NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 2025 Week 6 Recap: Baker Is Balling and The Chiefs Are Back!

Episode Date: October 13, 2025

Gregg Rosenthal is joined by Jourdan Rodrigue, Patrick Claybon and Nick Shook to recap all of the Week 6 action from around the NFL. The show starts with a look at the 49ers at the Buccaneers (01:16) followed by Chargers at Dolphins (10:30), Bengals at Packers (22:50), Seahawks at Jaguars (31:36), Rams at Ravens (38:40) , Patriots at Saints (45:20), Cowboys at Panthers (53:47), Broncos at Jets in London (01:00:43), Cardinals at Colts (01:08:40), Browns at Steelers (01:15:40), Titans at Raiders (01:21:31), and wraps up with Lions at Chiefs (01:28:57) on Sunday Night Football. Note: time codes approximate. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Welcome to NFL Daily, where we're banning the phrase MVP conversation. I'm Greg Rosenthal. I'm here in the Chris Wesleyan. podcast studio. I'm so excited and happy to be doing the week six recap here with Patrick Claibon and Jordan Roderig. It was great to be overseas. But I got to say, having a full

NFL Sunday here back in Los Angeles feels right. Feels nice. We missed you. It was kind of weird not having Greg Rosenthal on a Sunday in studio, you know, because I've been doing it so long, you know. It was different. We don't have any lag. We can have nonverbal communication as well. Yeah, I'm not waiting for Greg to come screaming in over the top. That helps. And it was like, and I mentioned this MVP conversation. I see a lot of just tweets about, oh, he should be in the MVP country. He should, well, just say it with your chest.

Say he's, it's week five, by the way. You don't need to have that conversation. If you want, you can just say Baker Mayfield has been one of the best players in the NFL this year. It's very early, but his plane is stupendous. Why don't we talk about it? to Raymond James Stadium. Shotgun, look, Tucker in the backfield in motion. Baker Mayfield, bell high snap, looks up field, goes the ball's outfield.

He's got a receiver open. That's a caught ball. Touchdown Tampa Bay. Touchdown Buccaneers. It's Tess Johnson. Touchdown Buccaneers. What a throw by Bickermie Field. Two four-and-one teams entered.

One five-in-one team left. Tampa Bay takes care of the 49ers. 30 to 19. Yes, that was Gene Deckerhoff on WFU.S. Baker Mayfield just keeps doing it. You can take away Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. And at one point in this game in the second half, Emeka Abuka, and it doesn't matter.

He's still going to get it done on a day. Unfortunately, the 49ers had more injury problems. Let's start by focusing on the magic that is this buck's offense right now. Baker ball. Keep son rolling, baby. Let me tell you guys about the play that sets up this game-changing touchdown. The swing moment of the game. It's the third quarter.

The bucks are up just one point. And the 49ers had eaten up half of that quarter's clock on a field goal drive to come within one. Baker Mayfield's drive at this point seems dead. It's third and 14. And then Baker Mayfield scrambles. He picks up 15 yards. He's breaking tackles.

He stretches out for the conversion. And we have the sound. Third down in long. Here's the snap belt high. Dropping to throw. Baker's going to be sad. Oh, it gets out of the sack. He runs to his left.

Cox the yard. He's with a zigzag to the right. Brakes another guy. He fights his way. Close to the first down. What a great effort by Baker Mayfield. Do they give him a first down? Give him a first down, Mr. Ref.

They do. Wow. Give it a great Jane Deckerhoff call. That was an awesome one. And he snarls afterwards. And he actually starts looking for contact from 49ers after he gets up. I spun in my chair. And he sort of elbows Lenore who's going by.

He's like, what? What's up, man? Yes, Jordan is a full on bucks fan now after witnessing her on a Sunday. And if you're going to root for a team this year, this is a hell of a one to root for. One play later, he hits Tess Johnson for that 45-yard touchdown. The Buccaneers go up 27 to 19 there. You mentioned it, Greg. they're on their fifth and six string receivers at this point.

They don't mind. Johnson and Johnson can get some, right? Another Johnson, Cameron Johnson, also got a touchdown pass earlier in the game. In the fourth quarter corner back, Jamel Dean, Tampa Bay corner, Jamel Dean lurked in the flat on fourth and six. Iced this one out by picking off Mack Jones, who didn't even see him under the actual coverage. So this was a classic Todd Bowles play the eyes of the quarterback, not necessarily. the coverage over the top game. This was a classic Baker Mayfield game,

another commendable effort by the Bucks front office to coaching staff to their players and adjusting yet again to more injuries and more things that could hamstring any other team during a game. And I think this offensive performance really over the last month is a reminder too. If you're going to have some part of your team out,

as long as you got the quarterback and then now the offensive line, which is healthy as healthy as it's going to be this year, Cody Mock isn't coming back. but the tackles, they've looked good and you can scheme it up when you have a quarterback playing that well and ultimately they're helped out Patrick by the Fred

Warner injury, unfortunately. That sucked. He leaves with an ankle it's later reported that it's a dislocated ankle and Kyle Shanahan says he will be out for the season. After he left the game, Josh Dubot of the Associated Press said that the Bucks averaged 7.4

yards per play, which would be a bottom five performance in the Kyle Shanahan era. So really, you could tell that difference wasn't the same after Warner left. Yeah, and this may be the straw that breaks the Campbell's back. I mean, we'd be celebrating the 49ers being able to overcome injuries, but it's tough to overstate. And I know for a few years there, the general discussion was devaluing the position that Fred Warner plays. But there's no way, like somebody's driving down I-4, listening to that great Gene Decker-Haw call thinking, well, Gene's lagging behind the play. there's no way Baker is going on this 15-yard run for 20 seconds,

but that's how it looked. And with Fred Warner on the field, there is no conceivable way that Baker-Mayfield gets that first down. And it's great point out. Like, it's not just that one play. Any number of plays that could have been made where the Bucks in this run game made them able, and I know it felt like it was another comfort behind game

or Baker was making great plays to win them the game. But they actually had the lead there. And the Bucks were able to salt that lead and hold on because they were able to run the ball against a 49. Yeah, it's multiple huge plays that saw immediately the effect of Fred Warner not being on the field. The Cameron Johnson touchdown that put the bucks up 20 to 13. That was a miscommunication pre-snap off of a motion play

that should have been rearranged by the green dot player, by the player who's calling the defense on behalf of the defensive coordinator on the sideline. That's Fred Warner. You know, it looked like to me that the safety Lenore should have carried with the motion player because De Winters was showing blitz and then he kind of moved with the motion player

but then was clearly going to exchange to the tight end who was also in line on the play and could have leaked out. And so that's a huge problem because then Cameron Johnson, everybody lost track of him. And Cameron Johnson is, you know, wow, wide open right behind every single other player

on the defense. A lot of the defenders in this rebuilding 49ers defense that is commended, should be commended for it. It's been very well coached. And their players have flashed Upton Stout, Alfred Collins. These guys, Michael Williams, they've all flashed such potential. But if you don't have the general commanding and rearranging and cannot be fooled by simple out motions or simple sweep motions,

like it is a huge difference and it certainly made a difference in this game right away because they targeted him not being there. Look, they're not going to ever get fully healthy this year. If Fred Warner and Nick Bosa are not coming back, It's like they're not going to get close. What they have to hope for is getting healthier on offense. George Kittle might be back next week. We'll see Pierce all back on the field,

but this is a team that's going to have to win by scoring a lot of points. Mack Jones, to my eye, when I was watching this game, had a lot of dimes in this game and was up for the challenge. Kendrick Bourne finishes with 142 yards. But you mentioned coaching, and one of the reasons, you know, I thought the 49ers might pull off an upset here. The bucks have made me wrong.

times this year was that I thought Shanahan could out coach Bulls. But I remember you being very excited about the play call on that Bulls, you know, about that interception that they pulled off. And ultimately, like, the backups with Tanges and McCaffrey being a great receiver, but still very inefficient as a runner. Like, it just hasn't been enough. Yeah. What I, I will commend Mack Jones for is he plays sort of this like fearless brand of football. Like, he's not afraid to push the ball. You know, there's going to be some, some errors. There was another play that that, that, that, this bull's defense got them on early on in interception pretty much right away. The combination, the corner combination of Parrish and Vildor,

which sounds like something out of Game of Thrones has been playing really, really well. But Vildor had the early interception of Mack Jones, and then it makes a big pass breakup late in quarter four to help ice out this game. They're just playing really well. They understand their assignments. They're not necessarily names that, you know, the average listener sitting at home is going to know,

Parish has gotten some pop in recent weeks, but Mac Jones, I thought, played really well through most of this game. He's running out of people to throw the ball to. I mean, DeMarcus Robinson is making plays for him down the stretch. Respect to DeMarcus Robinson, but nobody really saw that coming this year, especially coming in late after the suspension. Yeah, Juan Jennings got into Kyle Shannon's face at one point and sort of had to like that. Yeah, why not? What else could go wrong? There was also a play where the 49ers had a first and goal opportunity. They wound up getting a feel on the drive because Joanne Jennings had

the most illegal screen I've ever seen. It could have been called a blind side block. It was so nasty. The defender was down for several minutes afterwards. Joanne Jennings said after the game that he was playing with five broken ribs and an ankle injury. So five. That's what he said. That didn't come out

during the week. Five broken ribs. And speaking of post-game comments that I just found interesting, Baker Mayfield said, Tess Johnson is a 142 pounds. Representation for the skinny guys in the NFL. Love you, Tess Johnson, for making it this one. I was worried he was going to get hurt on that flip. I was like, no.

It's like a squirrel. You know, you can't really hit your top speed falling down when you're only 142. The ground's not going to hurt. So the bucks keep finding a way. They're at five and one. Total velocity is terrible. I couldn't think of.

If we were trying to find a theme, Patrick came up with it for me today, or maybe it was Eric, actually, before the show. It was the teams that, like, needed to take care of business, took care of business. Like, there weren't the big upsets, and all the banana peels that were on the ground, like down in Miami,

the teams with a winning record managed to avoid them. So a second in 10, still keep their time out, a great play by Herbert to extend that enough to get the incompletion. Bunch formation, right, Tray Harris left. Herbert. Got to get rid of it. Able to break a tackle. Here we go.

Ladd McCawkey makes a man miss, Ladd, to the 40, to the 30, to the 20. Ladd still on his feet, jumps out of bounds, left sideline. What a play. Oh, Ladd McConkey. Stops the clock at 22 seconds. Oh, you don't tell me that Ladd McConkey is no longer a number one receiver. That's a franchise quarterback and a franchise receiver making a game-winning play when they absolutely need it.

