NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 2026 Week 7 Recap: One Unbeaten Remains, AFC North Race and Paris Reaction!

Episode Date: October 26, 2026

Gregg Rosenthal and Jourdan Rodrigue are LIVE from Paris, France where they react to the Falcons handing the 49ers their first lose of the season and games between the Colts and Vikings, Giants and Texans and Buccaneers and Panthers before they wrap up their trip overseas with a recap of the Steelers beating the Saints at Stade de France. After the break, Patrick Claybon and Nick Shook take over to take you through games between the Packers and Lions, Bengals and Ravens, Rams and Raider, Browns and Titans, Dolphins and Jets, Broncos and Cardinals and Chiefs and Seahawks on Sunday Night Football. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Concerned about your gambling or that of someone close to you? visit connectsonterio.com. Hey, it's Drew Franklin from NFL Cover Zero. The 2026 season is underway, and we are loving football on TV. Here's what you can expect from the podcast in our second season. I would suggest for these preseason games, I think they should do what they do on the NFL

draft. You know, when coverage of the NFL draft is basically for moms. And they're just like, hey, he has a dog named Spark. Listen to NFL Cover Zero on the NFL. Yahart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Welcome to NFL Daily, where we brought American football to Paris, and we live to tell about it. I'm Greg Rosenthal, and I am here in a conference room in a beautiful hotel that we don't

really deserve with my friend Jordan Rod Rieg, working overtime, much like the Houston Texans to kickstart week seven in the NFL. How are you feeling after calling your first NFL game on the radio overseas with yours truly and then being forced to watch some more games so we can recap them on this very show? Bonjour, Greg. Trey bien. I feel so good. I'm tired, but great. We, this is so worth it.

Can we do this all the time every week? Can we go somewhere else every week? That would be great. It would be tough on the family life. I think it would be tough on the game pass watching and just our general energy. but I feel great right now, and it's going to be a little bit different of a show. So everyone listening, here's the run of play.

Jordan and I will recap five games to start off the show, including the game in Paris. Of course, one by Aaron Rogers, who just conquers new lands every year. I saw him win in Dublin last year, and now in France. We'll wrap up with that game.

Once we're done with our five recaps, We will kick it across the pond over to Los Angeles, where Patrick Claibon and Nick Shook will take us home with the rest of the recaps. In our early window, Jordan, we claimed two of the remaining undefeated teams in the NFL left. And we're going to start with one of them going down. Bernie the snap, looks left, going to throw left, bad in one. Second interception of the day by the Falcons. Oh, what a moment. Just one week after Daniels was unfortunately taken off the field in one of the most sobering moments of the season.

We thought the young linebacker could have a serious injury, could be out for a long time. Instead, he's back on the field today picking off Brock Purdy with a game ceiling interception. Nick Foe kicks a field goal a few plays later to make it 20. 29 to 20. Daniels picks up his second turnover of the day, just a minute later, with a fumble recovery. And yeah, the 49ers go down for the first time this season, falling to 6 and 1.

This frisky Falcons team gets it done, getting to 3 and 4 on a day where they didn't look dominant, Jordan. they got out gained by about 100 yards in this game. They had a yard and a half less per play than the 49ers, but they were opportunistic picking Brock Purdy off two times, forcing a couple fumbles from running backs not named Christian McCaffrey who left the game for a while with a thigh injury. He was able to return.

But in that sequence where he was out of the game, their offense went on four straight long drive. drives. 10 plays, 14 plays, 10 plays, 11 plays. That resulted in 24 points. It went from a 14 to 3 lead for the 49ers. It was all San Francisco early to a 26 to 14 lead for Atlanta. And despite a lot of 49ers fans in Atlanta, just like the Bears fans a week ago, making Michael Pennix go to a silent count, Atlanta holds on late because of that interception and enough clutch plays by their offense. They can win in different ways. I guess we would call it reverse Falcon this time, which is that they weren't the ones to give up a lead.

Instead, they overcame a deficit, 11-point deficit in this case. Michael Pennix was the player they leaned on today, quarterback 25 or 34, 213 yards, the three touchdowns, completing 73.5% of his passes. Meanwhile, Bejohn Robinson, obviously the 49ers game plan, went so all out toward trying to figure out a way to bottle him up, just 63 rushing yards, on 20 attempts. So this is a Falcons team. We've seen it in small hints, but certainly the case in this one, in this win, they can win in different ways and they showed that. Well, when they win, they just remind you that Drake London is better than your cornerback.

And he made some difficult catches, whether it was getting like a penalty called on Jack Jones on the other side are winning in some tight coverage and just mossing defenders. Ends up with seven catches for only 66 yards, including a big touchdown to make it 2614. But John Robinson are running back. He'll cut out here to the near side with pits on this right side. Now here comes hoop over. First and 10th, the 21 pennacks from the pocket throws London. Touchdown. Ooh, I love it when West Durham proves my point for. me talking about Massenham WZGC on the call. Bejohn catches five passes for 59 yards.

Some of his receptions were really crucial. While he was a little bottled up in the running game, he made a few 49ers mistackles in those four straight drives. And they were just absolutely efficient. Kyle Pitts with a nice catch. It's been a quiet year. It was a relatively quiet day. For Kyle Pitts, no way.

Yeah, 22 yards total on five catches, but did make a nice catch. for the touchdown. All that said, a lot of things had to happen for the 49ers to lose their first game. Number one, Michael Evans, you know, didn't play. Debo Evan, Debo Samuel didn't play.

We know Nick Bosa is not back. This has just been an absolute mass unit. They didn't have a wide receiver. Catch a pass, including a couple touchdown drives, until the middle of the third quarter. At the end of the game, you know, it's Jordan Watkins and Jacob Cowing, is it? catching passes late.

And despite that, the offense looked pretty good early until McCaffrey left the game. And then Kaelin Black, he ran the ball well. You know, he had a touchdown run in this game, had a fumble. The very next play after Jordan James fumbled the ball, two straight punchouts. And you could see Kyle Shanahan just losing his mind a little bit. They lose the second fumble. And that's when, like I said, the Falcons did. a really good job in the middle eight of the game playing keep away with their long drives.

Brock Purdy, as I mentioned, also turns the ball over twice. There was that late interception. I thought Purdy played really well in the game, except for the two interceptions in the second half. And the first one, and this is my long way to get to the point of, you know, sometimes it's about the players. AJ Terrell returned for the Falcons in this game. And Purdy was trying to throw the ball away on a third quarter drive.

where they could have taken the lead away. And Terrell had maybe the prettiest interception all year on a throw that was supposed to be going out of bounds. And it was, and Terrell full extension, dragging his toes, initially called out, because I don't think the official could believe what a good play it was, makes the interception, and they respond with another long drive.

So it just felt like for a middle section of this game, it's all Atlanta and they get out of there with the win. Can we ever count interception? as catch of the year candidates? I feel like we should be allowed to do that. I feel like that would be a good little twist on our ongoing experiment. I like where you're going, or we could just have interception of the year. But I like them competing with receivers.

We can do whatever we want. We're in Paris. You, I think, are starting to feel the power that is being a co-host on NFL Daily. Jordan was incredible on the call of this game. We'll get to that. She's had a monster week. But yes, it's your world. we can make that happen.

Great win for the Falcons. I don't think it's that big of a loss for the 49ers. They're going into the by week. They managed the beginning of the schedule so well. They ran out of gas a little bit here, but they can try to get healthier

and get better after the buy. So that's one undefeated team that did not survive on Sunday. For a while, the Vikings were also in great peril. Two receivers left and right, Jones, back to pass, sat four times. I never know what is covered.

from Paul Allen on K-F-A-N. I just know it's going to be gold. If you told me before Sunday started that the Vikings would win a game while only scoring 16 points and Harrison Smith would provide the highlight that we would listen to, I would say, yeah, that's about right.

That's the 2026 Minnesota Vikings. Greg, women will let you down, men will let you down, your children, your friends, your colleague, your peers will all let you down, but the Minnesota Vikings defense will never, ever let you down. How dare you say that about my children? It has not happened yet. With a minute 34 left, down six points.

Daniel Jones and the Colts looked for a glimmer of a second that they might put together promising maybe even a comeback drive, started with the chunk play to Josh Downs. But the Vikings defense said, no freaking way. Harrison Smith intercepts Daniel Jones to ice the game. Obviously, the Vikings stay undefeated and minus a big Jonathan Taylor touchdown run in the first quarter all day long. This group was as excellent as they simply have been all year, including a sequence in the fourth quarter that featured big stops on back

to back second and third down by Blake Cashman. Blake Cashman had a freaking incredible day. And then Kyle Van Noy setting up what would be a missed field goal attempt by Spencer Schrader. And then of course, the game concludes. And it is Harrison Smith at the end, putting the ice at the end of this iced game, like pretty stunted the whole way through other than a couple of good connections from Kyler to T.J. Hawkinson, which we'll talk about. But this defense, it just, I don't understand how they can keep doing the things that they're doing because they just hold the line the entire game.

Yeah, we're in the cab on the way home from Stade de France. And the first, you know, big moment of the day, we're watching on Red Zone, is Jonathan Taylor busting for that run. And you're thinking, oh, maybe things are going to be a little different. I know they had a long field goal drive to end the first half. But then at the end of the day, you know, Daniel Jones, 108 yards on 22 attempts. They average under four yards per play.

It's like even the few little moments, and I know it's the Colts that they're playing, not the greatest offense in the world, that they'll, like, give up something. They just snap back to it almost right away. And it's interesting because when you are playing a defense like this, you need every other phase. Understanding your offense is probably not going to be productive. You need every other phase to be really good. And for parts of the game, it was mutually Kyler and this run game still struggling to put

consistent staining drives together or plays together, getting some long down distances, a couple bad sacks, bad hits or sacks at times. And you also need your special teams unit to be excellent. You need your kicker to make field goals. And Spencer Schrader, who has been so excellent for most of this year, misses two big field goals in a game that's like inching along three points by three points at a time. Yeah, I'm looking forward to watching this closer on our flight home. You know, we can download the game and find out why ultimately Kyle Murray and the Vikings' offense had a little bit of a

disappointing performance to only end up with 16 points against one of the worst defenses on paper. You don't have the excuses because Justin Jefferson's back. You have Jordan Mason back coming off a by. But Kyler Murray did have a key highlight. And like the Vikings quarterbacks, whoever it's been this year, he made just enough plays to get it done starting out the fourth quarter with this score. Murray from under center play action, close left. Caught T.J. Hawkinson. Vikings have the lead. It's a five-yard touchdown to TJ. 12.10, Minnesota. It was the lone touchdown for the Vikings because Will Reichert, of course, was mostly

nails. Grover Stewart actually blocked a kick by Will Reichert in the second half. What was super interesting is, you know, Ross Tucker, who was great on this call, for the national crew. They kept jinxing the kickers. And then the one time they didn't say anything before a Spencer Schrader kick, and you could almost audibly hear them thinking it out loud how they weren't going to say anything because in back-to-back sequences, they had complimented the kicker and then they had missed the kick or had it blocked. That's when they were quiet, and then he, of course, misses the last kick attempt that he had. But to the Hawkinson and, and Kyler connection, that is one of the small but very bright spots I've been taking away from

watching this Vikings offense over the last couple weeks. Because when it's on, He's one of his favorite targets. He's really steady. He was also blocking really well on a couple of the got-a-habit moments on catch-and-runs. And this sort of dependability is something that you can build around because the rest of it was just tough going. And the run game was really difficult to gain any ground for the Vikings. And then Aaron Jones left the game in the second half with a knee injury. And as of this recording, we're not sure what's going on with that.

