NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Cowboys-49ers Showdown and the return of Flashpoint Focus

Episode Date: October 4, 2023

In a room full of heroes - Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, and Marc Sessler get you ready for Week 5 in the NFL by previewing the week's primetime games. Before looking ahead, the heroes are joined by Tom Curran to talk about the state of the Patriots and Bill Belichick's future (04:17). After the break, the guys look ahead to Thursday Night Football between the Bears and Commanders (31:41), followed the by the second of three games in London, the Jaguars versus the Bills (42:15) and wrap things up with a major NFC tilt on Sunday Night Football between the Cowboys and 49ers (49:50) and the Monday Night Football matchup in Las Vegas between the Packers and the Raiders (58:38). Note: time codes approximate. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

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I am Dan Hansis. I am joined by Heroes, Greg Rosenthal, and Mark Sessler. What's up, guys? Whoa, who's on the camera today? There's a lot of one shots there. A lot of cuts. Whoa, Sammy did a trip. Check out the YouTube show.

Sam did the triple. Do it again, Sam. Triple shot. Ready, start on me. I'm Dan Hansis, and I'm joined by Heroes. Greg Rosenthal and Mark Sessler. Oh! Give him a round of a plan.

Yeah, Terrence Malick back there. This is like, it's like we've got our own family sitcom. Sam's this jazzed up, biggest, you know, Celtics fan I know, like in that Drew Holiday trade. Well, very good. Don't get too excited, though, Sam, the New England sports fan, because in just a minute or two, we're going to bring back a staple of around the NFL. It is, of course, our famous segment, Flashpoint Focus is back.

Oh, those pipes. Oh, I lost it. It's back, Reggie. Well, she's excited to be receiving that $1.75 check for it. She gets every time we play it. I think when I reached out to Sid and asked to do that, I said, I actually cleared it with a shadow league figure to get you a, you know, It was a modest sum of money.

And she was like, okay, she didn't ask for it. And then when I circled back a couple weeks or a month later, and I was like, did you get paid on that? It was like, they sent me like 14 pages of paperwork. So we got maybe we start doing some under the table payments. Yeah, red tape of a massive corporation coming to get you. Greg, good job, by the way, before we get to Tom Curran. On the Patriots, you pointed out in a recent tweet, 11 seasons in the Around the NFL podcast had our best month ever in September, over 3.6 million downloads.

Thank you all. That is very cool. It is exciting. I would have rounded up to four. They wouldn't know. People don't know what they don't know. But Greg's honesty, integrity was at the four. I actually could have round it up 3.7.

I was like, do I want to go to the 100th decimal point here? but it just felt unnecessary. It is really special. I mean, and some people responded, you know, talking about their relationship with the show, which is the most exciting thing about sending out information like that. And, like, and people have been with us before. Well, the most exciting thing is how it crushes our enemies when they see it.

Well, that's it. I do like to throw the number out there just as a show of force. That's nice. You know, because for some reason they don't do that with podcasts as much. Like, if a television shows up 4%, they'll point it out. It's like we're up to 537,000, but they don't really do that with the podcast, so let's do it.

Pointed that out. Is that about our own? God, think you need to get, like, you know, in the NFL to retweet it. We're the podcast bozos, but we're doing so. This is a good time to check the sink on these podcast bozos. And we couldn't do it without you guys,

and I added a little quote retweet on that. What do they call it now? Because they already... A reex. A rex. Now they call it a repost. Well, I call it a re-x. That's completely boring.

You've rebranded. I'm not saying I agree with the rebranding, but like, why not lean into it? lean into it. I added little emojis of all the different countries along with the USA that listened to this show and then any that I missed, please add it in the replies. And then just people all over the world have supported our show and we're so thankful. So thank you, everybody. Now, to the business of today's show. Coming up later, we have the island games and another London game is where a week away now from our, and thank you to the shadowy

League figures for sending us to London every year. We'll be heading there next week, cannot wait, and we're going to talk about the London game, and then our Thursday night, Sunday night, Monday night affairs. But before that, it's back. People have been waiting for this. That's what I've been hearing. Journalistically, we're at the top of our game when Flashpoint Focus is the focus of an episode.