Few plays later, Cam Dicker hits the game-winning field goal from 33 yards out. Chargers win 29 to 27. That, of course, was the great Matt Money Smith on K-F-I. Fun game. Tua has a touchdown with just over a minute to go, and you think the dolphins are going to maybe get a season-changing win,

but it was not to be, Pat. It was a great kickoff return by the Chargers that set up that final possession. And Greg called it inside of a minute, actually, where you think here's this big moment for the Miami Dolphins. They need to solve their red zone woes. And the solution to their red zone woes is Darren Waller as he gets his fourth touchdown in the 2025 season. But then the kickoff return, then Justin Herbert goes. Ladman McConkey probably wanted to stay in bounds there, but they got a few more commanding vodell carries, go Trojans. And he had the game of his young career.

Vidal on the ground, but the thing that leapt out to me, because the game starts with two hitting Jalen Waddle on a nice ball, either Waddle bobbled it or Tarheev still punches it out, but it goes right into Tony Jefferson's hands. And it's like, oh, here we go. It's one of those interceptions where box score, ah, two is throwing picks again. It was a nice throw. But the Chargers give the ball right back. Devon A. Chan has a 49-yard run for a touchdown.

And it's like, okay, this is it. We're in. And the Dolphins and Chargers went back and forth. ultimately until that fourth quarter stretch that we just talked about where the charges were able to overcome no Quentin Johnston, lad filling in nicely. And Justin Herbert,

I had to look at the on-the-run stats. Eight attempts going over eight miles an hour had a pass a rating of 98.4. Wow. And they need to bump up the on-the-run stats on NGS because Herbo's on the run this year has been much faster than eight miles an hour. on a lot of these throws where, you know, missing tackles, not missing

tackles, but missing their starting tackles, ultimately coming into the season, still no Joe Alt. And he's having to escape, just like he escaped from Jalen Phillips on that final play within the pocket, but there was just so much of the Chargers offense other than a nice day from Vidal on the ground that was just Justin Herbert, got to have it moments. And he made those plays today. Unfortunately, this is where we're at. Once again, with the Chargers is Justin Herbert doing something kind of heroic.

when something kind of heroic needs to be done. It's three games this season, if you think about it, that ended this way with like a hero ball play by her. Yes, and then like, okay, great, our kicker is good. So thank God, right? And so, but that's the thing is because going back and looking at that play, I mean, I almost didn't even have to look at it. I'm listening.

It was cool listening to everybody get excited about it in the newsroom and all of that stuff. But like, I've missed newsrooms, you know? Everything's been so remote. It's nice to hear everyone freaking out. We're back. Newsrooms are back. Well, that one is. That's a good one. And so, but it, it's, it was like, I was like, I almost started asking the question is, was, was Justin Herbert under pressure?

Yes, there's no need to even look. But you can go look. And he was once again because, and it's Mechai Bechton who's missed a lot of the last few couple games being in the concussion protocol. He's been in and out. Obviously, Patrick, you mentioned they're missing their left and right tackles. They're missing their starting running back. They're missing their both of their starting. Backup left tackle as well. Trey Pipkins was out. They're missing their number one receipts. And still, Justin Herbert makes something happen. This is not sustainable. We've seen it year over year, over year. This is not sustainable way to play football. I hear that.

And you're absolutely right. This portion of the schedule before Alt comes back, I just feel like every extra win is like a little more valuable for them. They just have to find a way to survive this part of this schedule. And if their offensive line can get healthy enough again with Alt back. And yeah, they were down to their fourth tackle because Pipkins was out as well. well. Like, the numbers wise, his pressure rate that he faced, actually, like he got hit seven times today and faced a 30% pressure rate. Like, that's, that's an easy Sunday for

Justin Herbert. That's by far the best. No, that's, I would guess that's the best protection he's had probably since week one against the chief. So he'll take it and he'll just barely, you know, beat a game Dolphins effort. Look, they were down 26 to 13 in the fourth quarter. They make a comeback. And And it's kind of been typical for this team, Patrick. Like, you look at the offense and you think, actually, they did pretty well. Their success rate was through the roof on the ground and Tua made a lot of good plays and he has a comeback. But when they just need like one more play at the end, they've struggled this year, there are a lot of really bad one win teams. And I don't think the dolphins are good.

They have major problems. But they are one of those teams that could look back at four of these games and think, man, if we got like one or two plays different, it'd be different. Yeah. And it comes out, right? Kamani Vidal, again, 18 carries for 124 yards. By the way, when you say Go Trojans, you mean the Troy Trojans. We do not, you know, stand the U.S.C. Trojan. No, yeah, actual Trojans live in Troy, which is Troy, Alabama.

Shout out to the Trojans. Again, the all-time leading Russia in the history of the Troy Trojan football program had 124 yards on 6.9 yards per carry where this, this Finn's defense, we just saw, like, them get brutalized up and down the field, multiple weeks consecutively and while we celebrate the progress of the offense and like this i'm not going to call it a sance uh the revitalization of darren waller's career it's oh i think we can call the waller sants that the waller's i think we've played out the sances guys it's week six okay no more sances i'm celebrating this we're on discons now the sances sans of sances is in full

of this comeback album for for darren waller uh on the offensive side but it's just it's week in and week out, like, consistent failures by this, well, these other, like, we look at the Panthers defense, even the Ravens defense today. Everybody's seen growth, but the, the fins are right where they were. Let's listen to, uh, Tuatunga Vailua. It's funny because so much focus is on this offense and their relative struggles. You're right. It is the league's worst, worst defense. It's really been the bigger problem. But Tua's just an honest guy at the podium. And I think this one is not going to get them in trouble, but it's going to get them a lot of conversation. I think it starts with the leadership in helping articulate that for the guys and then what we're

expecting out of the guys right we're expecting this are we getting that are we not getting that we have guys showing up to player only meetings late guys not showing up to player only meeting like there there's a lot that goes into that do we have to make this mandatory do we not have to make this mandatory so so it's it's a lot of a lot of things of that nature um that we got to get cleaned up and it starts with the little things like that. What was the question there? I'm not sure. I think it was about what they needed to

improve upon in terms of the details and everything. And I think he was talking about the player leadership. He was talking about himself. He's like, it comes down to the leadership. He is the leadership. And the way he said it, I think was a little confusing. It was an indirect way of pointing him

at himself, I believe, because he's talking... Well, himself and other captains, I assume. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Like, it's an onion level of, of headline to say that players are not showing up to player only meetings on time or at all. So I think, I mean, he's trying to do the AJ Brown thing where he talks to his teammates through the media, but he's so like, he's to us. So he's like really earnest and maybe says it in a way that's like not subtle enough. Like it's, it's almost too overt that we're like, wait, what does he actually mean by this? Um, so it, I mean, the vibes are strange in Miami. Patrick,

you mentioned the the run defense um so i am like a bit of a football sicko as you guys know and since it's week six and it's the thing that's cycling through my conscious and my subconscious at any given moment i'm a vivid sleep talker um like full sentences like coherent like vivid painting a picture of things in my sleep talker i'll wake myself up often talking in my sleep last night I woke myself up in my sleep talking about the Miami Dolphins run defense and how they defend the run as if they only want to rush the passer and it was like a full on like I was on this podcast making this exact point now I've made the point so weird oh my god you're also you're kind of a sleep mumbler watching games just like saying things to yourself that aren't really intended

for me but just making what the little comment and look they were better they were better on paper than the Chargers run defense today, at least in terms of like success rate in everything. Like the Chargers defense has been terrible on the ground too, but ultimately... I was trying to give Patrick time to look up this quote. Yeah, I'm trying to find the context. The question was, how do you keep

this team from taking a woe is me mentality like this keeps happening to us? And that was his answer. Oh, so yeah. So he volunteered the whole idea of them not showing up to the players only means, which means I think he was really going out of his way. To make that point.

The AJ Brown thing, but you can't, nobody but AJ Brown can pull off the AJ Brown thing, too. Especially because he's the quarterback. I mean, the issue is they're one in five. Yeah. Like, that's the issue. They're not winning football games. Like, who, we joke about the players only meetings. Like, none of it matters.

Like, that's the thing. And there's so, there's going to be, because even in looking for the context, I've already seen all these, oh, well, here comes to us saying this. And so it's disaster and disre. No, the disaster is on the football field. It'd be a great morning at TV tomorrow, Patrick. But no, it's going to be horrible because it's going to, we're not talking about the things that actually matter in terms of not being able to stop the run, like making horrible. Not having a pass rush.

I'm talking about it. I actually saw a couple plays where Herbert was just back there and actually didn't have any pressure on them. And I'm thinking, wow, their pass rush really is struggling. So you're right. There's a lot of problems. No meeting is going to fix that. Let's talk. Let's end this game on a positive note, which is a John, a Jim Harbaugh quote.

And we just haven't had enough of those the last few weeks with the losses. And he said how he'll remember that Ladd-McConkie play. Justin Herbert back to throw. Defender wrapped around him. He's able to just mighty man it and shake it off and hit Ladd-McConkey. Lad does his stop, fly by. Yeah, I'm going to remember that play until they throw dirt over top of me. That's how great I feel about that.

That's how I'm going to really categorize anything that happens in my life, whether I remember or not until the day that they throw dirt on top. Well, I mean, yeah. I mean, that's betting on yourself. If you're going to remember it all the way until the dirt's going on you, that's fighting till the end. That's fair. It's like, hey, guys, this is a little early.

Speaking of throwing dirt on the team, let's talk about the team. against in our Survivor pool every week. The Bengals and the Packers. Here's a fake hand off. Love, bootlegging right, dumps it off, clap to the 10 to the 5.

To the end. And it is a touchdown. Touchdown, Green Bay Packers. Touchdown Tucker and Kraft. Wayne Larravee. Yes, on WRNW. There's no such thing as being a hero when it comes to a survivor pick.

There's just picking against. the Bengals each and every week, which I feel bad about because they battled in this game, at least in the second half, 27 to 18. The Packers get it done once again on a day where the teams that needed to win found a way to get a win. And in the first half of this game, I was just wondering, what are we doing here? Why did we add Joe Flacco to this mix? It was the most one-sided 10-to-nothing halftime score that you could possibly imagine. At one point, it was 241 yards to 20. The Bengals have not scored a touchdown in the first half for four straight games. That has not happened for them since the 1970s. And I got to hand it to Joe Flacko. After halftime, he played pretty well. And the

Bengals defense, which had at least been competing pretty well, stopped getting stops. And that's what good teams do. And that's what the Packers, I believe, to be at 3-1-1. When they needed their offense to step up in the second half, they did it. In the first half, they didn't necessarily need to get that much done. And I will remember a play

from Jordan Love, it was third and nine when the Bengals had actually just scored a touchdown, the result was still up in doubt. And Jordan Love is rolling left. He takes a shot while throwing the ball down the field to Matthew Golden. One of my favorite throws of the entire day, and a throw that reminds you like, okay, not many people in the world can make that throw.