Oh, that's bad news. Jordan Mason returns. Aaron Jones then maybe gets lost. Look, sometimes the box score does tell a story when Kenan Allen and LaQuan Treadwell are your two leading receivers with 31 and 19 yards in the year 2026. And Daniel Jones barely cracks triple figures. And Jonathan Taylor's wife is sending out Instagram stories about this is what it feels like for your husband to be on the trade block. And you fall out to two and five in the week that you fire your GM. Everything feels a little bankrupt. I think we know this is heading to a fire sale. You know, that might take a week or two more. of losing for them to fully get there. But I don't want to spend too much time on the depressing Colts, but just the summation of everything you saw from them. Well, I mean, it's just not enough, and nothing looks easy.

I actually thought their defense played better than I thought they were going to play, considering I thought coming off a by, the Vikings would look a lot better on offense. And, you know, without Soss Gardner, you know, they're still, they're, I just, they're so overmatched and outmanned in so many ways. the really key element for the Vikings that you catch this thing that you just want to hold on to and build off of, but you don't quite know how and you don't see it week over week. Kyler Murray gains really the true first, you know, real big explosive that swung this game with a 35-yard scramble.

Right after that, he sets up the Hawkinson touchdown. So when it's, you know, boom, boom plays like that that completely flip a field and swing the game, that's what these Vikings are envisioning. It's just that through most of the game, it is. start and stop. And as for, you know, Daniel Jones, that interception was bad. It was a bad decision. You know, he was, it was Brian Flores doing Brian Flores things. And there were plays where you could tell he didn't quite know what he was seeing. Shane Stuyken was getting really frustrated on the sideline, too. Just wasn't enough, as usual, from the Colts. There's a lot of bad vibes around the NFL.

The vibes in Indianapolis are tough right now. And it might not be changing anytime soon. Whereas the Minnesota Vikings, we kind of know who they are. are week after week. I think they want to be a little more. But if you have your six and O and you have a chance to improve, that is a great place to be. You know where else is a great place to be, Jordan? If you're the New York Giants, first freaking place in the NFCE still. Pistol formation with regard the fullback to the right. They hand it off for Singletary, dashes up the middle, cuts at the 25, 20, 15, breaks left to the 10 to the 5. Dibble The Secretary walks it off.

Touchdown Giants. In overtime, 30 yards. Scataboo with the 42-yarder and the former Houston Texan. Devin Singletary finishes him off. And the Giants have won in overtime, 2721. Ooh, the New York Giants. Not just went into Houston and won. They did it in overtime with two consecutive.

runs for a total of 72 yards to walk it off. And the running back position, which has had a lot of attention, Najee Harris gets cut, Cam Scadagoot's, Kim Skataboo gets bench, Tracy, Tyrone Tracy at one point gets benched this year. They finished the game. I don't know if you saw this. Arm and arm and arm. The three of them waving to the camera and dancing like, we are the men. and they are.

The New York Giants were extremely unlucky in my mind to even get to overtime. It would have been a little bit of a crime against football. Even if it would have helped our picks out here, Jordan, our Super Bowl team,

if the Giants had lost this game because this did not look like a game on Sunday between two even teams. It looked like an offense that was ready to push Houston. around. And on the other side of the ball, it was a scattershot Texans offense that was struggling with their own self-inflicted problems like it has for much of this year. The Giants almost double up Houston in total yardage and they get a very deserved overtime 27 to 21 victory.

I don't know that I can remember the last time the Giants have nearly doubled yardage or doubled production from a team. And certainly, with a backup quarterback. I mean, you know, we come in here, Greg, and you are positively gushing about J.J. McCarthy. Okay, yeah, let's get to it. I think maybe the two most shocking aspects of this entire season right now, the Texans defense is legitimately bad. It's gone from like, they're not playing as well as they could. No, they're bad. They're bad every week. J.J. McCarthy played awesome today. And it wasn't just because, you know, the Texans have been giving up a lot of big plays, although they did in this game.

He was making difficult throws throughout the first half especially, but he also in the second half avoided making any big mistakes, stayed aggressive, didn't hit as many throws. But he hit on his first 16 attempts, Jordan, six explosive plays. I mean, that's more than half of some teams have all season. He had two 40 plus plays in the first half, and these aren't fluky plays. They're outside shoulder deep down the field.

Malik neighbors beating Stingley, like without having a big window. It's a deep out to the right side that lets Malachi fields run down the field. There wasn't a schemed upthroat to Tommy Fadoni. I mean, if there's ever a New York Giants, it's Tommy Fadoni. That was one where Matt and Aggie really helped him out. But for the most part, it was going deep and aggressively to his receivers, neighbors, and fields especially and allowing them to make plays.

And he was under control and he was on point. I honestly couldn't quite believe it because I felt like last week was a little bit of a fluke where he got away with a lot of throws. This was a legitimately, just very good performance out of the young quarterback. Here's why I'm not necessarily surprised by this.

It has very little to do with J.J. McCarthy as the football player. It is more so. We've talked about this all year. far, Greg, on these preview shows. The Texans are so susceptible to the explosive pass play. If a quarterback is willing to push the ball against this defense and come what may devil may care about this pass rush that is, that still can be as good or better than any in the league. But if the quarterback says, I don't, I'm just going to not care about that. I'm going to put it

out of my mind. And I'm going to say, F it, we ball and throw and push the ball down the field through the air in that way, almost with disregard to the consequences, almost with this naivete, I think you beat this Texans team every time if you play like that because of how susceptible they are. And so this might seem like maybe a backhanded compliment, I assure you, I just think J.J. McCarthy has the correct level of naivete to throw the ball this way against this defense. Look, he played confident aggressively sometimes. times with Minnesota, and it just didn't work out well. The quarterback that got away with a few in

this game was CJ Strax, who could have had two or three interceptions, played well in spurts, but got away with a bunch. J.J. McCarthy really didn't. Even the sacks he took, I felt were the right sacks to take, where he just, like, his offensive line gave up pressure immediately. You have to be a risk taker against this defense. You will profit as a risk taker. Quarterbacks are told not to take risk. Quarterbacks, like JJ, in his. last offensive system were told not to take risk. And that's all fair. That's a good coaching point. But they are in the Giants are in Effet mode and he is in Effet mode because what do they have to lose? This is the backup quarterback in a season where the NFC East is an absolute tire fire.

So absolutely they are going to push like this. This is the way you beat the Texans. They want to make you think that you have to play by your rules as a quarterback. And if you just break them at will and say, no, actually, I'm going to be aggressive every single time. You can be. this Texans team. No, Jalen Petrie in this game, no Reed Blankenship. That definitely hurts their back end, although Blankenship had been struggling, but that doesn't account for everything. And I think the Giants coaching staff has done a really good job. On the other side, the Texans had 10 first half penalties. I mean, they just kept shooting themselves in the foot. A lot of them on the offense, a lot of second and longs. The running game, you know, inconsistent. This was not one of

C. J. Stroud's best games, even though he ends up pretty clean with two touchdowns. No Tank Dell returns. That was a cool moment. And that's sort of what I'm getting at. Like in terms of luck, there were a lot of lucky plays. Tank Dell looked really fast on a punt return. He had one run, but he also had a 43-yard catch that was like a tipped pass that was supposed to go to another receiver. Deante Banks completely shut down Nico Collins. Deonti Banks is really playing well for this team. And I think you just have to give John Harbaugh a ton of credit. And Matt Nagy, and his defensive coaching staff also a ton of credit because I think they're doing a really good job. The tone was set in this game by being aggressive, going for fourth downs early in the game and getting them to get that early lead.

Cam Scataboo ends up with 124 yards on the ground, including a great touchdown run for 16 yards where he broke a few tackles to take the lead in the fourth quarter before C.J. Strowd had another hero drive to send it to overtime. but ultimately, I think the right team won, even if it wasn't the team that we wanted. Tough one for the Texans heading into their buy at 2 and 5. Giants get to 4, 2, and 1 in first place. Let's go from one ugly division, the NFC East to another one

that got a little bit uglier on Sunday. And now third down and 15 for the Panthers. Here comes four rushers. They hit young, he fumbles the football. It's scooped up by collection. And it's going to be a big man touchdown as he does a flip into the end zone and silences Carolina. 16 to nothing. Tampa Bay with the lead.

And Kalaja Kansi at 300 pounds does a flip into the end zone and flips the script to make it 16 to zip in favor of the Bucks. We haven't heard from him much this season, but that's Tony Castro Cone there on the Bucks Radio Network, WF. U.S. We get a big man touchdown, Jordan. We're putting it on the show. Kalagie Kansi, scoompson score, one of a few abnormal scores in what was a preposterous first half. What was it?

33 to 6. 3 to 6 in the second quarter for the Buccaneers. They end up rolling 43 to 13 over Carolina. Yeah, Dave Kinalis summed it up pretty well in his halftime interview. with the broadcast crew, everything that could go wrong pretty much did. First, Bucky Irving scored a rushing touchdown on the opening drive. He would score again before halftime on the way to 258 rushing yards combined for the Buccaneers in total.

