee than it would be for like the ramp. Okay. But it's a bump. I mean, now, depending, let's just say Mike McCoy, I don't know what he's making. Let's say he's making $400,000 or $500,000. Okay. Right, as the OC. He's probably going to double that.

And he was, I think, especially at the point of the season where it happened. he was like either a position coach or a senior offensive consultant. He wasn't even quarterback, he was not the OC technically. Yeah, and most teams don't take a coordinator out of position because they need that person to call the plays and whatnot. But no, he's probably going to get to, you know, double the bump, I would think. It's like daddy's buying better Christmas presents this year out of nowhere, just a little found money for Mike McCoy. If it's not already in the contract, you sign at the start of your tenure, it has to be renegotiated by the agent. And sometimes that leads to different decisions.

being made by team as to who is going to actually be their interim head coach. And it is wild. It is wild. Maybe that's how Joe Vitt got two different interim head coaching jobs in his storied career. Oh, that's that how we got one of them. That's a rough one. You don't get the job because of your agent who's allegedly there to get you more money, but he doesn't get you a job. Purely because of the person that they are, that's a rough one. You got to know the owner. One of my favorite Patrick rivalries is Patrick's versus all. agents. And I support you in this. Thank you, Greg.

Yes. Thank you. Oh, they're back. Yeah, my apologies. Remember Jalen Warren? Yes. Well, I'd much rather have this discussion because I might be wrong on Jalen Warren. Sorry, Drew, we're going too long.

The Tennessee Titans at the Indianapolis cults who are favored by 14 points. Craig Rosenthal the overrunners, 47 and a half of the folks. And we agree that most of those will be scored by the Indianapolis the best office of football. Andrew Ketelon, Charles Davis, the best person in the world, Jason McCordy, on the call. the coach firing bump came for like a quarter maybe

do they get more of it against the Colts? I hope so. It actually did look like they played at a faster tempo. They were talking about practicing at a faster tempo, some more deep over type of routes

that Cam Ward looks good on. Those first two drives, he looked great. So they get rid of Tyler Lockett. He asked to be released, but he was essentially bent for Jamari D.K. I do like that they tried to make some changes.

Ultimately, it's a personnel thing. that there are two tackles, J.C. Latham and Dan Moore, which they have a lot invested in really struggled in that game last week and have really struggled in general. And there's only so much you can do schematically, I think, to fix the personnel problems they have.

I know, exactly. And I know this sounds kind of crazy, but at this point, the season is sort of just like a, it's sunk, right? And they've got to hire a new coaching staff. So right now,

the most important thing that Mike McCoy can do, along with that front office, collectively, whoever's making decisions for real, can sit there and say, okay, can we win with X player in Y type of way? Can we win with Y player in X type of way? Mix things up a lot. I will have no surprise at all to see them mix things up quite a bit over the remaining stretch of the season because they're trying to figure out who to keep and who to let go of.

Because if you fire the head coach like this and you make it clear that it's roster oriented and there wasn't enough improvement, all the things that they said, you have to figure out, okay, if you can play in this type of way that we might go this direction for a coach, okay, then let's see who sticks with this, who fits and what we might need to do. This is like, I know it sounds like sad, right? But that's exactly what a good organization would do right now is to see, try a bunch of different types of things and see who excels in certain concepts that you think you might be gravitating toward for the future of your team

and figure out who you're getting rid of and who you're keeping. Well, and this is also about the development of Cam Ward. Look, they just went through this with Will Levis. I mean, the fact that they're going through this again on such a short calendar and trying to develop your quarterback to see if he's the guy, to organizationally... They wouldn't throw a lot with Will Levis. Right, but I'm saying that that is a red flag.

I mean, Will Levis is looking like a genius for kind of opting out of this season. He broke his shoulder or whatever. That's fair. They thought he was going to fight through it or something. Yeah. He was like, sorry. Deadlift bar crushed him, bro.

Until it was right here. But I'm more interested in the Colts. because you talk to a lot of teams. How do we fare when there's expectations? There were no expectations of the Colts now. They came out and they looked really strong against the charges, running the ball in a highly competitive game.

This is a game, 14 points, right? A 14 point favorite. How do they fare in terms of keeping their focus against a division opponent who they should run off the field? And they did once. This is a rematch. They put up a 40 burger on the Titans.