That might not be on a ton of highlight reels tonight, but like that is a game-winning throw. And ultimately, the Bengals never got a chance, even though they kept scoring to have the ball when it was only a one-score game. Yeah, the Packers started off kind of quiet and a little slow and a little messy on offense to start this game, especially coming off that much rest. 17 fourth quarter points and they're awake now. They looked a lot more like this team

that should have just steamrolled over the Bengals by the end of this game. Yeah, Golden was very active in this game. It doesn't look crazy in the box score. Two carries for 16 yards, three catches for 86 yards, but he was opened down the field. The throw that he made to Jordan Love

was a terrific catch. And you could tell right off the bat, they were making a point to get him involved. And that was after half, having the buy week. So it was kind of like Lafleur. Like the first thing he wanted to do, I think, in this game, was get Josh Jacobs in the running game and get Matthew Golden back on track.

Two for two there. Josh Jacobs ends up with over five yards per carry. Yeah, a solid game from both of them. And we got to that point there in the second half because the Bengals started the third quarter with the ball after the kickoff, opening kickoff. They take the ball. They have it for 10 minutes. Like it's almost the entire third quarter before Jordan Love gets back on the field.

And they go down and score. They shorten the game on themselves. Yeah. I love that strategy. And I wondered, like, this is an ugly, nice drive from Joe Flacco. This is just like the game in Cleveland that the Packers actually lost, but they ultimately get plays where Jordan Love had a nice scramble to extend on a third down. But there was, again, I owe Joe Flacko an apology because I, like you, Greg, thought that

this didn't make any sense. But there was great coverage by Kashan Nixon on Jamar Chase. on one of these throws where you just realized, oh, that's Jamar Chase, where Flacco fits the ball in between Nixon. Well, Chase, Chase got in between Nixon and McKinney. But still, the ball was there where Jamar could get it. And, you know, they weren't getting that the past few weeks. It makes you happy and it makes you sad, honestly,

because it's like that's going to be the play, right? Joe Flacco hurling an impossible throw toward a receiver who will always be able to make what we would otherwise think is the impossible catch. And then a lot of the other stuff looks like what a lot of the other stuff look like today, including, you know, Trey Hendrickson leaving with a back injury. Oh, man. That's brutal. And that some people were raising their eyebrows at that. Yeah, conspiracy theorists are wondering, hmm, uh, a back injury. Are the, is he just not like playing through it when he could be traded in the next couple of weeks? I, I do wonder not about that. I don't believe that for a

second. We got a name and shame those people. I will not do so, but I do know one. Not me. I would never think that he's faking an injury. I do think everyone's eyes on me all of a sudden. If they don't win on Thursday night football, the Bengals, that will be their fifth straight loss. And after the first half of this game,

I was thinking, man, you don't see a team get thoroughly dominated for four straight weeks like the Bengals have been in these four games. And they always just give you a little something. Like, oh, the defense played. pretty well in this one, or the offense made a couple plays late, like Jake Browning did last week. And in this game, to be fair, they did not have the ball that many times in this game. They started with a little over 20 yards on their first four possessions, which is a disaster. But they scored or missed a field goal on their remaining five possessions.

I actually thought the offense looked pretty good. The offense played better. They ran the ball well. Flacco, you meant, like, in general, Flacco made a couple nice throws. But it's like, they always give you just a little to believe in like, Zach Taylor's going crazy. I don't believe. I don't believe at all.

And I do think there might be a fire sale, at least in the form of Trey Hendrickson, if they keep losing game. There's an asterisk on one of those field goals because Evan McPherson lined up for a record tying 67-yard field goal, puts it through the uprights, but Matt LaFleur, the ultimate hater, waited for him to be in his, like,

seconds before the snap, calls time out. We had the record. It was there. It was there. It was at Lambo. It was on grass. There was no way anybody, was going to be able to asterisk this.

Instead, Evan McPherson has to come out after breaking the NFL record, try to kick it again, and he missed it. He was short, like eight yards short. I'm so glad you brought this up because to me, it showed exactly where the Cincinnati Bengals reputational are at right now because Matt LaFleur, despite the first half performance that his own team had put up at that point in his own offense that he's calling the plays for, had the like onions and the sort of I'll just say it, kind of a dick move to go and say

finally turn to his special team's coach who's standing kind of off camera. We saw the close-up of it on the broadcast and he looks like, to me, he looked like he's saying the words, should I get him? Right before he goes and kicks it. And Matt, if you can pick on a team like that,

if you can bully the kicker of all people, the one glimmer of positivity that you might get, you might get a record. It's an unfair advantage. I don't think you should be allowed to call timeouts like that. There's no way to outlaw because you can't.

And Zach Taylor knew it. He was kind of like laughing, but he was kind of doing the thing like, what the heck, man? On the other side, on the other sideline, obviously these two know each other very well. And it's like, man,

it's fun to pick on your friends when they're on the opposite sideline. But in Matt Lafleur's case, he, I think, you know, you relish being the bully in your house with a team that is so just poor in every phrase. in every phase comes in like that.

And the real loser is all of us because more coaches are going to try to ice the kicker now as some sort of weird psychological game. It comes to your advantage when you have to like rip into a 67 yarder and then seconds later have to do it again. Like that's the actual problem.

There's no like, oh yeah, I'm getting in his head with this time. No, you're just being annoying. You're just wearing him out intentionally. You're like, yeah, wind up and do that crap again, man. They always say they like to take the practice kick, but I think when in that case, You probably shouldn't.

Okay, yeah, the Bengals have lost four straight since they lost Joe Burrow. The Packers at 3, 1-1. Good job by them. Taking care of business. Let's take a break and let's come back and let's take a little visit to the rest of the NFC West.

What's up, everybody? Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from scouting reports and player development to team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. Every week, we study the tape, talk to decision makers, and share the insights you won't find anywhere else. It's the kind of conversation that connects the dots, from college football prospects to the NFL stars of tomorrow. We break down the draft, analyze matchups, and evaluate how teams put it all together on game day. Plus, we dig in the coaching strategies, roster construction, and the trends that shape the league year after year.

Whether you're a diehard fan or just love understanding the game on a deeper level, we give you the full picture. If you want insight that goes beyond the box score, this podcast is for you. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Matt Jones. Now, 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.

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Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Sam Darnel starts under center. Horton wide to the right side. Play fake. Darnel has time. Gonna let it fly. J.S.N. is out there. J.S.N. has it.

Touchdown. Seahawks. A spike in the end. and a 61-yard rocket to number 11. JSN put six more on the board for the Hawks. And that's how you loosen up that defense that is fighting you tooth and nail at the line of scrimmage, you throw over them, and the Seahawks explode for a big touchdown reception.

Oh, Sam Darnold to Jackson, Smith, and Jigba. Maybe the best connection in the entire NFL this. season. Hey, you got to put Jackson Smith and Jigba in the MVP conversation. Who was it, Greg? Hey, we're having a conversation. Everyone's always out to the MVP conversation. Got to put Sam Dard on the MVP conversation. And we're five weeks in. Who is this conversation? Just say, say it. That's what they're trying to do. Sam Darnold is pretty awesome right now. Seahawks win, 20 to 12 in Jacksonville. I loved everything about the Seahawks performance in this game, except for their running game.

I would say, but considering they were down three starters in the secondary, really every group I thought of their team was better than the opposition. They were. And going down, it started with the Jacksonville Jaguars, getting in the end zone first, where you wondered if the Seahawks were, their coverage woes were going to be all game because they blew a coverage on Brian Thomas Jr.

They gave the Jags their opening touchdown. But in Jags fashion, Cam Little misses the extra point. That's how you had the six on the board when they, They get that big 61-yarder from Sam Darnold to J.S.N. And the Jags' offense really couldn't get anything mustered over the course of this game. Well, the defense continued to make plays. They got Trayvon Walker back this week. He had wrist surgery.

So he was playing with a cast on, but still had the impact in the game. Heinz Allen bothering Donald as well on several plays. But it's really when you see Sam Darnold in the way he's played these past couple of years, hitting these deep passes, like that was the story of the game. It wasn't just that one to JSN. He had a nice ball to Cooper Cup that ultimately set up another Cooper Cup touchdown. His first one is a Cahawk. Congratulations. Welcome to the end zone.

And that touchdown was a really nice throw by Darnal too. And so like we get to the point where it's third quarter, it's 20 to 6. Trevor Lawrence hits Brian Thomas Jr. on a great ball down the sideline. BTJ breaks the tackle, goes in the end zone. The folks in Duval are celebrating. Everything is great. But Travis Hunter was a full step off sides. and it's just frustrating because it had no impact on the play.

It's one of those things where it comes all the way back, but that gets Liam Cohen, this wild hair, and the drive continues. They go for it on fourth down twice in that drive, ultimately get a Tim Patrick touchdown. That's suing possession, Ventral Meller, gets a sack on third down. The Jags get the ball back,

but the offense is clunky. Once again, the Seahawks defense gets the stops, and it just continues that way, ultimately until the Seahawks improve to four and two. It's one of those where, Trevor Lawrence in the box score looks solid enough, although I guess yards per attempt is under six. That's not great.

But watching the game, he just was not accurate throughout the course of the game. Now, some of that you can give to the Seahawks pass rush, which was... Yeah, they came back. Welcome back, everybody. Yeah, it was intent. On the other hand,

the Seahawks pass rush looked incredible in part because Trevor Lawrence just would not get rid of the ball and he was just holding on to it forever. The Seahawks finished with 17 quarterback hits. You do not. see a number like that too often and seven sacks taken by Lawrence. There were definitely quick pressures in there and the Seahawks pass rush deserves a ton of credit.

The Jaguars offensive line, which had played so well throughout most of the year, I think struggled a little bit the last two weeks, but a lot of that was Lawrence just kind of holding on to the ball. Part of the statistic analysis that proves that what your eyes are telling you to, Greg, is 22 pressures total for the Seahawks defensive line as a group and their pass rush as a group. according to true media, that's early numbers from true media right after the game. And so many of those are turning into hits and sacks. That is partially and a huge part in this game watching him on the quarterback.