Put a pin in that. There's a muff punt that eventually leads to a Bucs field goal. Coliza Cansey recovers that sack fumble by Bryce Young scores the touchdown. The Panthers score a touchdown on a Bryce Young pass to Darren Waller, but the extra point is blocked and becomes a two-point. conversion for Tampa Bay when Zion McCollum comes down with it and returns it to the other end zone. Ryan Fitzgerald on for the extra point from the left hash mark. It's blocked. It's knocked away and then picked up racing as Zion McCollum for a two point safety. A flag flies as McCollum dashes his way all the

way into the end zone. Tykee Smith is the one who got his hand on the football, but let's see what the flag is for. This could be two points for the Buccaneers. The flag did not matter. The two-pointer counted. And look, when we have a pick two, that's another rule. It gets on the show. It happens so rarely that when you're the extra point was returned for two. It's just a rule we have. Zion McCong, good job there. A pick two. And then we got another just pure interception. Bryce Young threw his first interception since week three. Then Baker Mayfield through a wide open touchdown pass to Tess Johnson. So that's all that happens before halftime. They come out in the third quarter. Unfortunately, they lose Taylor Moten.

in the third quarter with a fractured fibula, which is super, super awful. He just came back from the blood clot injury. It's just awful. Also, all five of their sacks that Bryce Young took came by the third quarter. Oh, and he threw another pick in the third quarter. So, yes, Dave Canales, everything that could have gone wrong for the Panthers today did go wrong. And by the way, except for the Kenny Pickett Drive.

He did lead a late touchdown to get into double digits. Sure. But guess how many times? Without looking, guess how many times Baker Mayfield actually threw the ball today? I looked. I looked. So I will be cheating by telling you it's 11 for 64 yards. 64 yards. The Bucks finished with 258 rushing yards, three rushing touchdowns per our friend, Lindsay Rhodes at Sumer Sports. Their 81% run share on all plays was the second highest single game run rate since 2016. And here's the crazy part. It happened in great weather.

Right. The other game was the Patriot. it's in the snow against the bills. It was a Belichick game. If you guys happened to remember that, where they ran it about 45 times and just never threw the ball. A fluky game, yes. But I've been saying the best 1 in 5 team,

maybe in NFL history. They now have a positive scoring differential on the season to get to 2 and 5. I'm putting a little tongue, you know, firmly in cheek. But I truly do believe there isn't much difference between these four. or NFC South teams.

In fact, I think the Saints are pretty solidly the worst of the four. And I don't believe in my heart that the Bucks are, you know, at some different level than the Falcons and the Panthers. They do have some ground to make up, but not as much ground as they did coming into today. Yeah, it just so much coming off the by too for the Panthers has to be really disappointing. Their defense was really bad.

And obviously still can't stop the run, which Zach Robinson and the Bucks knew. And, you know, this Bucs defense was more active up front. than we've seen for a while. Yaya Diabi, three sacks in a collective effort by all of them to get that kind of pressure on Bryce Young. And then obviously the offensive line issues for them continue. Yeah, I want to see the run game do it more consistently.

I think if Bucky Irving and Kenny Gainwell and Sean Tucker could run like this, obviously they're a force to be reckoned with. We'll see what Zach Robinson's offense. But when they are running, it's a good offensive line. They at least have a chance. Just a humbling game for the Panthers. This is two this season where the defense just caved in on itself, but ultimately they're still at three and three

and just barely ahead of the Falcons who made up some ground on this Sunday. I mentioned the Saints. In my mind being solidly fourth in this division, if you didn't happen to wake up early in Paris to listen to us, don't worry, you can listen to us now. Aaron Rogers is sitting in the gun at the 40. Ball is at the 34, third and six from there.

Drop back, he's got time in the pocket. It starts to collapse. He's going to rush it. He's going to run past the first down, 24-yard line of the New Orleans Saints. It's a 10-yard scramble on third and six, and who knew the 42-year-old had it in him? To quote the great late Chris Wesleyan, they've got one move. They're going to use it. They go and empty and let Rogers just run the show, pick his favorite.

receiver. He gets great protection, except this time nobody's open, and the Aaron Rogers from 10 years ago shows up and picks up the biggest first down of this game. This team, and that was our friend Will Gavin and myself on Talksport. We'll hear from Jordan soon enough on one of the calls. This team is my guilty pleasure this year because they just, they won't do what you want them to do In the two biggest spots of this game, even though they're running the ball so well, what do they do? On the goal line, they go and empty. Right on the goal line. And they get a touchdown.

They get away with it. In the fourth quarter, trying to run out the clock. They go and empty. And you know what? Aaron Rogers made it work as he has enough times in key spots this season. It was an 11-play drive that ends with him kneeling to close out a 10-year-old. 16 to 10 victory that really had better offensive play than the score would indicate, but not a lot of possessions and a whole lot of long field goal drives.

Yes. And what was so notable about this, you hit the nail on the head. First of all, they won't do what you want them to do or think they should. And then they're going to have like big feelings about it at all times, which is so fun to watch and burst. Like, it's just fun to watch them all freak out at the side. sideline or each other, but then also it's not dysfunctional somehow. Like it all just kind of works that they're all doing this together.

The long possessions and the long drives, even if it didn't always go right for the Steelers, the fact that they could possess the ball for these long drives was such a killer ultimately for the Saints because the Steelers were at least capping them with field goals by Chris Boswell. On the other side of it, when the Saints would get the ball back and would put together sustainable drives would put together, you know, long-ish to long drives. They were ending in a Tyler Shuck interception. They were ending in a missed field goal.

They were ending in, you know, the turnout. Like, it just, you can't do this when a team is trying to go possession football on you and ball control on you. You can't not capitalize on the other side. Yeah, the Saints did a good job on offense in the first half. They go, you know, field goal touchdown to end it. They only had three drives. In the whole game, they only had six.

And that does put more pressure on your quarterback, Tyler Shuck, who gets picked off a great play by Patrick, not Patrick Queen, who had the big sack in that game, but Peyton Wilson, who keeps making big plays. And they have had just enough big playmakers each week, whether it's Queen or Peyton Wilson. Keanu Benton had some good plays in this game. Yeah, yeah. Black had some good ones as well. Nick Herbig was all over the place. Like someone steps up to end a drive.

And in this case, it was. complimentary football. I got to say, though, I didn't think Tyler Shuck played poorly in this game. That was the one bad throw. For the most part, Tyler Shuck is the only part of this team and the passing game that I like right now. Let's listen to his touchdown throw to Devon Bailey. Fourth and goal to go, it's very different to being fourth and two at midfield. What do you call on, Jordan? Nine carries, 11 rushing yards. Do you stay on the ground? Not with this. Not with this group. No. No. I'd leak it I'd do like a little outside leak or something with the tight end

Tyler Shuck will come out initially in the gun with Kendra Miller alongside him to receive a split out on the left-hand side of Chris Alave and Devon Velley they've got a heavy formation to the open side of it and he is gonna throw to the end zone two Saints Jordan called for it and they delivered you get stuffed three times on the goal line let's do what we do well Well, let's throw the ball. Call and Moore, are you patched into our headsets up here? Great call. Great play by Velae. I love to see it.

Great call by Jordan Rodrigue there in a big spot. So much fun. You got the play call. Right, Devon Velae acting as their tight end. He's got the big body of one. And look, Alave, I think, had a good game. They get some of the rookies involved. Again, it's a limited amount of drives that they even had a chance.

to go down the field. I watched this team, and I studied them closely the last few weeks on the coaches film and everything. And I feel like it's all bankrupt except the passing game. The running game is a joke right now.

Here's the comparison. 30 carries 148 yards for the Steelers. They really stuck with it, especially early in the game, they were good. The New Orleans Saints, 17 rushes, 18 yards. It took them 15 designed runs until they had a successful run.

You just can't win that way, especially when your defense isn't any good, and it's just not enough for your coaching staff. It's not making up for it. Pittsburgh's defense accounted for four run stuffs by the time the Saints actually had a successful run. So they weren't just neutral. They were getting the runs stuffed,

which is a little bit of a different metric. So for me, it is exactly what we thought it was going to be coming into this game, which is everything falls onto Tyler Shuck to do things and create dimension in an offense that simply does not have it. They were so dependent at a certain point on those quick slants from side to side to side to side. They ran, you know, a billion of them. And they don't have a run game. So that's how they're trying to stretch a defense out and get them and loosen them up a little bit. For me, it was so interesting watching, you know, I thought Aaron Rogers played really well when at times,

when he wasn't, when he was missing a couple throws, they could lean on their run game. They could lean on Jalen Warren and Rico Dowdell, who had a great closeout to this game. Yeah, I really was impressed that they trusted Rico Dowdell late in the game. He had a couple explosive runs last week. That's a nice development for them. Warren goes over 100 yards on the ground. Dowdell gets about 86 yards from scrimmage because he had six catches on the day. It's funny, you look at the stats and like Rogers' success rate because he threw a lot of passes away

and he had a lot of short passes. It was actually significantly lower than Tyler Shucks, but he made big plays when they needed to. And the throw he had, he just has a couple of these each week that I got to admit, I've been enjoying watching because a little more sauce to him this year than a year ago. And he had that long throw down the sideline to D.K. Metcalfe to end the first half

that ultimately, you know, sets up a score there. He had the throw early of, course to Darnell Washington. Let's hear the first touchdown on French soil. After Rogers steps his foot. He looks to the left-hand side for a quick throw. To the end. Steelers and Mount Washington.

Bienvenu. Duns Lezone Debu. And we get the very first touchdown on Parisian soil. And it goes to the big tight end, Darnell Washington. Ah, Darno Washington made his name last year in Dublin, but let's just transport it over to France. If you get the one-on-one with the big guy, no one's matching up with Darnell. Why would you even try to cover him at that point?

You're not getting the ball. Throw it up, and Mount Washington is going to get it. I felt bad for, who was it? Was it a Kool-Aid on that one? I am forgetting the cornerback in coverage, but it just was unfair. and that guy who only had one catch on the day still makes an impact in the blocking game. And I think they're an underrated team. I've enjoyed watching them play.

I think they have on just enough playmakers on both sides of the ball to make them a good watch each week. They are at five and two, a little better, I think, than an expectation. I keep believing the ceiling just a little higher for this team if they all can come together. because the coaching is better. I agree. I think they have a real edge there. Mike McCarthy is making really good adjustments to, with this, you know, the ones he can get Aaron Rogers to agree to.