It was 34 to 13, like until late in that game. So they've passed every test like that. They just seem to love playing football together. They look fun, man. And we talked about them at length on the show with Colleen Wolf on Tuesday. I just love, like, the Bordolini Center, Quentin Nelson combination. Like, they look really smart self-scouting that they waved goodbye to Will Fries and Ryan Kelly with their replacements there. Yeah, everything, everything is working.

And also 10 targets for Alec Pierce. There it is. Against the Chargers. They were all deep shots, too. Your guy. Shout out to the film watch. on YouTube and TikTok pointing out that they put the

they saw on tape the dolphins putting the cover three defender in conflict and so they went right at him with Alec Pierce and a huge home ones which is you know just makes everything better just get more balls who Alex Pierce doesn't lead the NFL in yards per catch anymore because they're throwing in the ball more now it's Taekwon

Thornton. I also want to point out that on the screen as you're watching some of these Colts Chargers highlights that touchdown pass that Daniel Jones threw to Tyler Worm. Oh. a lot like a no look past to me. And I noticed it because he has a very intense gaze. And when it's not looking in the direction,

you think it's going to be looking in, you definitely notice it. But how much fun is he having a play? He looks great. He looks great. He's night and day. I love this. I love this for Lou Anorumo,

who is scheming and coaching. I mean, he's got a great group, first and foremost. And these players are really bought in to him. And they seem like they're all playing for each other, even when they've had injuries and deficiencies and different,

especially on the perimeter. like they really are playing for each other. You can tell. And he's doing smart things with them. He's mixing his coverages a lot. He's rotating his coverage. He's confusing the quarterbacks. And it's fun for everybody.

You could tell how excited. Greg, you brought it up in the show yesterday with Colleen. Like, they're so excited to get back out there and play football. Like both sides of the ball, all three phases. They're so excited to be out there. And that's the sign of a team that can sustain this type of juice. No Josh Simmons, by the way, in this game for the Titans. So a tough assignment gets tougher.

Jeffrey Simmons. Jeffrey Simmons. As perhaps, you know, he and Calvin Ridley might be heading elsewhere. We'll head elsewhere and go to a team that was having so much fun. But the fun is starting to slow down a little bit to Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Our four and a half point favorite, Jordan, going on the road to take on the division rival New Orleans Saints. The over under is 46 and a half. Kenny Albert, Jonathan Vilma, there. We're not expecting Mike Evans for most of the rest of the season. A nasty fall in which he breaks his collarbone

and has a concussion on the same play, like clearly motionless on the field. It was horrible to see the streak's going to end. But Baker is always ready to fight even before the game here. How do you see this one going? And Baker had an awful game too. And I did get some, I did get some posts sent my direction,

wondering what the status of Baker Ball was at this juncture. Sputtering, sputtering, I would say. I still have faith. I still believe. Baker Ball. Keep some. I'm rolling, baby. It's like filibustering because I knew that jarring,

ear shattering drop was coming. But it's, I mean, this was by far, this was their worst game on offense for sure last week. And I do think that they bounce back despite again, suffering some more pretty depressing injuries. But their offensive line, they've got their offensive linemen. You know, Saints can't really get a pass rush.

Saints are showing up in spurts and fits on defense. and on offense, but nothing consistent. You really need this game and kind of a morale boost if you're Tampa Bay. I think this is a dangerous game in the division coming off of a game like that. And you know who won't let anyone get too easy?

It's Baker Mayfield. He knows what kind of rivalry it is, Bucks and Saints. It hasn't exactly been clean play from their part when we play them. It's a physical game. It is what it is. You expect it. Division rival.

Yeah, not much else to say besides the fact that I don't like him. Oh, he is so back. He has to fire himself up sometimes. Like I was thinking about the long run that he had a few weeks ago and then he looks for a defender's shoulder to walk into. This is the verbal version of that. He's so back. He's so back.

Don't pick them this week. I didn't pick him last week. I know, but I'm just saying I spent the first half thinking it was your fault and then you texted me and prompted. I never picked him in the end. Just don't pick them. This is their by week coming up. And, yeah, I just think it's such a difference if they can win this game.