And what I am really impressed with, I've been impressed with the Seahawks since week one. This is an exciting team. They're ascending. They can be dominant in different types of ways. They can win games in different types of ways. They coached around the deficiencies off on the defense. They took advantage of what is really an area. of the Jacksonville team building process that is still very much coming together in terms

of forming its identity, which is their passing game. And they were, you know, they attacked them in that. They attacked them up front without worrying as much about what was going to happen on the back end. And I thought it was really impressive. They're winning with math, the Seahawks are all over the field, whether it's deciding we're going to send the pressure and try to win that way and not really trust as much what you're going to do with your receivers because we haven't quite seen

a full-on identity take hold yet. We've seen bits and flashes of it but not the full thing. And then on the offensive side, Seattle's winning with math with their tight ends. AJ Barner is wide open on at least two passes,

two catches a game. And it's really interesting. They love to load up and go heavy. And it is a nightmare for especially zoning defenses that are trying to flip their math in their shell coverage

every single time. You change the personnel on them. Yeah, there was a AJ Barner play that essentially ended the game in the hopes for the Jacksonville Jaguars because it led to a Jason Myers field goal that would make the comeback a little unfeasible. It's 61-yarders from AJ Barner where he's got Wingard to his left and he's hand-fighting with him for 30 yards down the field, but it's that downfield passing of Sam Darnold once again

where in weeks where we saw some quarterbacks get hidden today where Sam Darnold in the fourth quarter like in fact the whole second half. on full display, full availability to attempt every throw. And the Seahawks team expects their quarterback to complete them, and they should. And the defense picks up the offense and vice versa. I mean, there was a four drive stretch in the second half where the Seahawks had a total of two first downs. And they were almost begging the Jaguars to come back in the game. But the defense holds up.

And then Clint Kubiak comes up with that great play call, being aggressive with a chance to put the game away with under three minutes to go. And yeah, he sees Barner just wide open on the throwback pass. And Donald's been pretty good under pressure in general, but like we wouldn't find out today. He was one for four under pressure. He just was not facing much. So Goodwin by the Seahawks. They get to four and two.

Jaguars fall to four and two. They will be heading overseas to play the Rams. Spicy one. Would the Rams be going to London on a high? Stafford has first and gold. takes the snap, boots out the right side, early to the flat. All alone, Tyler Higby struts in. Big, rig, Higgs with a spike, and a two-touchdown lead on the road in Baltimore.

Oh, our friend J.B. Long on KSPN. Great call. Even if I don't love the fake hamstring celebration, Tyler Higby, gets it done, gets in the end zone on a day where the Rams played with their food a little bit. It happens. That's what these Rams do, but they did score two touchdowns in the span of a minute and 32 seconds early in the second half. And that ultimately finished out the scoring 17 to 3 against the Cooper Rush and Snoop Huntley led Baltimore Ravens. This looked like a worst case scenario unfolding for the Rams in an early, early game to start a long road trip first to Baltimore than to London. their offense could not move the ball.

Awful in the red zone at first, including back-to-back misses to receivers. Devante Adams included in that one. Receivers were dropping passes. Pooka Nakua was injured before half-time, spent half-time in the locker room, getting his ankle wrapped up, tried to come back in,

came back a couple plays, had to leave, was sporadically in and out of the game. Their defense was getting run over in the first half to the tune of 90 yards by Derek Henry and special teams continued to be awful. They were tied three all

versus the Cooper rush at that time, Ravens at halftime. And then do do, do no, no, no, do, do, do no, no. That's right. Enter Landman. The Rams middle linebacker punched out another ball as second of the season

to force a fumble in the third quarter. Quentin Lake recovered it. The Rams scored two plays later that play to Higbee that you just watched. They went up 173 and there they would stay thanks in part to that play. Landman. swung the game big time for them.

Yeah, on the broadcast, there was a discussion about that being Zayflower's first ever fumble and every Ravens fan in the world was like, oh, there was the one. Yeah. Playoff games count. I hate when they bring this up. Anyways. Yeah, no. Definitely counted that one, but you started and there's the old Hawkeye meme from endgame

where it's like, don't give me hope. But Tyler Huntley comes in the game on a fourth and 12 and goes on a run. quarterback runs. And there was a moment, but the offensive line breaks down. Ultimately, there's sacks and throwaways to end the game. But signs of life from the Baltimore Ravens defense, like, if you say the Rams are playing with their food, it's like, ah, or maybe Baltimore didn't like trip over themselves. Well, they got Kyle Hamilton and Marlon Humphrey back in this game, which is pretty massive

for their secondary. Still a little surprising that they were able to slow them down, but yeah, they outgain the Rams ultimately in this game, 296 to 240. And yeah, that Tyler Huntley drive that you mentioned, that was the ultimate short in the game on yourself drive, almost a 10-minute drive, 17 plays where they ultimately couldn't score any points, and it was over after that.

Yeah, and I want to commend particularly Marlon Humphrey because he was in position to have an interception on that play in the corner of the end zone. Actually, unfortunately, that's the one Pukunakua got hurt on. And Buku Nakua had to go into defense mode, essentially, to break up that potential interception. This was a really up and down game by everybody, by Matthew Stafford, especially by his receivers. He missed a couple of throws, but he also had a couple of crucial drops. Jordan Whittington, who seems to be the number three receiver on this football team at this point.

It maybe we'll have to do more in the future because Puka Nakua status is very much up in the air. Sean McVeigh said post game, it was an ankle injury. the team's official word on it during the game was a foot injury. So this happens frequently with the Rams. So definitely something to keep an eye on there. It's especially bad to be injured on a really long road trip like this. Never good at all. Bukua.

I mean, let's do it. Let's put him in the MVP conversation. No, but it really is. He's having the best season leading the league of all receivers and in so many categories. Thank you, Walker. A walking first down. waiting to happen. And if he has hurt,

the entire lens of this offense shifts because it was, even though Sean McVeigh has said, he doesn't want to funnel his offense through one player. It has been going through Matthew Stafford and Puka Nakua. And so getting that multiplicity

that Sean McVeigh keeps saying he wants, especially if Puka's banged up, is going to be big now. Yeah, 2-2-A-W was inactive for this game. Blake Quorum left with an injury. They haven't consistently gotten, you know,

their rookie Ferguson, and Terrence Ferguson going, Higbee ends up leading the team. They've tried to force the ball to Devante Adams, and it hasn't been incredibly efficient. Not that he hasn't helped. I'm glad you mentioned Landman, though. I mean, 17 tackles. That's an outrageous.

Outrageous. Franchise record. I want to shout out too, because now you're going to see other players. They need more from Jordan Whitting. For sure, he had a bad drop and then had a couple of other errors throughout the game. But Kyron Williams, part of what gets the Rams going in the right direction and gives them a little bit of life after more miskicks by John.

Josh Cardi and Sean McVeigh hates his kicker so much at this point that he's he's like going for it all the time, which is a big deal for McVeigh, who didn't go for it earlier in the game. And then Cardi misses a 26-yard kick. It's just bad. And so on fourth and three on the opening drive of the third quarter, Matthew Stafford hits Kyron Williams for a 1.5 cheeks down. That was an awesome play. 30-yard catch, which then sets up Kyron Williams' own rushing touchdown with a big block

by Davis Allen to help him out. These are huge plays that gave them life. And the Rams cannot seem to put a full game together, but for every second or fifth game, you know. And that's bad. They have to be able to put a complete game together. Their defense carried them in a lot of ways today. Shout out to Byron Young, leading the league in sacks to this,

up to this recording with seven and a half, help close the game out. It's just, I don't know what this team is. I know what they want to be. I feel like that's most of the league. right now. And yeah, this was one they just had to survive. The Ravens got to where everyone thought they were going to get to, which is one in five at the by week. We'll see if Lamar Jackson can save them on the other side. It is going to be difficult. All right, let's go to New Orleans

where our friends at the Saints Block Party podcast were having their big outing. They've been undefeated previously, but could they challenge and defeat their biggest challenge yet? Drake Biggs, on the right side with Rupert, snap his back to May, stands in, throws at their side. Booty, catch made at the three, shoved into the end zone. It's a touchdown for the Patriots. Headshot? Headshot? Yep.

Yeah. Cajon Booty. Zolak's playing COD. Yeah. Scott Zolak. Let's not celebrate that. Celebrating the headshot that the Patriots player, Kayson, Booty. Made. Yes, Drake May down the field to Kishan Booty, 25 to 19. The Patriots win. That play was

symbolic of a fantastic game by both May and Booty. Booty pays for 40 of his friends and family members to attend this game, LSU guy, of course. I mean, we know his salary. That's a pretty big chunk right there having to pay for 40 tickets. Those, yeah, do the math. That's, that's minimum like $10,000, $5, $10,000, something like that to watch him go five for 93 and two key touchdowns. Drake May, as he's been all season, money on plus 20 yard throws. I think he was three for four in this game for over 100 yards. And it would have been five for six for over like 200 yards, but he had a long throw to Stefan Diggs taken back by a penalty. And another long touchdown. to DeMario Douglas, taken back by a weird phantom penalty. None of it mattered.

What mattered in the end was kind of like the flip of the Packers' Bengals game, Patrick. Like, right when they needed to, the Patriots defense actually got a few stops late in the game when the Patriots offense slowed down. So it was very much like an all-offense game in the first half, and it was 3-3 after halftime, but they found a way to get a win over the hard luck one in five saints who have been in four of these losses to the last possession. Yeah, it was

Caden Ellis, I believe, jumps on top of a fumble that was forced on a pass from Spencer Rattler to Jawan Johnson, where Spillane Christian Ellis, yes. Christian Ellis, excuse me, punches the ball away from Jawan Johnson, who was red hot to start the season and is really

slowed down. They hurt the Saints' comeback opportunity because it was 25 to 19. There for quite a while, the Saints just couldn't break that number. And that was an opportunity there at their 36-yard line where they got up close to the 50 and turned the ball over where it's another one of these games where you're like, oh, Spencer Rattler played pretty well. And the Saints were in. You can't celebrate like almost all the time. But it's true.

The Saints are in these games. Yeah. I think every week someone gets mad at me for saying that. But it's true. It is so true. It's the defense. That's the problem. and their secondary was a disaster in the first half.

Jonas Sanker. Oh, my dude. Yeah, the rookie safety got confused a couple times. One of the times he was bailed out by one of those phantom calls. The officials were terrible in this game for both sides. Like, they called back at that touchdown in DeMario Douglas on a complete phantom OPI on the Patriots. And then in the two of the worst makeup calls, the next two plays,

like called complete phantom calls on the Saints almost. to make up for it. And it just wasn't a great day for the zebras there. But I don't want that to be the focus. With Drake May, I just feel like they'll always have a chance. He's so calm in the pocket right now.

What are you laughing at? I don't want that to be the focus. Drake May. I'm just saying like it's... Me and Patrick immediately just looked at each other. There's nothing more boring than talking about bad, bad calls,

even if it was a bad call game. But Drake May. Yes. Back to Drake May. Yeah. like he's he's so calm in the pocket right now that on one play he was stiff arming a guy with his right hand and then threw it out of bounds with his left hand which to me is a little the old george picket yeah that's like a little too much uh like calm but there were so many plays

that he bailed them out of penalty after penalty after penalty or like terrible like they're one of the worst running teams in the league which is mostly a uh offensive line issue and so they being in these long-yarded situation, and I'm thinking about a fourth down to Diggs, a third and nine to Mack to the sidelines. There was one play where, like, they had three straight penalties, and one of them was, like, you know, on a 50-yarder to Diggs, and he kept having to, like, make them right, and ultimately, he did make them right. Typical of that was the play to booty to ice the game. Three receivers to the right. Stevenson lines up. behind the right guard, snap back to May, a twist up front.