Through the course of the game, you saw it. We talked about it on that call, which, again, that was so much fun. We talked about it on the call a lot. They kept doing different combinations with Pet Friermuth, who dropped, who had a great game, dropped an unbelievable pass from Aaron Rogers that would have. probably been a highlight on this show had he made the catch. And every time they would sub out different combinations of Friermouth and Darnal Washington, they were in the first half giving away their tells of run and pass. Then they mixed it up and started putting both of them

on the field at the same time in different blocking patterns and formations so that they could detach like Pat Firemworth did basically ran the Tucker Craft play and chipped a block and shed it and then detached and got up the field for a catch that converted. So to me, they're doing a lot of different things, especially factoring in the DK Metcalf other than that catch, is not a big part of this offense at all. And so they're making things happen. And Patrick Graham, a masterclass the last couple of weeks

and getting the most out of these mostly very veteran players. The most sane sequence of the game, they're on fire throwing the ball, moving it well in the second half. It's second in five. And, okay, let's give Tyler a break for one. play and call like a shotgun delayed draw to Alvin Camara. He loses five yards and second and five, sets up a third and ten. And then they get a penalty, which they've had a ton of on the offensive line, moves them back to third and 15. They end up settling for a long field goal, which Daniel

Carlson doesn't get good footing on. I don't know what happened, but it didn't reach from 53 yards and they give the Steelers great field position. We will see. I don't think Kellan Moore will be fired. We've been talking about that. I think it would have had to be an embarrassing day. But it's just more of the same. This team is not good enough. You know who is good enough? This crew, this entire time that we've had and the support that we've had in Paris has been awesome.

We're going to send it to Nick and Patrick to finish off this show. But we couldn't get out of here without just saying some thanks and maybe some reflections here on the week. And look, if you're not interested, just fast forward and get to the big, you know, AFC North game or whatever is next. I don't even know.

But it was a really fun week here. Our producer who's helping out on site here, Jason Kleinman, helping us out in the conference room. Angela Ellis, our boss, who is a big part of what we do here. It was great to spend time with her. Alex Fergola really helped us out all week long. And it takes a lot of people to make this happen. And we do not take it for granted, including to our new, I couldn't call him a new coworker. but I've never really met him before.

Roger Goodell, who not only did we interview, but I saw in the gym roughly, what is it, 15 hours ago. Yeah. It's a very small gym. Yeah, and the way you talked about it, I was a little worried about your headspace after that experience. Well, it's 7.30 in the morning. It's a small gym.

It's a great hotel, but it's a small gym. There's about eight people in there, and there's no room. You're like doing things right in front of people. You're kind of trying to carve out some space unless you're on the treadmill. Greg lifting heavy weights, of course. Yeah. And then Roger walks in there. Gives me a little bit of a nod.

You know, no one wants to talk at 7.40 in the morning. And I thought, I don't feel comfortable right now. I'm going to get out of here. I'm going to leave. I felt much more comfortable interviewing him. That was a lot of fun the other day.

And it's been a lot of fun also to see Jordan just living her best life. As you have said many times, Paris Jordan is a totally different Jordan. Who is she? Right? Like, I just had a blast. I mean, we went on walkabout. The first day we got here, wandered into this beautiful park garden with all these old statues. I loved the dogs here.

They're like, I would scream every time I would see a different dog. I was like, I got to separate myself from all of you guys because I can tell I'm going to start to annoy you at a certain point. But I just, I loved the food. We didn't have a bad meal the whole time we were here. The food was crazy. And our crew and everybody with us, I mean, we got so much support. And just the opportunity is incredible. And of course, our friends, Will Varney and Will Gavin at Talk Sport,

I jumped down at halftime to have some fun with Sky Sports. It's all a blast. It's all a lot of people helping us live out our dreams. And I know it was a hot topic back in the States. Why this game was here, I can only say our experience, which was we had a beautiful week. And I know the protests were in a controlled area on Saturday night. And nothing happened like it did a week ago.

It was a very hospitable, peaceful, beautiful week. And the coolest thing was walking around on Saturday. And granted, in the touristy areas and stuff, and actually seen as a lot of Americans over here and enjoying themselves. And the crowd was great today. It was about half Saints, half Steelers. They were allowed when they would have some plays to be made for. It was a good atmosphere.

I do think they're going to be back here. If it's not next year, it'll be soon enough. I think they'll consider this a success. And heck, I met two people this week who stopped me on the street that weren't here for the game that were Americans, but they lived over here, and they say they're listeners of the show. So we got a few. I expected this.

I was warned about this. Euro Gregg getting stopped by listeners is absolutely the most fun thing to see. It's great. It felt great. And so thank you to everyone. And thank you, maybe more than anyone, to our friend Patrick Claibon, who's filling in and really helping us out this week, in addition to Shook, who is carrying a bigger workload for NFL media than Cam Scadaboo ever will. You will hear from both of them next. Hard Rock Bet Casino app is here, Ontario. It's safe, secure, and crystal clear with fast payouts and 24-7 local support. You can play over 3,000 games right here, including Hard Rock Bet Casino exclusives.

The Hard Rock Bet Casino app is here, Ontario. Roll with us. Must be 19 years of age or older to play. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Concerned about your gambling or that of someone close to you, visit the nextontario.ca. Football's back. Hey, it's Drew Franklin from NFL Cover Zero. Enjoy the NFL season while listening to NFL Cover Zero.

We have storylines, predictions, and lots of silliness. Here's what you can expect from the podcast in our second season. When you meet people and you say your job's a sports announcer, it's always interesting to see what the first thing they say is. I did have one of the more difficult questions, though. He sits next to me and he sees I'm on my computer and he goes, big sports fan and I was like yeah actually and he goes we think about my jaguars this year I realized like no one's ever asked me that question ever about anything and I was like

do youvovall listen to NFL cover zero on the iHeart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast welcome back here on NFL daily patrick claybon nick shook 5,669 yards from paris where we are in Los Angeles, this show, it doesn't just span a globe. We appreciate Jordan as well as Greg's work, Jason Clyman out there as well, putting in all this work, but we got the rest here stateside. I am stunned by the math that you did in preparation for that. That's good work. It's good work out of you.

It's good work out of them. We're going to try and put some good work together here. We can peek, if you want to peek on my browser windows, I did that search 19 seconds before we started. So, no math involved. Craming. We're just going all the way through and making decisions. decisions, decisions being something that was very interesting in our first game that we look back at that ends up in a Lions win over the Green Bay Packers.

Here we go to win it. Jake Bates from 22 yards out, hash mark left side. Snap, spot, kick away. It is up and it is good. The Detroit Lions win it by a score of 20 to 17. Jake Bates sends it through on the final play of the game. That drive to win it by Detroit clutch. Ten plays 71 yards. 321 off the clock. 10 plays 71 yards, but that fully doesn't encompass the amount of hilarity that took place in this game.

There were two high school field goals. I can only describe them as high school-linked field goals where that's the last time we were concerned about these being missed by Trace Mack. And concern on the second to last play where perhaps Jemir Gibbs might have heard him. intentionally not scoring a touchdown the second time he did that in seven plays. Yes, he certainly looked like he was a little uncomfortable by the time he went down to the ground and got up and there was no celebration. There was no,

I just put us in a position to ICE this game and set Jake Bates up for his high school field goal, which we saw him convert. It was I'm uncomfortable. I'm just going to slowly, gingerly walk off. I'm not going to really make much of a demonstration that I may have hurt myself. Regardless, it's one play in the larger picture. Hopefully he's okay. He does finish with 116 yards

on 29 attempts. Another classic, I game from the Lions offensively, but it was one of those games in which they got sloppy for the first time this year. They turned the ball over twice. They'd only turn it over once all season. And it felt as if there was a period in the second half that both teams just wanted to give the other team the game. Gough taking risks. The Packers making their mistakes, trace smack, missing field goals. For a decent period of the fourth quarter, I was pretty convinced that nobody, neither team wanted to win this game. It was in terms of a situation and a decision from Dan Campbell, fourth and one from his own 24 yard line.

It's the first thing I wrote here. And I mean, next gen stats, which again, this is not a real person saying things. I would love to be able to have a full conversation with the model or the people who facilitate the model. Your algorithm. Yeah. Why this is deemed as a toss up, also 25% on a field goal, like an 88 yard field goal. I don't know.

That doesn't necessarily make sense to me. But Dan Campbell elects to go for that. They don't get it. Yes. That was me formerly as a shield robot. Now I have ears. And I dip into the mousquetools and I want to pull out the mouse quatool on the decision. But then Trace Mack, for the second time from within 40 yards, sprays one to the right. Spraise is the perfect example. It's like a golf shot. Honestly, it looks like my shots with my irons. You know, you get to the 17th hole. It's a hot day outside. I just start opening the club face. Line up too close to the ball shook. Every shot's going right. My iron's already too short from my height anyway. That's a whole other subject, but he sprays the second one. And that's where I was like, oh, this is a concern. Because on the first one, if you look at the replay,

it looks he kind of hits the turf with his foot a little bit. So it kind of explained it. The second one, there is no explanation for it. Not to mention, they wasted a prime opportunity to take advantage of the lions making one of the more inexplicable decisions that you just referenced there by going for it on your own 24. It was funny because earlier in this season, Ben Johnson did something similar with the bears,

where they did a QB sneak on fourth and one deep in their own territory. It didn't, they did not convert it. turn the ball over and everyone was like, why are you doing that? This was even worse. It was fourth and one. No, it was fourth and almost two. It was a very long one and it was predictably stopped. And yet the Packers couldn't cash in. And that was the point where I thought, man, neither team wants to win this game.

Classic NFC North right here. Over the course of the full length of the game, the opportunity to get back Brian Branch for this secondary because they have been a struggle all around, especially a corner. DJ Reed had a solid performance today. But welcome back to the NFL. Brian Branch with this pick. Love's got it. Drifts back, wants to throw, loads up, throws down field.

It's up for grabs and it is picked up on the Lions. Intercepted. Hey, welcome back, Brian Branch. I see you 32 going up and taking that ball away. The Lions have it back. Matthew Golden and Christian Watson over the past couple of weeks, running past people catching these deep passes, especially against Chicago Bears.

It wasn't there. No, no. It's because of a guy like Brian Branch returning and playing center field in that play specifically. With the green mouthpiece flapping out of the vent in his helmet, I don't know how that's legal, but I don't care. It's part of his swag or whatever. That's fine.

And what was really fine is his return to this defense that sorely needed a playmaker like him in the back end because I think that those examples of what the Packers had found success doing against other teams probably would have happened against this defense. It happened to them plenty when they did not have a guy like Brian Branch back there. So for him to come back and make a big play, start of the fourth quarter, it's a tight game. It's a huge moment in a game that was decided by those very small inches, types of situations. He comes through right there. And you talk about the turnovers. I would put both of those on Cade Mays playing his first

game at center where one, Jemir Gibbs is in those, in that situation inside the five where an offensive lineman's trying to push him from behind. He winds up pushing the football out from his own teammate and causing a fumble goes to the Green Bay Packers. And then there's a snap that never gets all the way to Jared Gough. He's trying to reach, I believe the three technique in Maids. He leaves. The ball is just rolling around and goes. to the Green Bay Packers. But despite those turnovers, they get enough from Jared Gough,

another solid Jameson Williams game, including an explosive reception down the sideline where he kind of turns it on and dives into the end zone. Where you start to wonder, Brian Branch comes back, the offense is looking good. Hopefully, Jemir is healthy.