Todd Bowles made some pretty big changes on the defense last week. Like Jacob Parrish is now kind of a slot only player. And then they like what they see out of the rookie Benjamin Morrison, who's coming in with Jamel Dean. I mean, that's great. But if we're talking about potential trades, I know they signed Hassan Reddick before the season. He's now going to be out for a few weeks. He hasn't given them much. They could really use another pass rusher.

Maybe this isn't the week that that gets. him, but I think Rattler, it does pass my baseline NFL starting quarterback tests where if you give Rattler time, he'll deliver. I know he's coming off his worst game of the season. He was due to have a bad one. He really had been so consistent before that. So I wouldn't be surprised if the Saints' offense rebounds a little bit here and gives them trouble. Yeah, I'm with you on this. This is going to be, I like the four and a half mark right here because, one, for as long as I've been carving the NFL, the Saints play Tampa tough. It does not matter if it's Drew Breeze, if it's against James, it doesn't matter.

It is always a very good match of whoever's coaching them. Every time they play it, it's a very tough game. And that game against Detroit, we can see this hell, they're going to bounce back. That was an emotional training game. For them to see Mike Evans go down like that, for them to put as much into it and not play well. I mean, they played, they competed like hell, but they did not play well. This is, this could be a tough game for them to emotionally gather themselves. look at their run of games that they just played.

They play the Fiegel, the Eagles at Seattle, San Francisco, and at Detroit. Can't wait for the buy. Yeah, I mean, this is one where it's just like, okay, let's just hang on, let's just hang on to get there. So this could, you know, I'm not going to say it's necessarily going to be an upset game, but this is, this is one I keep my eye out for.

It's going to be a tough game. I might have to assign myself this, you know, like a little dirty South. By the way, did you see the new Tulane uniforms that they're going to break out? Incredible. Those might be the greatest uniforms ever. Thank you.

Thank you, Steve, for pointing that out before I could even do that. I mean, those are spectacular. I have never wanted to buy a helmet so much. The helmet. The helmet. The Uptown City Edition. We might not be a Power 5 school. We might have gone like 20 years between like having decent football teams,

but they're six and one now and they got the cleanest uniforms consistently in the entire college football. Put us in the playoff for that. Then your coach goes to Penn State. They're probably, the coach is probably going somewhere, but they held on to him for one more year. They're right there. And they're also receiving votes. We're 28th right now.

Joe Brady's going to Penn State. Matt Roles going to Penn State. I hope. I hope so. Because, you know, I can't make fun of the game. Eric's laughing. Eric's laughing.

Eric, the Bill's fans want Joe Brady gone, I think, sneakily. Weirdly, they don't like the Brady anymore. If you dip into Bill's Twitter at any point or Bill's Blue Sky at any point, you see some things. They're manifesting AJ Brown trades right now on Bill's Twitter. A lot of crazy things are happening out there.

We stole our coach from Troy, from the Troy Trojan. So it happens. It's a feeding system and the capitalism comes for us all one day. Let's take a little break. It's about to. We will be back for a fun Thursday night football game. We need to survive, Greg. Oh, my gosh.

We need to survive. We've survived as a team. We did a great job last week picking the most one-sided game in the NFL this season. That was Chiefs Raiders. If I wanted to feel alive, I would take the Packers this week

over the Steelers, but that goes against... Why didn't you want to feel alive last week? I'm nothing if not... I care so much about this. Just going with the vibes and how the wind is blowing in my emotions at the time. But that doesn't really make sense.

We could take the Chiefs. I want to know how confident And Steve, you know, I'm taking the Falcons. I knew we were going to go there. Let's make the easy pick. I'm almost more confident. I'm almost more confident going Cincinnati over the Jets. Do we want to save the Colts for a more difficult week?

You never, I mean, it is my philosophy, even though I just said, let's get frisky. Never saved. This is going to be the most of the Colts are favored all season, right? I'm trying to, we're trying to win the game here for our, we're going to make it to week 19. Colts, it is. I'm in. In week 17, I'm going to be like, Greg, we could have. We could have had this right now. But no. It's a fair point. We will be back on Thursday night.

I'll be there. I'll be at so far. That's awesome. Chargers and Vikings. Of course, we also have the pick show. Me and Cynthia Freeland. Picking games against the spread. That's coming up. It's like, I live in the Chris Wesleying podcast studio. Get me a cot. See you guys next time. It's more Jalen Warren love. I love Joseph Warren. This is an I-Heart podcast.