He stands and he throws and left back, short or caught by Booty. What a throw. The connection is there again. Drake made the Pishon Booty with a defender on his back. And our first down to England near midfield and back to the Saints 49-yard line. That's a big-time throw, boys. It is a big-time throw. Start the buses, pack the bags.

You got a 4-2 football team heading home, baby. They're heading home, baby, with their quarterback, Greg. who took over two and a half seconds to throw 69% of the time in this game, which I think kind of skews those pressure numbers because the Saints, again, who had a defense that struggled, pressured Drake May on 58% of dropbacks, but I think a lot of that is Drake May holding on the ball to hit home runs, and he hit them today.

Yeah. So many of the third downs, like they're six or 13 on third downs and hit another fourth and long, we're like third in longs. And yeah, he's holding on to it because the Saints don't have much of a pass rush. Well, he's calm. That's why I think he's okay with holding on to it. He's calm and he knows that he can buy a little bit time too. If he absolutely needs to, he can move around in the pocket. He can move around outside of the pocket.

I think he's playing with that kind of confidence where normally you see when a quarterback is really confident in getting in rhythm, he'll get the ball out quick. He's done that too. But this game is a little bit different because, yes, to your point, Patrick, there was, they were dialing up pressure. They were trying to get pressure on him. You just never quite felt like he was, despite what the numbers say, you never quite felt like it was too much for him and that he could hold the ball and was holding the ball because he has sort of that patient confidence. Some would call it, you know, a lot of dip on his chip, but it's like paying off for him. Like the Tostitos does not break in half in this case.

In this case, you can scoop it on up. His numbers are getting outrageous. I love that. I love the way you just kept with that one and just finish it off. I want to go wash my face after saying. Over 10 yards per attempt in this game. Yeah, his numbers are getting crazy. He is one of the many people I saw. Journalists suggest, hey, he should be in the MVP conversation. We're just having a conversation. We're having a conversation. Do you know what I love?

I've learned about this is one of my favorite discoveries this year, watching a Patriots game next to you. Like you watching it. I'm not really, I got one eye on it. I'm not really watching it. But you watching it. And then like you're making noises.

But then also you're, there's a wave of college football coaches that just get fired in the middle of the, second quarter of some of these earlier games. And that's when you decide to send out some of your spicier takes, just about the game in general. The Spencer Rattler, I'm not saying you said he should be in the MVP conversation.

You kind of did the adjacent take. I said if he was a first or second round pick, people would just talk about him like a franchise quarterback. But you wait for the news dump. You think I'm paying any attention? We are very different. I don't care about college football coaches being fired on a Sunday. That is not my

interest. Where can I get Greg? Just a little, just under the collar. I'm not noticing. I have to admit, I am not a Twitter or Blue Sky Reader on Sundays. I'm just a post. Greg is submitting.

Post and duck. Post and duck. Speaking of ducking, you don't want to duck this Panthers offense right now because it's one of the best in the league. It's going to be a 33-yarder for the win and a chance to get to 500. J.J. Jansen, the venerable Janssen,

to snap. Martin puts it down. Fitzgerald swings the third. leg, the kick is good, and the Panthers win it. Ryan Fitzgerald, the game-winning field goal, Carolina 30, Dallas 27, sweet Caroline indeed. Oh, a nice drop on WRFX. We got J.J. Janssen, NFL Daily's own. Yes. Into a highlight. Fitzgerald hits the game winning kick 30 to 27, and you might have thought I was being a little flip by calling the Panthers one of the best offenses in the league.

Well, today, and this is according to Shield Capadia at the Ringer, the second highest success rate of any team in any game all season. And actually, for the entire season, they're up to fourth overall on offense. They're getting it going on the ground consistently. RICO Dowdowell goes over 200 yards from scrimmage for a second straight week, and the Carolina Panthers are three and three.

Yeah. All the things I was about to say. Woo! Leave. No, Dowdell. RICO Dowdell had 239 scrimmage yards, including 183 yards rushing, and then a 36-yard receiving touchdown that I know we have Soundford that was just beautiful against his former Dallas Cowboys team. In the game, orbit motion again, shotgun snap, fake to Dowdell, young back peddling, flush to his left, throws down field, Dowdell wide open, 10, 5.

Touchdown. RICO Dowdle. Buckle up. Yes, I loved it. And as you can tell after back-to-back, 200-plus yards rushing games by the Panthers, who, by the way, through weeks four through six, are second in the NFL in rushing success rate, which is outstanding. They're also getting the fourth best yards before contact in the NFL blocked for them. It's all clicking. The offensive line and the run game, you can tell that it has settled down the entire offense. Bryce Young threw the ball really well off of that foundation. He was 17 of 25 for a 199, three touchdowns and an interception. But the interception wasn't really on him.

It bounced off of Tett McMillan's hands. Ted McMillan made up for it in a big way with his first and second career touchdowns. This, you can tell they're going to start seeing more loaded boxes soon. They're not seeing a ton of loaded boxes right now. But you can absolutely tell that them establishing the run behind Rico Doudal, behind this really, really solid offensive line, the way that they're playing right now. This group is starting to form a little bit of an identity.

And it's settling the quarterback when they start seeing these loaded boxes. It's time for Bryce Young to repay the favor when they test his arm a little bit more. And I bemoaned them for upwards of over a year on this. Javante Williams had negative 27 rush yards over expectation. Is you ever either it's Rico Douddle's giving those guys a whole bunch of rests on the bench? I'll say the Panthers fixed the run game what did he do? Like this is the most intriguing thing in the planet to me

because Dallas could get nothing going through the air. Mike Jackson never wants to see George Pickens again because he gave him all kinds of fits. But other than that this was a slog on the ground and the Cowboys had to do everything through the air and Dak almost pulled it off. I continue to be impressed with Doc Prescott, but you said it. This rush defense which is historically bad had improved

to average-ish until the last two weeks. In the last two weeks, they've been flat-out good. And that was the difference in this game that we mentioned that that was one of the best rushing performances by any team all season by the Panthers. Meanwhile, the Cowboys had an 11% success rate, which is just horrendous. One of the worst performances by any team on the ground all season.

And it happens against Carolina. Like, even though the scores high, you can't go too crazy that they're like some shut down, defense. That's complimentary football. And man, that's a stinging loss for the cowboys. Yeah. And if they were going to have, this defense was going to have at least one problem happened to it. The problem was George Pickens and Dak Prescott. Deck Prescott had another excellent, excellent game that kind of goes to waste here. George Pickens was nine for 11 for 168 yards in a touchdown. And on one, anything could happen when this man has the ball.

Okay. On the touchdown, he blew the Carolina crowd a kiss. On one of his long catches, He slowed down toward the sideline just so he could throw a stiff arm, just for the heck of it. Didn't know what was going to happen. It was a punchy stiff arm. Yeah, just exchanged the ball casually in one hand, slows his pace down, tries for the stiff arm. But overall, you know, the run game for the Cowboys was shockingly not there. Although the Panthers have improved to about middle of the pack against the run over the last couple of weeks. Still, not a strength for them by any means.

But it's interesting because when this defense had to step. up and make these big plays. They forced, you know, a three and out. Dallas had just forced its first three and out of the game. The Panthers defense, which was, as we know, so embattled all season, stepped up in return. Trayvon Mayrig made a huge stop. He's been great the last three or four weeks on first down. And then Bryce Young and the Panthers get the ball back.

They're driving. He hits Tommy Trembal down the left sideline. And that was when the Cowboys finally did load up the box to try to stop Rico Dowdell. And then he hits Hunter Renfro. on an absolute dart of a slant route that seals this game, sets up this game-winning field goal. Like, it was a ballsy game by the Panthers. And I love that this turned into a little bit of a shootout.

Just a little bit of one. Because these two offenses are fun to watch for the most part now. And I think they're both improving. And for one or two of these teams every week, you wonder, is it going to be a wasted effort? Today it was for the Cowboys. I just like that these two teams are going to be in the mix. We've got too many teams that are looking a little DOA after six weeks.

Then I would like. We got eight or nine teams. The Cowboys and the Panthers are turning into teams that are entertaining. They're in the middle. We need some teams in the middle. We don't just need the top and the bottom. Let's take a break and talk about one team that is really at the bottom on the other side. But as we do, let's actually listen to Rico Dattle, answer a question from Charlotte Great, Joe Person.

We'll be back on the other side to talk London game. Rico, if your message last week was buckle up to the Cowboys, what's your message after the game? They wouldn't buckle up. What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from scouting reports and player development

to team-building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. Every week, we start. study the tape, talk to decision makers, and share the insights you won't find anywhere else. It's the kind of conversation that connects the dots, from college football prospects to the NFL stars of tomorrow. We break down the draft, analyze matchups, and evaluate how teams put it all together on game day. Plus, we dig in the coaching strategies, roster construction, and the trends that shape the league year after year. Whether you're a diehard fan or just love understanding the game on a deeper level, we give you the full picture.

If you want insight that goes beyond the box score, this podcast is for you. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Matt Jones. I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL cover zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts pretzel?

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

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Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL, visit Toyota.com slash NFL. now to learn more. On fourth and seven, with the game on the line, no timeouts remaining, 1-14, Tanner Engstrung, the New York Jets, Justin Fields. What do you have in your locker to go and win this game of football? Fields stops his foot, takes it, two receivers right, two receivers left, under pressure,

Jonathan Cooper brings him down, and he is sat for a massive loss on fourth down, and the Denver Broncos somehow will heke a win out. In London, the Jets will fall to 0 and 6. 1311 with 109 left on the clock. Yet again, the Broncos defense, get it done. Oh, just because I'm not in the booth with them doesn't mean we can't get Will Gavin of Talk Sport into the show. Great call, fitting call, fitting play to end a defensive struggle to put it mildly.