The North, in chaos, the lions were at the bottom. In three weeks from now, they could be at the top of the game. I think it's the most competitive division. Both of the Norths are. The AFC North and the NFC North are the most competitive divisions in football.

football, they're the hardest to predict exactly how this is going to pan out because another member of that division stayed undefeated today and you still have Chicago and you still, you know, just a whole, in its totality, you look at Green Bay at four and three, the Lions now, you know, one step further with another win to move to four and two. It, it's one of those divisions where I'm like, any of these teams can win. And if Detroit gets healthy as they are right now at the right time, because I think the Mays stuff is, you know, he's rusty. He had a wrist fracture, you know, it's kind of tough when you first come back. You get healthy. stable there. You're able to keep Jemir Gibbs

because they're a completely different team without Jemir Gibbs so he's got to be able to be there. They could very much climb up that ladder like you said. And next thing you know, we're looking at one of those divisions that could produce three playoff teams. Or four. Close to it. In the last year, we're ultimately

depending on the problem in previous years was there was somebody else in the NFC, either coming out of the west or coming out of the east. That doesn't seem to be the issue this year. So the gate wide open for three teams in the NFC north to make it to the postseason.

Josh Jacobs comes back. The impact in the run game not necessarily felt. You can feel it in the passing game as Josh Jacobs has, I believe, seven targets, called five catches, including a touchdown, where facilitates the offense

looks a little bit better, but also the Lions defense improved today as well. Yeah, a heck of a run by Jacobson that touchdown, by way. I break and tackles tightrope in the sideline. And you can see, you can see the difference immediately between Jacobs and Marshaun Lloyd when

they're on the field, even though the running game is still really not getting going yet. So good boost for them. We'll see, you know, where it leads them. Where the rundown leads me is to discuss another fourth quarter of all just in total second half collapse by the Baltimore Ravens. Let's see.

Which touchdown should we toss to here? Angles are punched in tight. So are the Ravens defensively. Throwing a long count. Fakes the Handoff, drops back, short pass, caught by a wide-open-through sample, heading for the end zone. Touchdown Bengals. There is a penalty flag on the near side of the field. It's on Baltimore.

The touchdown will stand, and that is coffinnails. Bam, bam, bam. I'll tell you, let's get out of Baltimore with some serious buttwhip. Yeah, it's not just coffin nail. At that point, the dirt has gone over. The person that's standing wistfully. gazing upon, like, that's what I want. Grass is growing. Yeah, if

I, if I'm zeroed out at any point, I need one of y'all to stand off in the distance at my funeral and just kind of gaze in the distance. Can I make sure that's raining? Yeah, so people know. No umbrella. Know that I'm a real one. The Baltimore Ravens give up 35 unanswered points. Yes, every single one of those points. The Cincinnati Bengals scored against the Baltimore Ravens was

unanswered as it's a, the sample touchdown was the fourth. Joe Burr. touchdown pass. He went 16 of 18 in the second half. He was 6 of 12 in the first half for 43 yards. All of these Ravens collapses have their own unique flavor. But this was a performance where you get big opportunities like a big play, a 48-yard touchdown from Zay Flowers.

They get two field goals after that. They're up 13 and nothing. You're thinking, oh, that's great. That's pretty much it. There was a fourth and two at the 12 at the start of the fourth quarter. Josh Kovas runs into a defender. the ball is thrown at that point. No flag. I don't think there should have been a flag.

I think they were within five yards. They don't come close to scoring for the rest of the game. And we talk about these collapses with the team. Again, I will say that they're all unique. They're all different. They're all special little snowflakes. But this isn't like the Miami Dolphins big comeback where that was a high-powered raven's offense.

This was an offense that it does struggle. It struggles at time with its backup quarterback, which is understandable. Yeah. And a defense that did all it could in the first half just couldn't muster up enough in this. So, you know, I have a few things, angles to take care because you know how when you like order a certain type of food, you order two dishes, they're different, but they kind of taste similar in one way or another. There's some shared qualities to it. That's kind of what the last two weeks for the Ravens have been.

Because last week they jump out to a tentating lead on the Browns. They don't score again. But at least it's close. They're battling through the rest of this game. Today they just get a bomb dropped on them by the Bengals who look like a completely different team in the. the second half as opposed to the first half. They get to halftime and they essentially could have just like, I don't know, participation trophies about what they deserved for the first half performance.

I thought, look, the Ravens, the only mistake they've made is that they didn't build a bigger lead because if the Bengals do wake up, then they're going to be in danger. They referenced it on the broadcast. Oh, last week they jumped out to a 10-0 late and then didn't score again. Guess what? They did it again this week. And it was in probably more depressing and concerning fashion. You do give them a little bit of a break because of Snoop Huntley playing.

But my issue is, is they cannot generate. any sort of sustained drives. Derek Henry, success rate on the ground is near the, I mean, the absolute basement. He finished the game with 17 carries for 45 yards and a 17.6% success rate. That's three successful runs out of all of those. It's the second consecutive weekend which this has happened to him, happened to him last week, and he only had it happen to him once at all last year. So this is a consistent theme with this offense is that they get off the hot starts and they run out of steam well before the fourth quarter that the Saints, yeah, the Saints game the season was another example of that.

And I kind of just want to know if maybe this is how we should reference them now. You know what we talk about chargering? Yeah. Can we do ravening? We can always do. Because there's got to be a term for this now. It happens too often for us to not give this a term. I understand the limitations that you have when you don't have Lamar Jackson.

I don't think Lamar Jackson is going to come back and fix all of this for you right away. Well, especially the inability to run the game through that capacity where it's, again, you mentioned it 45 yards for Derek Henry. Ali had 19 yards on the ground on four carriers. Maybe he's the guy that comes in. It gives them a little bit of a boost.

You know, you kind of manufacture some things. They made a great play on the screen. There's been a couple of great opportunities for Josh Kuevas in terms of scheming things up because Doyle moves them all around the field. But other than that, just got to be able to create something. You have to be able to establish something where you could get Henry downfield in space. Yeah. And, you know, as far as stopping Burrow, no player as a receiver has done more damage to a team.

On a per game basis than Jamar Chase to the Baltimore Ravens. I don't think, like, that's not going to change. You could go ahead and pencil in the touchdown when the Bengals play the Ravens. But as far as Ravenings go, it's tough for for me to feel that way in the Snoop Huntley starts because it's just such a Lamar Central type deal where it's like, well, this, there's, overwhelming force and accomplishment on offense through this portion of the game and then nothing when it was really just like two or three

plays that the Ravens got where anything was happening. It was a rough game. Their last four possessions, four plays, one play, that was interception, four plays turnover on downs, four plays end of game and it doesn't even matter because at that point they're already down. The Bengals scored touchdowns on five straight possessions. Let's go to the good side

here real quick. Yes. That offense looked day and night, different. Is it night and day or day and night? I don't know. It doesn't matter. What does matter is that Joe Burrow found himself. The offense found themselves, and T. Higgins went crazy. Six catches 148 yards in a touchdown. And they could do no wrong.

This is a big play offense. It's what they've been all year. When they hit the big plays, they're in these games. They tend to win these games. It's not consistent, though, because on a per down basis, they still can't run the football very effectively. So they have to rely on the big plays. Well, they got them from T. Higgins today.

They got him a little bit from Jamar Chase, not as often, although he cooked Nate Wiggins on that route to the corner of the end and catch that touchdown pass. and it's one of those teams now that when you look at them and you see all right the offense is capable of doing this we knew this for a while

but we haven't seen it all that consistently but we saw it plenty today and then you pair that with a defense that finally got production from all three levels not just that defensive front you had Demetrius Knight making an interception you had DJ Turner making a tackle in space

a key tackle in a key moment as the Bengals were mounting their comeback that became overwhelming it's a win that you come out of the biweek you look so bad in the first half you have some rust you're thinking man you had an extra week to prepare and you didn't do it.

And then they come out and just absolutely an onslaught of points. You got to feel really good if you're a Bengals fan right. And there were some stops in the first half where there were high leverage situations. Kyle Hamilton gets through, tackles some Ajay Piron on a fourth and won. The Bengals able to overcome that they've got a week eight matchup coming up against the Tennessee Titans, where you have to think they might be able to manage a win. They're a happy Joe Burrow after the performance. Yeah, I think that's who we have to be.

We're too, we have too many great players. on offense to be conservative in that spot. And, you know, credit to our coaching staff for letting us go and do it and giving us the freedom to go and make those plays. But I think that's who we have to be. So congratulations to Burrow and the Bengals as they climb up in the AFC North. Let's come out to Los Angeles, California, where the Rams have had some entry issues. It's been a struggle here as of late.

But they go to Las Vegas and they have a very successful moment, including a record breaker for Matthew Staff. Matthew Stafford throwing left side of missile. Pook has got it to the five, to the end zone, and sends Stafford to the top of the history books. Matthew Stafford passes Roman Gabriel for the most touchdown tosses in Rams history. And L.A. has opened up a 20 to 3 lead on the road in Las Vegas. We're a call, great moment from J.B. Long there. The new all-time franchise passing touchdown record holder, Matthew Stafford,

that with Pooka Nakua in a game where the Rams were running away with it. At that point, the Raiders climbed closer towards the end of the game, but it was a first half that saw what looked like two almost identical touchdowns from Davis Allen. The Raiders looked listless defensively, especially in the run game. Kairn Williams and Blake Corum would lead to a Rams run game that had 190 yards, could have been more with the kneel downs at the end of the game on the defensive side. They had a lot of quick pressures as Kurt Cousins in the first half, two of seven under pressure, even with all the absences shook the Rams made it work.

Yeah, they did. And they dominated. This is one of those games that when you first watch the first few series, you're just thinking this is too easy. I thought this is a Rams team that didn't have an identity. I'm pretty sure Sean McVeigh said last week that we don't know what our identity is. Well, I found it today. It's called handing the ball to Kyron Williams and to Blake Quorum and saying,

run through a defense that clearly can't stop you. They had another touchdown run called back by penalty when they were up 28 to 6 that looked easier than all of them, which is maybe because it was a holding call. But still, this is a group that had really struggled to, get consistency on the ground, especially out of Kyrim. At some points, you know, you thought maybe Blake Korn offered not the same juice because Kyron's the better running back, but just in those situations

he was producing at a decent level. Now they're both producing. And then you build out of that from there and you're able to control a game in Vegas where you know you're going to have a good amount of your fans traveling because it's not that far of a drive. And it's, and you're also going to know that you really need this victory. As much as the Raiders do, you need

this victory to try to write this ship because it's been very difficult for the Rams in recent weeks. And yet they produce a game like this. This is what frustrates me with them though. They did this, what, against the Giants weeks ago. Yeah. And now they do it again. And it's like, this is who you can be.

And you're banged up. Very banged up. Do it more consistently, please. Speaking of one of those banged up guys, Pukukua, got 10 targets. So you caught eight of them for 68 yards, including that touchdown, the record breaker from Matthew Stafford. There was the good, tight-in situation. Colby Parkinson had one of the nastiest drops in the NFL this season, which was a drop that he

tipped up in the air, was ultimately. picked off by Nkobie Dean. And then the Raiders would score some of their second half points. It was a touchdown pass to Ashton Ginty, who was apparently the best receiving back in the NFL right now. He got eight targets, eight catches can't run the ball right now. But Ashton Ginti at least offering something to fantasy managers through the past game at the very time. Yeah, I mean, what do you do when you can't run the football? You generate running through the passing game.

Or you just throw it to him down the sideline for a big game to set up a touchdown. Or he's thrown to him down the sideline or another player down the sideline right before half time, you have to settle for a fuel goal. That's what really defined this game. for the Raiders as they woke up too late offensively and it was too much of a hill for them to climb back. There was a period there before Corum's fourth quarter touchdown run where you thought, hey, they might make this interesting. If they had hit one of their two, two-point conversions, it was a one-possession game. Instead, it's a 10-point game. It becomes a 17-point game. They never really get any closer other than a Matt Gay field goal. So four straight loss for the Raiders,

tough. I think that we're all coming back to Earth on the Raiders at this point, including on Kirk Cousins, who is not the problem, but because they keep losing, we're going to continue to hear the murmurs for Fernando Mendoza to try to come in and, you know, take over that job as the season takes a turn for the worst. I still believe in the Raiders. They are still a competitive team, but this is the second time in the last, what, four weeks in which they've looked largely overmatched, which is concerning going forward. Yeah, the schedule has a little to do with it, but these Kirk Cousins goes 26 of 44, 295. He has two touchdowns really looked uncomfortable in some of those circumstances where the Rams were able to provide pressure. Again, five quick pressures in the first half, including one from Aaron Donald. know, as he still looking for that first sack, he had one taken away due to a penalty a couple of weeks ago.

But it's in the absence with the potential for Miles Garrett to practice. That was a report from NFL Network Insider Ian Rappaport earlier in week seven that Miles Garrett could practice this upcoming week for the Rams. And things start to look a little bit better for them. But we are on Fernando Watch. Yeah, we are. And I think another loss by the Raiders, firmly puts us in that capacity here if it happens in the next two weeks. It does. And

you would like for it to happen in the buy, but their buy is pretty late in the season. So I don't imagine we're going to get that point unless they start to win some games and kind of delay that. This is never going to be a season in which if you're a Raider fan, you think, all right, year one, Clint Kuviak, we're going to go to the playoffs. But when you start 3 and O, your expectations start to change, this is a check

with reality, and it's completely fine because this is still the path that you're on. I will say this. If you get Miles Garrett back for the Rams, that's great. Obviously, it's massive. But I don't know, they're going to have to lean on their tight ends and on their running backs consistently without Devante Adams going forward. I mean, they did a good job of it

today, but they're not going to get rushing production games like this every. No. And that's when they're really going to get tested. But hey, wins a win. They all count the same. Yeah, Kyron goes for 99 yards, 6.2 yards of carry. Corum goes for 93 on 5.5 yards per carry. That's the scenario where everybody's happy. There's no weird postgame quote. Everybody eats. But yeah, you're not going to play the Las Vegas Raiders

every single week. You know, Shook talked about finding identity, having a process that works for you. The process for the Cleveland Browns is to be close, maybe even down in the second half and have Andre Schmidt kick one at the buzzer. 32-yard, Andre Schmidt field goal to get to

5 and 2. We're tied to 24, 3 seconds to go. He measures. He slides his feet to the left. Borquez looks back to his kicker. Calls for it. Sunahara. Snap, hold, hit Andre Schmidt

has done it! He's done it again. Game winner. Browns, 27, Titans, 24. The Browns are in first. The Browns are five and two. They pull it out of the fire again. And they win on the road in Nashville.

Speaking of a fire engine, Siciliano on the call, once again, another game winning drive for the Cleveland Browns relationship. Yeah, I cannot. This is a difficult one for me because, against the Tennessee Titans, you expect the Cleveland Browns to play very good football and beat them by multiple scores. That is not where the Browns found themselves on Sunday. In fact, they found themselves in a 14-point hole in this game, thanks to Tony Pollard touchdown runs, two very magnificent runs, I might add. Tony Pollard picking up where he kind of left off and started in Indianapolis last week.

He finishes with 129 yards and three rushing scores on the day. He was the Titans' entire offense. And the Browns, they were told that they must overcome this. They must dig out of this hole, this 14-point hole that was dropped on them in the first eight minutes of the game. So what did they do? Exactly that. They put together a methodical response. They end up scoring in, actually about three minutes after Tony Pollard's second touchdown run with the Quinshan.

Judkins touchdown run. They score again just outside of two minutes left in the first half with another Judkins run. His best game of his season so far. Schmidt kicks a field goal just before halftime before you know what the Browns have completed the comeback. It's 17 14, but we have so much to go. And that includes a Joey Slyfield goal to tied at 17. That includes an Andre Schmidt miss that turns the ball over. obviously because you missed the field goal and the Titans capitalize.

And they score a game tying touchdown after Watson had run one in in the fourth quarter. And you had 58 seconds left in the game. The least amount of time to Sean Watson's had in his pocket this year, two amount of comeback drive, but it was the same story. It was a pass over the middle of the Casey Concepcion, a short one. It was a pass to Harold Fannan who broke like nine tackles, not nine, probably about two or three, rumbling, bubbling, bubbling, all the way down to the 20th to set up the field goal.

And they went again and I just, I had a friend text me. They can't keep getting away with this. and yet they do. In a similar capacity, because the game winning drive against the Baltimore Ravens where Jerry Judy crosses the defender's face

in the middle of the field. From me to Eric to Deshawn Watson where it's an easy pass. And in this scenario, you've got a first in 10 from the 45-yard line. For some reason,

Gus Bradley and Robert Sala decide to send six people at Deshawn Watson, including Amani Hooker, the safety. When Fanning catches that ball, there's four people back there. Tons of room.

I don't understand these late game scenarios where it's like, oh, we got to dial things up on Deshaun Watson. Speed up one of the slowest processing quarterbacks of the NFL. But it comes just in a brutal fashion for the Tennessee Titans, who of course had an emotional week. Steve and I were up there live on Total Access for Robert Sala's impassioned plea for Jordan Elliott, you know, as he going through personal issues, goes to his car where there's a firearm.

The team has to release him. And so all of this, getting to this point with a lead in the second half, they're tied at this point. But just a brutal end of the game situation where, but it's once again the other team not executing and leaving a slight window for Todd Munkin's team. And they routinely take advantage of that. That's all they need.

And every time I think this is the one that they're not going to pull off, they just continue to pull them off. And I have to finally give them respect for their record. They are five and two, and they've earned all of these wins. They add the Titans to a list of teams that they beat with game winning drives that continues to grow with each week. It began with Tampa Bay. It continued with Carolina, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and now Tennessee.

I have a hard time giving them a ton of respect among the league's better teams, but they're five and two. They are what their record says, and they find ways to get the job done. Hat tip to Todd Munkin, who has done a great job of coaching, both as a play caller and just as a head coach. he is scripting a really well-balanced offense that doesn't put too much on Watson. They benefited from getting a better running game today.

They used their playmakers. They used, you know, today was a big Concepcion day. Eight catches, 129 yards. It wasn't the Denzel Boston day. It's always a Harold Fanon day. And Dylan Samson came back and provided a nice little spellback to reform the backfield that they thought they were building when they spent those draft picks last year.

So another good win for the Browns. And one more thing. I just want to say. Andrew's call was great. I just wanted to give a shout out to Andrew who lost his father this. week. Oh my gosh.

We're thinking about you, bud. Yeah, Andrew, we love you, man. Again, it's, you know, a couple opportunities to be in what feels like the worst club in the world. Yeah. The world keeps spinning when you're going through stuff. Andrew going through that as the Cleveland Browns get a win, again, echoing shook. We love you, Andrew.

And why not a couple of great calls in this game, Taylor Zarsaur, because I want to be able to play this Tony Pollard touchdown. Late down the stretch last season, Tony Pollard was one of the best backs in the NFL. Yep. He may be doing that again for a bad team. First and 10 Titans. And again to the ground, it's Pollard. Pollard is another big old.

20, 15, 10, 5. That is a Titans touchdown. 36 yards for Tony Pollard. How about that on the first drive of the game? You know, he's not a big running back, but he runs like a bigger running, like, in terms of breaking tackles. It's hard to bring Tony Pollard down. And so if anybody would like to bring an offer to the folks in Nashville to provide Tony Pollard with the team, to play for.

That opportunity may be available. We will take an opportunity to take a break on the other side. We've got a couple more games before Sunday night football. What's your favorite scary podcast? Our radio presents the soundtrack to your October. From spooky podcasts and chilling playlists to non-stop Halloween radio and more. We have all the thrills and chills you're craving this season. Press play.

Football's back. Hey, it's Drew Franklin from NFL Cover Zero. Enjoy the NFL season while listening to NFL Cover Zero. We have storylines, predictions, and lots of silliness. Here's what you can expect from the podcast in our second season. When you meet people and you say your job's a sports announcer, it's always interesting to see what the first thing they say is. I did have one of the more difficult questions, though.

He sits next to me and he sees I'm on my computer. and he goes, big sports fan. And I was like, yeah, actually. And he goes, we think about my Jaguars this year. I realized, like, no one's ever asked me that question ever about anything. And I was like, Duvall. Listen to NFL cover zero on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Fourth and less than a yard.

I think it gets that. No signal yet. And they've got it. And Miami's going to win it. here in MetLife. Jeff Hathley rolling the dice on fourth and inches. And the Dolphins, a winless team at 0 and 5, is going to come to MetLife and get their first win of the Jeff Hapley era.