Justin Fields takes nine sacks to go along. with his nine completions and the Jets end up with negative 10 passing yards in a game that they were only a few yards away from attempting a game winning field goal at the end

1311 because yeah the Broncos only had 12 first downs in this game as well. Are you taking this Patrick as a positive of the dominance of the Broncos defense or as a negative for

basically anything else in this. Well, I think you were, you had been calling for, uh, this week a nice, consistent Bo Nix game didn't necessarily get it. There were times where Sean Payton was taking the hand, the ball out of Bo Nix's hands where like weird third down reverses and screens, uh, that were ultimately doomed. I, yeah, celebrate nine sacks, but there's, there's cause for concern because they almost did the thing we talked about on the preview show. They almost beat the last unbeaten and then turned around and lost to the team.

that had no wins in the 2025 season where just some weird stuff from the Jets at the end of both halves ultimately given the Broncos a little bit of a gift there in London. Yeah, the end of the first half, especially, Garrett Wilson gets upset and I was equally upset with how they handled that.

A 10-play drive in which they somehow ran out of time at midfield. And then they have a fourth down with about 20-something seconds to go. And instead of just running a Hail Mary to give their playmakers a chance to go make a play, they can't get organized and the clock just runs out. Aaron Glenn also took a timeout in the second half,

taking too long to make a decision whether to go for it on fourth down. And oh, by the way, he didn't even go for it. Anyways, just a guy in Aaron Glenn, who game management-wise seems to get a little overwhelmed and freeze And on the field, Justin Fields, I think, was kind of his avatar because I'm sure there weren't many Jets receivers open, but he's just hoping that they're open and he's just standing there and he's holding the ball forever, Jordan, and he's taking sacks. Not many of these sacks were quick pressure sacks.

No, and 2.6 yards per attempt in this game, that's the lowest of any quarterback in any game so far to the point of this recording. It can always get worse, folks, but it so far has not here in week six of the end. NFL season. He's also the owner of the second worst EPA per dropback game this season and the third after today. I mean, negative 10 yards passing. I was wondering. I was like, it was worse in Buffalo. This was the third worst today. I was like, that can't happen too often. It has not happened since Ryan Leaf's third career start. That is the worst overall passing performance just by yardage in 37 years. He's the first quarterback that was sacked at nine or more times with nine or fewer completions since he did it in 20, in 2021.

when he was sacked nine times against the Browns and they only had six completion. It is an awesome defense when they're playing overwhelmed quarterbacks. And I know that's not trying to damn with faint praise. There's only been four games all season. This was Chiokabati again

where a team's had under 10 first downs. The Broncos defense has caused three of those games. And if you go back to last year, they built up those crazy numbers, absolutely destroying substandard quarterbacks and passing. You are a bottom 10 passing game. The Broncos defense will just win the game for you.

Bo Nex doesn't have to do anything. I didn't even think he played that poorly today, relatively. The running game was terrible. There was just some weird play calling. Yeah, we got one 100 yards rusher game from Sean Payton. And now nothing else. Please, no, no more. I just felt like, I don't know.

If I'm a Broncos fan, it just feels like a surviving advance type of game. Kind of like the Rams win. It was kind of a rock fight, except not like an interesting one. It was interesting in the sense that you wonder, like, these mistakes that seem to compound for the Jets, they're happening with situational management, too. And I want to point out, like, listen, I am I am 100% on the team of give a coach a chance to develop as a coach, just like the rest of the team is getting, you know, give them a chance to develop as a team, find an identity, all of these things. Aaron Glenn is known for his development of players, of culture, of scheme. and when his hands are on the scheme. But he's not calling the game.

Steve Wilkes is on defense. Tanner Engstrand is on offense. And he's not making good situational decisions. And all of that combined is a problem because it's almost like I wonder perhaps if his hands are in too many fires in behind closed doors when he's trying to develop all these different phases

at once of this team. And now some of the things are falling short. such as the situational management, which coaches often give up play calling. Coaches who are flailing give up play calling in order to better situationally manage games. Broncos fans were saying Sean Payton should do that, which is crazy today.

Because he had some strange games. He had some strange calls too. Those third and long calls were frustration calls. Like, I'm sick of watching this. I'm just going to give up on this drive at this point. That's what they felt like. Yeah, and he will do that. He'll occasionally do that.

And this was a game where the Broncos can afford to kind of have those rage calls. where it's like, all right, well, Franklin did have a fumble on a drive where the Broncos ultimately could have scored the Jets got one of those turnovers. They just couldn't take advantage of any opportunities that the Broncos provided them.

So yeah, get your rage calls out, Coach Peyton. Right. What do you think it sounds like? It's probably something like XJet, throw the ball. Or just like, just get these, off the field. They had seven drives in the second half, the Broncos, or six drives, rather, and only gained a first down on one of them.

I mean, they actually looked totally normal in the first half, I would say it was like normal, but not exciting. And they had that fumble. And after that, the Jets defense played about this game was not indicative of how this Jets season has gone, where their running game has been great. Today it stunk. Their defense has been the maybe bottom three in the league. They played well today again.

Denver and the passing game has at least had spurts and the passing game was god awful but that's what happens to bad teams they just find a way to lose shout out to will Gavin for making it sound like an excited game it was it was at that moment it was I mean the whole I mean I'm not saying I have links that allow me to listen to certain things he made the game sound great the entire time shout out to will Gavin he is the best and um to everyone else in the UK we apologize Jaguars Rams will be much better next week. You know what else is better? Get Nick shook on the show.

Yeah. Jones out of the gun, changing the play at the line of scrimmage. Now he's going to dip under center. Jones, quick pitches the left side to Jonathan Taylor. He's in. Touchdown. Touchdown.

I-N-D-Y for Jonathan Taylor. And the Colts indeed retake the lead. 30 to 27, 432 remaining. in the fourth quarter. Colts win 31 to 27. They get two fourth quarter touchdowns to come back on the Cardinals in a back and forth fun football game that was worthy of having the man Nick Shook cover it. The Colts shook have won games I think in different types of ways and I thought it was cool to see them win a game like this where it looked like they were going to let go of it

against a bunch of backups, frankly, for the Cardinals with Jacoby Brissette at quarterback. Yeah, it was an interesting day for them because they jump out to an early lead. And then the Cardinals come storming back and then it's just blow for blow, kind of like a heavyweight fight between the Colts, who are a good team, at least in terms of record, and the Cardinals, who are not a great team in terms of record. It was a fun example of how oftentimes week to week, we don't really know what's going to happen in an NFL game. One team can come out and be way stronger than you anticipate.

And the other one can kind of still be themselves, but find it to be a little bit challenging. but the one consistent theme with the Colts this year has been Jonathan Taylor. And he goes for 21 for 1, 23 in a touchdown today. Daniel Jones pretty sharp throughout most of the afternoon, runs a touchdown in. Also throws a pick to Mack Wilson, which was like an incredibly athletic pick that didn't matter because the Colts got it right back defensively like two plays later, or maybe even the next play later in their own red zone. So very much a fun back and forth game with the consistency of Jonathan Taylor

and an offensive line that continues to perform above our expectation. And the Colts, man, five and one. they keep on rolling. I want to point out the bizarre injuries that happened before this game and the more normal injuries that happened during it before throwing it back to you, Chuck. Anthony Richardson suffered an orbital fracture

before the game using one of those resistance bands and had to go to the hospital. That sounds horrifying. So Riley Leonard ends up being the backup quarterback for this game. Charverius Ward suffered a concussion after getting run into

I think it was by a wide receiver. It was a tight end during warmups. And then he's suddenly out, just completely bizarre. And then during the game, the Cardinals, who were already short, Kyler Murray, of course, and their running backs. And Kelvin Beecham also lose Amari DiMarcato. They're running back.

They've been down a couple of tight ends. And then they lose Marvin Harrison Jr. in this game. And yet, Chuck, they put up 25 first down. And so before I put on, you know, game pass tonight, like, how did the Cardinals' offense get 400 yards going against this Colts team and make this such a good game? It should warm your heart for me to tell you that Jacobi Brissette was the reason. Yes. Because Jacoby Brissette settled down this offense. He gave them the consistency that they've lacked for most of this season.

They also went 9 of 14 on 3rd down. At one point, it was 9 of 12. Like, they were great in clutch moments because of Brissette, who was just a bit of a point guard passer. or he scrambled like once or twice when he needed to, one time to get a first down, drew like a call from the broadcast crew. They were like, he's not Kyler Murray,

but he can run. It looks a lot different, but it worked out really well for them. That and a dependence on Trey McBride, especially in the red zone. They threw a touchdown pass to him early. It was after one was kind of wiped away. I thought that he was already in the end zone.

They ruled that the forward progress was stopped inside the one. The next play, they run a bootleg and throw it right to Trey for a touchdown. Justice is served. That's why they were strong. Their strength is kind of statistically doesn't back it up.

up with the Cardinals, but their defense has been stronger than their offense this year. This time around, because Brissette was in and was commanding this offense, like a, you know, a seasoned weathered ship captain guiding them into the storm, they were able to be a better offensive unit and go toe to toe with the Colts. Jake Brisket, uh, aka Drew Petzing's favorite backup who's played in this system before, who came in and was going rev for rep in practice in training camp with Kyler Murdo. and was so confident and what absolutely fits what this system is now locally and it is so fair to be upset locally and I think they are about the way that some of this offense is going

and I think they should be in parts of it because it's it's Kyler Murray and an erratic connection with Marvin Harrison Jr. And it's the ball is not going enough to Marvin Harrison Jr. And the Cardinals are terrible at running the ball in terms of success rate even before James Connor and Trey Benson suffered the injuries. But this, at its heart, and I keep saying this, and I know I sound so hideously annoying at this point, but this offense is built to run through the tight end, come hell or high water, no matter whatever else is happening,

and taking shot plays down the field, every so smattering of it, every so once in a while, to a X receiver, a speed receiver, a gadget receiver, anyone you want to throw in there. that is what's happening. At the end of the game, you see this plan in action. Jacoby reset to Mike Wilson, contested catch, 30 yards. And then they go for the touchdown again. To Trey McBride, who doesn't get it. That's happening all game. This is what Drew Petzing wants to do on offense. Like it or not, I don't have an opinion. Like it or not,

this is part of the reason he brings this guy in is to be a perfect match for what he specifically wants to be doing. They tried to get McBride involved on the last play of the game when you have a chance to go take the lead. And I think if if Percept puts the ball on Tray McBride, maybe they call a pass interference, but it was such a rocket that had no one had a chance to catch that maybe they didn't call. And ultimately, the trajectory of the ball changed how Tray McBride pursued it as well.

Because I think if he jumped or lunged earlier while he was being grabbed, it might have looked more like a call that the official could make. Instead, like he's fighting through the contact when he actually is being held. And then after he sees where the ball is, He's like, oh, no, that ball's not on me. Fake lunge for it and the strike for it buying it. Yeah, they fall to two and four. And just reading between the lines from the National Insiders this morning,

Kyler Murray could be out one more week. They have a buy after that. They have the Packers. Man, that Titans loss really hurts now because this would just feel different at three and three. You could feel like you could take that one more loss before the buy. But two and five would be a long way to come back from. the Cardinals, but good on the Colts who, you know,

focus on Tyler Warren early in the game. Josh Downs has a big time touchdown. They just spread it around. They get it done. Let's go to Pittsburgh where, yeah, the Steelers are feeling pretty good in that division. He'll stop in an H-back position there. Now he'll motion back to the right as Rogers gets a snap.