Yes, Periodita is on the call for CBS as the Miami Dolphins get their first win of the 2026 season. A quarterback sneak call from Jeff Hathley to try to keep Gino Smith off the field. The Jets could have been a part of a furious comeback, but 28, 25, and probably, not probably, definitely the best offensive performance we've seen, Shook, from Malik Willis. Yes, finally, but the potential of the dolphins that we always saw that, I mean, look, those of you, if you know, you know that we talk about the dolphins very positively here, despite the fact they hadn't won a game. Well, they won a game. So allow me to give Malik Willis some flowers because he deserves it.

14 to 21, 208 yards, two touchdown passes, making plays in the clutch, using his legs. They've looked a little different every week, a little bit better. every week. This week, first time they got a lead all season. They held on to the lead. There were moments in which they could have given up the lead very easily, but the Jets couldn't capitalize and then the Malik Willis sneak that we just heard. Ends it.

It ends the losing streak. Congratulations, Jeff Hathley. Your first victory, happy for you. In fact, why don't we just listen to Jeff Hathley? We'll talk more about the game here in a second, but congratulations. Coach Hathley on the win. Here is a post game. I wanted the win for them, Omar. I just wanted them to

feel this. All the hard work. all the things that we've been asking them to do since OTAs and just stay into the process. I just, the important thing for me was for them to feel this moment. And that's what I told them in the locker room. I mean, it was really cool being in there with them there. That's one, I know we'll all remember as we build this thing, you know, that feeling that we just had in locker. But that's what it was all about for me. I just wanted it so badly for them because they deserve it.

A nice game for Ali Gordon finishes with over 100 yards. Caleb Douglas had two catches for 70 yards and two touchdowns as the rookie looked explosive there. And you kind of see, as you were talking about, what could be promised for the Miami Dolphins on the other side. That's a rough one for AG and the Jets at home against the winless team. Gino had an interception. You could put it on the defense a little bit in terms of pressuring Malik Willis. But that's a tough loss. What it was is just not capitalizing in your opportunities.

whether it was the interception that Gino threw, which was down to the Miami 21. You're driving there to try to put points on the board. It's missing a field goal early in the second half. It's not capitalizing on Miami being unable to extend their drive and bleed clock. You get the ball back, you go three and out and punt it back to them. It's too often the story for this Jets team. And I'm a big believer in what Aaron Glenn is doing.

I see the potential with them and I see how competitive they've been in some of these games. But this result is too familiar for this group. They have lost too many games like this. And this one's the worst of all because of who you lost to. It's a division opponent, so I get that. And division games can get weird. But it's a winless division opponent. It's a team that is among the worst in the NFL.

They're rebuilding. They should not be able to beat you in your home when you're playing well enough to win, but you're not capitalizing. And now I look at the jet schedule, which has been a bit of a gauntlet when you got Green Bay, Detroit, Chicago, the Browns, and the Patriots. So many of these losses are one score losses. The 20 to 17 to the Packers, it's 31, 24 of the Lions. It's games where you're like, you were,

right there. You had an opportunity and they continue to fall short. Yeah, there was a third and six from their own 31 in the fourth quarter, 623 to go, so it's their second to last possession. Myers jumps off sides. It's a false start. Backs them up. The next pass is incomplete

to Adnan I Mitchell. And it's just those types of mistakes that the Jets have had far too many of and another loss. Maybe you get Brees Hall back. Omar Cooper Jr. has looked good. Yeah. He kind of got up a little weirdly.

He's been dealing with the injuries in his rookie season, but they dialed him up a play out of the backfield. A big part of this offense looks great. Just need to be able to stay on. Yeah, you're getting contributions from guys that you hoped would rise to that level this year. Mason Taylor had a really nice day. Cooper had another nice day.

He's been good since he came back from injury. Braylin Allen has quietly been a very good running back, but you're not at full strength in your backfield. You can see how that limits you. And overall, again, it's the details. That's just the little things that they're not doing right that are the difference between a win and a loss. When Gino was not pressured, he was 15 of 17 through the air,

had a couple of touchdowns under pressure. Numbers were good as well. Just have to take advantage of the possessions that they were able to get. And again, not being able to get Malik Willis and the dolphins off the field a problem in that circumstance. As well as the dolphins had 24 first downs. Yes. It's just night. Again, night and day gets referenced, a night and day difference between the early season dolphins in this version.

Passer rating is an antiquated metric, and I understand that. But you want to know what Malik Willis is passer rate? was today, 130.7. Including a touchdown pass to Douglas. Caleb Douglas. Let's listen to that. Second and eight. Play action.

Leak's sidearm without fill as a wide open receiver. And his Caleb Douglas breaks a tackling. He hit the 20, the 10. He's in the end zone. Did he stay in bounds? If so, it's a touchdown. And that was another one of those plays, an example of random nasty tackling from the

or where Douglas just gets missed. I mean, he's in a phone booth. Doesn't necessarily make a move. He just hits the sideline. Defender falls down. What's the name of your favorite defender, the most preferential defender that always exists in the field? Sammy sideline.

Knock him out of bounds. Try. Not a lot of try there as the Jets fall. To the Miami Dolphins, 28 to 25. Let's get to the Broncos and the Cardinals in the desert. An opportunity to see Boatniks back running the ball. Boy, did he ever.

Second and seven from the Denver 38 shotgun snap to Bow Nix. Protection is good. Now Boe climbs the pocket and can run forever. Bowes at midfield. 40, 40, 45, 30. Bow Nix, 25, 20, 15, 10, 5. Bow Nix to the end zone. Touchdown, Denver.

62-yard run for a touchdown. When I said climbs the pocket and can run forever, that was the truth. Also gets a nice blocking from his teammate all the way down the field. 62 yards. The note I had from this game shook explosives, explosives, explosives. The Broncos brought a jar of syntax to the desert. They hit that scramble.

There was another 52-yard reception by RJ Harvey. If it were another season on another team in another universe, you'd be like, oh, nice offensive output for the Broncos. But you pull back a little bit. Nix was 15 of 29 for 22 yards. Even with the explosives, I still have concerns about. the Denver Broncos office. And 52 yards of that was a screen pass to RJ Harvey, who did all the work.

So the devil is in the details, folks. And yeah, I mean, I'm happy that the Broncos put 30 points on the board because this is an offense that was one of the lowest ceiling operations in the entire NFL. And so they did put some points in the board. I'm happy for Broncos fans that they got to see some scoring. They got to see Bo Nix take off for that touchdown that we just played. I thought that play really perfectly defined exactly where both of these teams are right now in this season, which is Bo Nix has not been screen.

scrambling. So why would we, as the Cardinals defense, respect the scramble here? We're going to play match quarters and we're just going to latch on to the guy that enters our zone and do our job. Well, doing that and the lack of awareness leaves the open space for Bo Nix to go on this long run. You can see a few defenders. They don't get within four yards of him, but they're there and could make the play take the angle. It's not there. And then on the flip side, it's, it's so surprising for Bo Nix to do that and watch that happen because he just has not scrambled this year. So it's a good sign for them. It's a breath of fresh air and a bit of a relief for the Broncos. and their fans who have watched this offense grind through these games and openly wondered, including on this show, whether Sean Payton has just straight up done with Bo Nix because he's run out

of patience. I don't think he's going to be after today, still not good when your quarterback leads you in rushing. And 62 of his 73 yards come on one run. Yeah, they have a negative four completion percentage over expected. They were three of 11 on third down where good thing you had the explosives. And it's always often people like, well, you take away all the great plays. They didn't make any good plays. No, that's not specifically what I'm saying. No. It was just the only thing keeping things afloat on the other side. My takeaway is for the Arizona Cardinals.

Jalen Brooks is going to have more targets than Marvin Harrison Jr. did through his period. But one of his catches led us to one of the more frustrating sequences of football I have ever seen. A lot of people were introduced to the small-time author Homer with the story of the Odyssey and Odysseus. In the post-Trojan war, all the trials and tribulations he navigated. So Brooks catches one. and they get a first and goal at the one yard line. Oh, yes. They score here.

They get an onside kick. They're right back in this. Because it was getting kind of nasty in a good way. So they get a DPI on a pass attempt to Tray McBride. Nobody hurt their first and goal again. Yes. Play action rollout. I don't know if the Broncos defense or Michael Wilson or whatever, but he and Tray McBride

run in the same exact place. There's nothing for Jacoby to do with the football. So second down. Then there's a straight up fade to McBride again, but that's doomed. Problem is there's a pass interference on Jada Barron. So it's first and goal again. Again. Then they run a sneak.

They get zero yards. on that. Then they go play action. Nobody blocks Q Robinson. No. And so Jacoby has nothing to do. He dirts that. Then there's a backshoulder fade to Michael Wilson that's doomed. And then you got sacked on the other play. So they've lost yards. What is it? Fourth and what? Fourth down and six from the six yard line. And where did you start?

You started the first to go. You had multiple first to goals at the one. Seven plays, minus five yards, zero points. It was the most harrowing goal to go situation I have ever seen in a rough one for the Arizona Cardinals. And the worst part about it is the final play of that sequence, which is Jacoby dropping back, ready to let it rip, knows that there is no tomorrow.

I must throw this ball in the end zone. And it gets batted down at the line of scrimmage. Which I thought just captured the entire day for the Cardinals' offense and what they were dealing against the Denver defense that only continues to improve. Despite missing some guys in the back end, they're still very good. Their pressure rate 50.9 percent. The pressures generated by some of these players insane. Nick Benito, 13 pressures.

Nine quick pressures. He's playing at a completely different level than anybody else. the NFL right now, I think so, for the most part. Miles Garrett has not played this year, except for week one. So that's to TBD, to be determined there. Zach Allen, five pressures. Malcolm Roach, four pressures. Jonathan Cooper, four pressures. Quick pressures in this category. Two for Roach. Three for Cooper. Two for Q Robinson. Two for Alex Singleton at 19 tackles. This defense is really good. It's really good. And if the offense could just be average, we'd be talking about this team as one of the best in the NFL.

And so the Broncos, again, a world of concern in Colorado. right now. They've won three straight games. They've got the Kansas City Chiefs. And it's crisis mode. At home at 425 next week. And if you're Arizona, cheer up. You got the Dallas Cowboys next week. What do we have next? Sunday night football. Sam trying to get his players aligned. Two tight ends to the near side. Wilson gets the handoff.

Looks for running room. He breaks free. He's going to go. 10, five. Touchdown. And that just might be the dagger. Emmanuel Wilson behind two tight ends. and a backup tackle takes it to the house off the left side from 21 out. And the Seahawks stretch their lead to 19 to 3 over the undefeated, soon not to be undefeated Kansas City Chiefs. Yes, the soon not to be undefeated chiefs were actually the soon to be,

in fact, now just defeated. Kansas City Chiefs, at least as it comes to week seven, as it was the Kenneth Walker revenge game all week shook. we wound up with the Manny Wilson game as Mani Wilson comes in has 24 carries for 100 yards and the touchdown to seal it

but the story was a spectacular performance by the Seattle Seahawks taking us to a place we haven't been in a very long time we're just looking up Mahomes three point scored games like where Michael Pruitt scored a touchdown of the Tennessee Titans game where he was he was

he was Mani Wilson at this point where Derek Henry had a touchdown pass you got to go a long way back to a performance where the chiefs were dominated like this were from the Seattle Seahawks, the champions revealing themselves once again. Yep. Yeah. And reminding us of how good this defense can be when it's at its best. You know, the last few weeks of the Seahawks have been a little concerning because of Sam Donald's struggles because of the concerns that you have about, you know, can they run the football?

And tonight they wash all of those away. Now, we still had a Sam Darnold interception in a bad situation. We still had a heavy reliance on Jackson Smith and Jigba in the passing game. but it didn't matter because, number one, they had more success and they've had in recent weeks. They were able to overcome that turnover thanks to Harrison Bucker, missing a field goal that an opportunity that he was given just because of the San Donald interception and return. And it didn't really matter more than anything

because the defense shut the chiefs completely down. You know, there's an old saying, I'm not sure who it's attributed to, but I remember seeing it in our locker room way back in the day where it said, if you score some points, you might win, but if the team, the other team doesn't score, you'll never lose.

Well, they came pretty close to never, you know, to shutting the chiefs. out entirely. So it's just a masterful performance by this defense. The Mike McDonald unit knowing exactly how to bottle up Kenneth Walker, who did not have a great game for the first time of season, 14 carries for 36 yards.

Kind of a surprise to some, I would imagine, but if any team's going to know how to stop him, it's his old team and a resounding victory for the Seahawks at a time in which I think they really needed it. And Kenneth Walker, honestly, especially with the injuries that Kansas City has had at wide receiver, has been a tremendous

MVP caliber deodorant. for this Kansas City Chiefs offense where it has, they've been able to rely on explosive plays in the run and the past game from Kenneth Walker. When they weren't there, you kind of saw what it's going to take sustained offense-wise for the Kansas City Chiefs.

And even when they were able to get some of those Mahomes and Kelsey Magic plays, congratulations to Travis Kelsey, now fifth all time in NFL history in terms of reception. He hit that, receptions. He hit that in the second half tonight in Seattle. But he and Mahomes linked up for a nice,

a third down conversion. He extends the play. They make a couple of plays. And then you get a drop from Xavier Worthy, kind of dooms the drive. And in spots where Mahomes is having to make a lot of plays rolling to his right, rolling to his left, the Seahawks sped him up in the first half leading to an interception where you just see how

bogged down this offense has kind of been. It takes us to a spots that they've been in the past couple of years. Right. Deodorant's a good term. I would think just like papering over their weaknesses or their flaws because he's just been so reliable and so productive that they've been able to turn to in the running and the passing game.

But when you take that out of the equation, suddenly you get a game in which your top two receivers on the night were tight ends. It was Travis Kelsey, no agree. Travis was four catches, no gray with three. Behind them, Kenneth Walker with four catches for 21 yards. You're not getting any production from your receivers. You're not able to move the football. Patrick Mahalms looked very uncomfortable.

He looked indecisive because Seattle was taking away a lot of the options that he liked to rely on. And again, it all comes back to if you can't run the football consistently, which has been this chief's team's greatest strength this year, which is why they've looked so impressive, why they look like a favorite to potentially come out of the AFC and go to the Super Bowl. When you take that out of the equation, everything gets much more difficult,

especially against an elite defense like this. So what this really was was a humbling experience for the chiefs who basically looked exhausted and more like emotionally just beaten by the end of this game. But the good thing for them is it's only week seven. We got we had half the football season to figure this out for them. And they'll be fine. It's nice to knock them off of the pedestal of undefeated now

as opposed to letting it run into November. And then, you know, starting to get the whole questions of can they go undefeated? Well, no, they're not going to because they ran to a really good team that had a great game plan and was able to execute it well enough to beat them. The really good team that had a good game plan was coming off of back-to-back losses. They erased that on Sunday night football tonight. Of course, some of the concerns over that two-game losing streak were the play of Sam Darnold.

Up and down type of night where you saw the prince that was promised in terms of Sam Darnold or the beautiful ball to Jackson Smith and Jigwood, one before the half, one in the second half. but you also saw some mistakes from Sam that kind of summon those memories of where things have been. Your view shook of Sam Darnold tonight against Steve Spagnolo's defense. I thought it was curious that the Chiefs kept giving Jackson Smith and Jibwell one-on-ones on the outside and just allowing Sam to throw a beautiful fade ball to him. He had it twice one for a touchdown, one to set up what should have been another touchdown, just before half, at which point they would have taken complete control of the game

and essentially wipe the Chiefs from existence on this Sunday night. Instead, Sam Donald gets sped up because his first and second options are not. there in that goal to go situation if he gets the happy feet you know the nervous feet that he's been showing when he's about to turn the ball over lately and he throws an interception in the end zone which which wipes that out and kind of you know again reminds you like you said of of the concerns that people have had regarding his performance but i think overall um you know they were solid they were solid because they were able to run the football uh you know with manuel wilson hit in a hundred yards on 24 carries that really balances out this offense better than

most it's what they've been missing for this entire season it's the whole reason that the kenneth walker storyline was a big part of this, you know, setting the stage for tonight because you let Kenneth Walker walk in free agency. You don't have a reliable running back behind him because Gigerian Price now and I are was not consistent early. You're turning to guys like Emmanuel Wilson, like George Halani. You're praying for Zach Charbonnet to come back at a level that can produce. These are all desperation moves. So it's really nice and you don't have to be desperate. When you can just get 100 yards out of a running back that a lot of people had already cast off, that balances out the rest of your offense. It makes that reliance on Jackson Smith and Jigba a little bit less, like a parent,

a little bit less glaring and allows him to still thrive. So I think they did a good job offensively. They took advantage of some matchups and some situations that they, you know, in those in those situations, they took advantage of those opportunities and catch them in. And again, it goes back to their defense. Because if this is a team with an average defense, just to play the hypothetical for a second, this is a back and forth game that goes down to the wire and they lament the fact that they didn't get any points right before halftime. None of it mattered because the defense shuts. the door on the chiefs completely. So it's the mark of a championship winning team. This is who

the Seahawks are and hopefully they can sustain it. And the way they got to sustain is by trying to continue to run the football well, which we'll see. And then also, you know, hoping Sam Darnal can cut down on some of his mistakes because they still do pop up. Yeah, the mistake that you're talking about before the end of the half was just an odd scenario where Spags only decides to rush four from the three yard line about 20 seconds to go in the first half. Both Rashid Shahid and Jackson Smith and Jigbar are open in the back of the end zone, probably Shaheed more so because JSN needs to clear the linebacker. For some reason, the ball gets there late for both of them and they run into each other. And the chiefs pick that off just one of those weird decisions from Sam Donald.

I don't know, process or just execution there, but just an odd one. But as you said, the Seahawks defense was so superb tonight that it ultimately didn't matter. What do you think it was for the Seahawks familiarity with Kenneth Walker? just the fact that the chiefs, you know, on a single window game, I haven't really seen a rush defense like this. Yeah, I think that's a big part of it. They haven't run into a team in this caliber of defense against the run. I thought NBC did a good job of showing some cut-ups late in this game

that just showed how they bottled up Kenneth Walker. More than anything, it was a clear focus and dedication to getting to number nine, getting as many hats on the ball as possible. There was a sequence in which there was one play they showed where he tried to bounce it outside as he's done so many times so smoothly this year against other defenses. And as soon as he hits the edge, you just see four Seahawks defenders swarm him and cut him off for a minimal gain. If you can do that consistently, you can stop pretty much any running back in the NFL, but you have to have to have the personnel and you have to have the discipline to be able to execute that consistently,

which is why they had so much success tonight. I mean, there was never a scenario in my mind in which I thought Kenneth Walker would finish the night with 14 carries for 36 yards. But that was the clear goal of the Seahawks defense is to take him out of the equation and make them have success elsewhere with other people. And as we know, they're thin at receiver. again, when your tight ends are leading you in catches and one has four and the other has three, that's not a good night for your offense. And I think it was the first time that we had to see Patrick

Mahomes tried to carry this team. And we saw how limited his options are and how he too can be made uncomfortable by a really good pass rush and by a team that can mess up the picture, which is what Seattle does best. So the Seattle Seahawks with an opportunity, you thought it was a fun matchup with the Kenneth Walker revenge game. It is a Monday night football meeting between Ben Johnson

and Mike Mack are coming up next week in week eight. Cannot wait for that, the Kansas City Chiefs, after this one are at the Denver Broncos. So a couple of teams with relative offensive woes going against each other in the division in that one. Shook, it has been a pleasure to take part in this global edition of NFL daily, stateside and in France. Eric working all of it, mishmashing this show together.

it's been a fun week seven man it has it's been awesome i don't know how many time zones there are between the two between us here in l.A and paris but i hope that gregg and jordan and everybody else fly back home safely and that they enjoyed their time and maybe they come back with like a trinket or just a tale of some really good food they had because those experiences are once in a lifetime especially when it revolves as so many things in our lives do around football so it was a joy to be a part of yes it is the wrapping that encapsulates our life and a gift that we get to open every single week here in the NFL for Nick Shook for Greg Rosenthal, Jordan Rodry, Eric Roberts, everybody that's a part of making this show

and bringing it to you. We appreciate you, the viewer and the listener, for participating here in our week seven recap and we got one more game. It's a game that somebody in theory in the NFC has to win between the Cowboys and the Eagles coming up on Monday Night Football. Thanks for listening to NFL Daily. We'll see you next time. Hey, it's Drew Franklin from NFL Cover Zero. The 2026 season is underway. and we are loving football on TV.

Here's what you can expect from the podcast in our second season. I would suggest for these preseason games, I think they should do what they do on the NFL draft. You know, when coverage of the NFL draft is basically for moms. And they're just like, hey, he has a dog named Spark. Listen to NFL Cover Zero on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast.

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