Play action pass. Rolling to his right, looking downfield, looking, throws back across his body and talk in the end zone. What a grab by Connor Hayward. Magnificent. by Rogers and Hayward with his first touchdown of the season. Put that on the throw of the year nominee. That's a vintage throw right there.

I've been tough on Rogers, but his best throws this year, if you just take the highlight reel of his 10 best throws, they look pretty sweet. Steelers win 23 to 9. Nick, that was Rob King on WDVE, Max Stark, helping him out. very similar to I think how the Steelers would draw it up even if Aaron Rogers would probably love to have better numbers overall

this is Steelers football right now yeah and when you run this one back on NFL Plus what you're going to find is a lot of nothing in the first half some minor successes a great first play to Darnell Washington everything ends up grinding to a halt and a lot of Chris Boswell field goals but in the third quarter an early fourth quarter

You're going to find vintage Aaron Rogers making throws just like that. That completion to Connor Hayward made me audibly shout, wow, and nobody's home. So it doesn't matter. But for me, I was shocked by the fact that you fit that ball in that window. Yes, exactly. You know, who knows? He might have been shirtless. Who knows?

It was a heck of a performance. Did you just go third person talking about how you were watching the game's shirtless? But I wasn't. I wasn't sureless. I was going to cut off. I did go shirtless. Why don't you add in this extra non-existent detail that shook with

you said that. Because I was told to let my freak flag fly and Aaron Rodgers let his freak flag fly for about eight minutes in this game. I'm bringing it back. We're getting back on track here. It's okay. Greg's been explaining my jokes a lot recently. I just was trying to help out the female

and male audience out there. Don't limit it. 2025, Greg. I want to listen to Miles Garrett talk about Aaron Rogers and this gameplay because it sounded very similar to the game plan that they had overseas. Stop us to the D-line front. You know, they got in chunk formation.

They chipped, he got the ball out, you know, as quick as possible. And, you know, there weren't a lot of situations in which, even if I was running, but a-necked, you know, that I could have got there. So I think that was a situation for all of us, you know, the way he was getting it out or sprinting out to the other side. No, he moved behind the line scrimmage more than he has in the last couple years

and that wouldn't by, you know, a mistake. Ah, so we have a theme for this segment. I see. No clothing. NFL daily after dark, maybe. David and Joku, who might be getting towards the end of his Brown's tenure here? Another man who doesn't like to wear a shirt too much.

It just seems like the book is outshook a little bit on how to at least slow down this great Brown's defense. Yeah, I mean, it's a theme. pretty much every one of their games save for maybe Baltimore falls the same track, which is first half, feel out period. Brown's defense is going to limit you to feel goals or just stop you outright. It's going to keep the offense in the game. The offense is going to do nothing.

Then you're going to get to the second half. The defense is going to wear down. The opposing offense is going to take half time to figure out how to attack this defense. They're going to find success. And it's up to the Brown's offense to match it. And that's the same team that hasn't scored more than 17 points all year. So guess what? They're not going to match it.

So, yeah, it is. It's definitely a theme. It's not encouraging because I don't. think the Browns have another route to go down this season to try to find success, save for another quarterback change. Well, that'll happen at some point, don't you think? Yeah, it will. It will. I mean, Dylan Gabriel is, he's fine, but he's like, he's Gardner Minshu. That's who he is at best. And you need more than that unless you're in an emergency situation like the Colts were a couple years ago. So that, but I don't want to take any credit away from the Steelers because they played

with their hair on fire. They played with more emotion. They were also very sloppy, which is unlike them. They had 10 accepted penalties against them. They entered the game with the least amount of penalties on average per game. So something to clean up there, but they played with a renewed sense of passion energy. Like they really believe this is our division and we're going to go take it in a division game. Yeah, T.J. Watt had seven pressures and he didn't even have the most pressures on the team. Nick Herbert had eight as well as two sacks where like Dylan Gabriel in the Brown's offense didn't have necessarily a great game.

I don't know how much opportunity Dylan Gabriel had as a quarterback that traditionally like that's his his ability that where he excels relative to. other quarterbacks is getting rid of the ball quickly has that crafty, left-handed nature that lefties tend to have where they're just able to, you know, achieve where some of us can. We're like, how do you that?

Left-handed. Okay. You know, like most sports. You try to contest a left- quarterback, it doesn't seem to help enough. It doesn't help in podcasting. I could tell you. It does. It does help in podcasting as well.

But, yeah, the opportunity is very limited for Gabriel today. It's just, yeah. I mean, if you make a change, what's the point? But I said that about Joe Flacko. Look, he's had brutal situations. And checking the quick pressures too in this game,

like Nick Herberg had five quick pressure. Yeah. What had three. But you have to against a scheme like this that's trying to mitigate pressure quickly. Right. Like you just have no, like no one else in the NFL had that many quick pressures today.

So he's had a brutal start. And we say we don't know much about the NFL and what these teams are. And I think that could even be true about the Steelers in some way. But I think we do know something for the Steelers after six weeks, they should win the AFC North. Like, they may not, but they should.

You know, the next closest team is led by Joe Flacco, and it's the Bengals, and then the next closest team has four more losses than them. That's a big comeback to try to make for the Baltimore Ravens. They should have a home game in the playoffs this year. We'll see if they get there.

And what will they do with it? In the end, yes. We still have a long time to go until we get there. All right, two teams that probably won't be playing home game. in the playoff this year. Let's go to Las Vegas. Tucker left. Shotgun, Smith's going to throw. Clean pocket. Stand, stand,

scans. Trollment at the goal line. Turns. Touchdown Raiders. Gino looked all over the field and he followed Michael Mayor. Oh, yeah, Gino's back. So is Jason Horowitz. KRLV. 20 to 10 dynamite performance from

Gino Smith. Don't actually watch the tape to see if that's true or not. He was fine in the end. It was not great for most of it. But the Raiders defense was more than game. And I will start negative on this one, Shook. I do think this was the game where the Cam Ward Titans offense just went from like, man, Cam Ward's fun at least to just,

man, this is depressing. Yeah, they couldn't protect him. He couldn't get comfortable. You saw the lack of talent around him and you saw his lack of experience. There were instances in which he was holding onto the ball too long and it ended up going nowhere. Instances in which they had decent field position or opportunity and did absolutely nothing with it.

And they also turned the ball over, you know, three times. He threw a pick and he lost two fumbles, including one with the game essentially out of reach. It was a really, really tough watch. And one that he just dropped, right? Am I crazy? Yeah. Yeah, he went to go throw it and it just slip right out of his hand in the face of pressure.

It was a really, really tough watch. It was just like you take Calvin really out of this offense, which they did today, and he has nowhere to go. Like he's trying to hit Iyo Manor. He's trying to, you know, find Van Jefferson, Tyler Lockett is all but non-existent in this offense, and they can't protect him. More than anything, their investment in the offensive line has not paid off at all. And it's just a bad overall unit.

So, yeah, I don't want to start negative, but it's true. Like the Titans are a tough watch. This was probably their worst game of the year. And the perfect time for the Raiders, losers of four straight, losers by 34 points in Indianapolis to get back on the winning track. A get right game comes at just the right time for the Raiders. Yeah, they really needed it because there's reports coming out of Las Vegas all week. week this week, Pete Carroll, like not so subtly calling out Chip Kelly. He took a leaf out of

Patrick's very sudden, very not so subtle book of the last couple of weeks of Brock Bowers still struggling, dealing with the injuries. He was out today. And he was out today. And just, just tough times. It felt like even on that Gino touchdown, the play by play was a little passive aggressive scan, scan, scan, scan, scan, scan, scan, scan, scan, scan, scan, scan, all over the field before getting to the touchdown. They needed this in Las Vegas. And I don't know that it fixes pretty much anything. But man, winning is a little bit better feeling right now than some of the bad vibes that were coming out of there all week. Yeah. And they got a great defensive plays, especially from Devin White, who had a just an absolute whiff up front on the protection by the Tennessee Titans where Cam Ward got

blasted. The ball came out there. He picked off Cam Ward on a play later as we like got into this game. I literally wondered on air on Game Day Live today are the Titans going to do this two weeks in a row? Right. It was very similar. Did not separate.

But Cam Ward ultimately, we saw it from Jackson Dart as well. Sometimes the ball just flies out of your hands inexplicably. And that's what happened when the game wasn't necessarily out of the course, like some weird stuff going to happen

and the Titans could have done two in a row. Right, because Gino through, they were up 17 to 3 and the whole game plan seemed to be around not letting Gino make a killer interception like he has the last few weeks. He did not attempt a pass that went over 10 air yards until the fourth quarter. And then he hit a couple, but then he also got a little panicked on a third down and thought Michael Mayer, I believe it was, was going to stop on a route and threw an interception

up 17.3. Otherwise, he only had six interceptions and like the numbers are all six incompletions, rather, six incompletions. And the numbers like looked pretty good. But it almost looked like They were afraid of what Gino was going to do. And in theory, they're only a blocked field goal away from being three and three, but they do feel like they're a deserved two and four here, Shucky. Yeah, yeah, this record, I think, accurately represents the state of this team right now. By the way, Gino average air yards per attempt today. 2.7 is fewest in the game since week 9 of 2022.

Almost hit that Justin Fields number. I know, I know. Let's not go there. I do give them some credit, though, because that touchdown to Michael Mayer, They did that a few times, and I think that it's going to be an important part of how they operate their offense going forward because their offensive line is not great. We know how often Ash and Genties getting hit

behind the line of scrimmage, but they are bootlegging a lot, a lot of play action, buying Gino some time, and what they're doing is they're using Mare as a blocker, just a chip and release type. And he finds a soft spot in the zone, gets open and Gino went to him a couple times,

including on that touchdown pass. I think that's going to be vital to him because as we know, Gino likes to push the ball. And if their receivers are not getting separation, he's got to stop pushing the ball and find somebody underneath. So 2.7 yards per attempt is not exciting,

but it might be what we see more from the Raiders going forward. Little Trey Tucker down the field, at least late in the game. They get a home win first of the year for them at home. And yes, the Titans fall to 1 in 5. I thought it was interesting after the game.

Jeffrey Simmons, who's been incredible this year, said he thought they had their worst week of practice all year. Usually you hear, oh, we had a good week of practice. And he thought they came out flat. And I'm not sure if he said unprepared. I think you just said flat on Thursday that there was like no energy in the facility during the week, which could be a passive aggressive conversation about the coaching staff. I don't really know.

Depends. Was it a player's only lead energy feeling or was it? That's that what you want to hear coming off like your one miracle win of the year. Yeah. The Cardinals had dope as hell vibes. Yeah. And Jonathan Gannon and them came out and competed. Meanwhile, you know, teams are losing and the meeting structure is bad.

There's bad vibes. It turns out winning is good, unless you're in Arizona where the vibes are dope. We'll see, we'll see. But our friend Justin Graver, who does a great job with his podcast of the Titans and, of course, as the producer of he had the call. I remember a couple weeks ago on his podcast, Music City Audibles, there were back-to-back show titles that were called, Why is Brian Callahan still the Titans Head Coach? Followed by, is this the worst Titans team in franchise history?

I think both of those titles would work again this week. I hate to wrap up Patrick and Jordan's section of the show on such a down note, but it was a joy to have you both. Justin does great work. Yes. Well, I mean, I'm talking about what it's like to be a Titans fan. I have a positive note that I did you earlier because I was taken aback by the idea that Addafi Owe could somehow compare to Kalil Mac. He had one fewer pressure than the entire Baltimore Ravens team. Let's go.

So congratulations. I'm glad you pointed that out. He did lead the team in pressures today. and the team being the Los Angeles Chargers. How about picking them up? Speaking of... May we all? Go ahead. Yeah, go.

I was going to say, and may, as we, Patrick and I leave, may we attack the rest of our night? Like, George Higgins' stiff arm on the sideline, you know? Please. Yeah. It's a Sunday night. Pacheco motioning left. Mahomes in the pocket.

Darts it near side. Caught, touchdown. Kansas City. Hollywood Brown is having a night. and the Chiefs answer a touchdown with the touchdown to go up 26, 17, 9.30 to go in the game. Oh, that is Mitch Holtis on KFNZ. Hollywood Brown's having a night. Patrick Mahomes was having a night.

It felt like a throwback night because the Chief's offense has been having night after night after night last few weeks. 30 to 17, Chief's win going away against the Detroit. Lions. They are three and three, Nick shook. And yet it feels like they are scarier than they've been in a few years on offense at least, one of which they won the Super Bowl. Yeah. Let's bury the concerns about the Chiefs once and for all folks. I know that we talked about their close loss recently and we were like, but it actually felt good even though they lost the game. Well, we're seeing it bearing out in this game right here against the Lions. We knew that the Chiefs were probably going to have a bit of an advantage against that Lions defense. But

To see them work at the efficient rate that they did to see Mahomes continue to improvise and to see him lean on Travis Kelsey, especially getting him going early and then all the way through the rest of the game and distribute the football. It was classic chiefs. And the craziest part about it all to me was the way that they ended the game by doing what the Lions usually do best, which is run the ball with authority to get those first downs. I thought you were going to say fight with the lines. I mean, yeah.

So the game ends with Patrick Mahomes. trying to shake the hand of Brian Branch. Now, Patrick Mahomes is a sharp guy. Is there an outside chance? He knows how salty Brian Branch is in general and it's a little passive-aggressive with him there? I don't know. I don't know if he's that next level.

Probably not. Brian Bansch just passes his hand, which is fine. Juju Smith doesn't appreciate it. Probably says something. And then Brian Branch puts his hands on Juju's face. Juju maybe exaggeratingly goes to the ground and fracas ensues. And then I love football because a minute later, both teams are just dapping each other up.

Wouldn't be surprised, though, if Brian Branch gets punished and might even be more than a fine, you just never know. No need to focus on that. When you're talking about Kelsey and this Chief's offense, yeah, he goes six for 78 tonight. And I thought the pass interference that he drew late in the first half, to extend the Chiefs drive what was really massive on a play

where he's going down the sideline. And I think it pointed out all the mismatches tonight that the Chiefs had. Lions missing their two starting cornerbacks and they will be back later in this season. But ultimately, the Chiefs now have an offense and I mentioned they haven't looked this good

in three years. This is the most they've scored in a three-game stretch since 2022. And it was without their starting left tackle Josh Simmons, but Jalen Moore, the highest paid backup in the league comes in. He plays well enough against Aiden Hutchinson and the Lions. And yeah, they had seven drives before that last one shook,

and they reached the red zone on six of them. I mean, that is about as dominant an offensive performance as you could have. And they left it so that the Lions basically couldn't make any mistakes. And they made a couple mistakes on offense on a night where their defense just couldn't get stops. Yeah, there was a stretch in the third quarter. quarter that was most concerned to me about it's just something that you don't see the lions do where they went on a decently it was like a seven play drive right and they started their own 26 they handed off a couple of times they get a short pass over the middle of

ahman ross st brown they get a first down on a pass to jameson williams and then the next three plays they kind of fall apart and there's a hand off to jimier gives for a gain of two then there's a swing pass to the left that gets absolutely blown up and then there's a swing pass to the right that goes for one yard and they punt and in that in that sequence i thought are Are the Lions, like, out of answers for the first time offensively? Because usually they are such a well-oiled machine. They're in a great rhythm. The Chiefs got them out of the rhythm.

And the crazy part about that, the strange thing is, is they did it while only pressuring them nine times, 29% on the night. So the usual strategy to beat the Lions is get Jared Gough off a spot. He didn't really get off a spot until late in this game when things got desperate. It's just that, I don't know, I felt like the pressure of trying to keep up with the Chiefs,

which is what they used to be in the Tyreek Hill era, kind of got the Lions tonight. Yeah, a little bit. And look, they had a touchdown on the first drive of the game. When the lions look good on offense, they just look like the best team in the NFL. And that first drive, everything is working. Then they go for it on fourth down on the goal line. They throw the ball on a trick play from David Montgomery to Jared Gough.

After a long discussion, way after the play, they call the flag and call in the legal formation. So that seven turns into three. And then later in the night, they have a fourth down, Amman Ra, St. Brown, drops it. And I don't know if that's pressure, but it was the need to feel like you had to play perfect. Because until the end of the game, I was thinking, I was like, how much better could Jared Goff play? He played almost a perfect game. He had a lot of dimes in this game. The touchdown to Jameson Williams was fantastic. The touchdown catch by Sam Laporta was absolutely incredible. Exquisite. Like, Javier Gibbs was running to the outside early in this game. Like, for the most part,

they did well, but you had to be perfect because the Chief's offense was nearly perfect. And you mentioned it to end the game with Pacheco, they did a lot more under center runs tonight. And finally, I look at the box score, Shuki, and the leading rusher for the Chiefs is not Patrick Mahomes. We shouldn't be thrown a parade for 12 for 51 from Pacheco, but just having like a respectable running game. And Kareem Hunt had a couple successful runs too. It was just an average running game with such an upgrade for them. That's all they really need and they had it tonight. Yeah, a couple of anger runs at the end to finish the game,

which I think is important because too often we look at this team as, well, Mahomes is going to have to do everything and he'll distribute the ball, but he's going to have to run. And like you said, he was leading them in rushing. So it was nice to get contributions from both Pacheco and Hunt late in the game and prior to that in key moments. But there was also, it was interesting because I don't think the final score necessarily gives us the full picture of how close this game really was.

It's just that the Lions, they didn't run out of steam. They just couldn't get past. what suddenly became an insurmountable advantage in the part of the Chiefs in the fourth quarter. But like there's a sequence earlier in this game where they each turn it over on downs. They each go forward on fourth down. They each having complete passes

where I'm like, this is, I mean, these are two fairly evenly matched teams. I would love to see. Now granted, Josh Simmons wasn't out there. So that's, you know, one feather in the cap of the Chiefs. I would love to see them play again at some point, possibly in the Super Bowl. Well, that's the only time, Shuggy.

The only time it can happen. They get both the corners. They get both their corners back and see if that evens things out a little bit. think it could happen. So it's not just the two corners. And Kirby Joseph left this game, but then went back in. It's Aleem McNeil. Is still out. He started to practice for this Lions team. And the Lions have talked about, you know, how they're going to get some of their injured players back, unlike a year ago when they did not, on the Chiefs on the other hand, get Rishie

Rice back. They survived this early portion of the schedule at three and three. And I know they got some tough games coming up, but they have to feel great about where they're at. And they told Chris Collinsworth during the week in Mike Tariko that they feel better about this team at two and three than they did, you know, last year for most of the year, despite all the wins. And I get it. Because at their heart, they're an offensive team, Nick. They don't want to be winning the way that they won a year ago. They're incredibly healthy. They literally did not have an injury designation this week. Josh Simmons missed the game for personal reasons. So they're as healthy as any team in the NFL right now. Chris Jones, the one big weakness that they've had this year is Chris Jones hasn't

looked like Chris Jones until tonight. Three quick pressures. Got a hit on Jared Goff on the key third down late in the game was very active in terms of beating the Lions guards throughout the game. I get it. If I was a Chiefs fans, I would feel better about this team right now, especially in an AFC where Lamar's team is one in five. Joe Burrow is done and dusted and, you know, it seems wide open. Yeah. And the weird thing too is like as I'm running through this in my head right now, I'm thinking, yeah, you want to be an offensive team because that's your identity with Andy Reed as your coach and your background since he's taken over. But I think about when they beat the 49ers in the Super Bowl two years ago and that was a defensive team. And then I think back to week one and how

we haven't really, we didn't see that wasn't the same chief's defense. But then you consider tonight and you're like, that defense kind of put that game away for you in the fourth quarter. So I'm come all the way back around to ask you, Greg, is the chief defense like competent slash better or are we still masked by the fact that they can move the ball so well? I don't think their pass rush is great, but every team has some sort of weakness. Like you mentioned their pass rush tonight wasn't amazing. They had to blitz a lot to get it.

But they're a team that's better when they're ahead with Steve Spagnola. Compare that, by the way, to the Lions, whose pressure rate tonight was 17.9%. They, you know, they have nothing other. than Aiden Hutchinson in terms of their pass rush. And you give Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reed a great offensive line and you have a chance to win the Super Bowl. Okay, they made a big statement today. We made a big statement, shook. We served this beautiful week six, I think, with glory, with respect and with a lot of fun. For the first time since Sam Darnold was the quarterback of the Carolina Panthers

four years ago. The Carolina Panthers are 500 in the middle of an NFL season. I just wanted to say that one final time. Anything is possible in this season and anything is possible tomorrow night when we will be

recapping Monday night football. We got a double header shook. So let's go I would say get some sleep, but let's go watch some games and feel as ready as we're going to need to be for that game. Buffalo, Atlanta, Chicago, Washington should be a fun one. We are going live on YouTube after both of those Monday night games finish. It's, uh, it's me and shook. I can't wait. Week six, it's alive.

Hey everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On move to six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct when. rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else. It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sundays. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this

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