And this week, the Flashpoint focuses on the New England Patriots. Who better to break down what's going on on the Patriot Way than the Pat's insider for NBC Sports Boston and a friend of the show, the great Tom Curran, a legend in his own time. What's up, Tom, Tom, Tommy? My guys, thank you very much for having me. No one's calling me anymore to say, how's the matchup in the ASC championship? What's it been like? Is he really? That's a good way.

Yeah, no, it's a good way to get into it. What has it been like, obviously for Patriots fans, it's been a come down to earth and a transition into this different era. But for people that have covered the team where it was, you know, a 15, 18 year run of dominance, what's it like being like to have knots once again as a someone covering the sport? It's jarring. It really is jarring because, you know, you realize that when you're a training camp where you'd sit on the hill and watch Randy Moss and Wes Welker and Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski and Dorel Rieves. and, you know, Teddy Brewski, Mike Vrable, and all the way through High Tower and Edelman and guys who either were on their way to the Hall of Fame or were writing their names in the lore of the postseason. And now you're looking down at guys and you see a 54 or where you see

a 24 and you're like, who is 24 now? It's Josh Bledsoe. Okay. So it is jarring because they are very much a have not talent-wise. And I think the most disorienting thing about this team and what's hard for folks outside the region to fathom is when we watch a game, and Greg, I'm sure you still digest plenty of them, they are so unpatriotic. They are so far from a well-coached team that's disciplined and situationally smart. I contend that they were the worst coach team in football last year. When you look at some of the starts to games that they've had in nine of their last 10 games they've trailed by at least a touchdown and obviously this year 17 3 16 to nothing and 28 to 3 in the first portion of games they're not ready to

play the football games when they begin i uh yeah i listened to uh the tom currants patriots talk podcast with what do you call them the senator phil perry on and i thought it was interesting last sunday i put it on when i was driving home from from work and I was like, oh, they've lost Tom. Because you, and I've kind of been, you know, half cribbing your point that when everyone says like, oh, well, the Patriots, like, they're, you know, they play a certain style where they're not going to make mistakes or they're just going to try to limit turnovers and penalties.

It's like, no, that ended the minute Tom Brady left. Like, that hasn't been the case the whole time. That is not the Patriot way. They've been rather sloppy. but you've thought this team had potential. And I'm curious to see where you think they go from here. But after that performance, between Mack Jones and the coaching staff, it very much felt like, oh, they've lost Tom.

You don't think this team is necessarily coming back to having, like, a fun season. And now it gets to a week where I'm sure they're just talking about what's going to happen with this team in the future, like the deep future. Yeah. Like who lasts longer? or Mac. Where do they both go at the same time? I mean, that's kind of the conversation.

And it's actually a plausible one that we don't have to delve into quite yet. But just in the context, why did they lose me? They lost me because I kept explaining away the penalties and the turnovers early in games and the lining up off sides or the fall starts. They get them into third and 15, which is a place they can't live because Bill's done such a horrendous job staffing the roster on offense. I mean, God bless them. Trent Brown was a seventh round pick.

He's had some great years. Cole Strange was a reach as a number one overall, as a 29th overall pick in the first round. David Andrews is undrafted. Michael Went is a sixth round pick. They don't really have a right tackle. But I'm showing you these guys can play capably, but they don't invest in the offensive line.

So if you don't invest in your offensive line, you better have an athlete of quarterback who can really create when the floodgates open. Well, they don't have that. Well, shoot, you better have an outside receiver or a tight end or a slot who you can throw to. Sorry, don't have those either. So you can look at all these mistakes and say, well, if they fix those, they're going to, with a magic wand, start to, you know, do the meat and potatoes, run the ball, getting third and three, have their way with

teams by being smarter. And they can't do that. They're dumber than most of the teams they play. Literally dumber. They are, since they lost, 47 to 17 to the bills in the 2021 play. playoffs. They were one in three going into that game down that stretch. They lose 47 to 17. They go eight and nine. And that's actually kind of a miracle. They won eight games. And now they're one and three. The only team that they beat with regularity is the Jets. I think there's like five or six of those are wins against the Jets. So I think it's like, I can't write to the math. But it's 30 and 34 since they were 8-0 in 2019. With a Super Bowl title in there. Oh, no, not 2019. Calm down, Greg. It's over.

And by the way, Tom. It's the title. Yeah. I was thinking 2018. As a Jets fan, Tom, you have no idea of all the frustrations I have as a Jets fan. The fact that we still can't beat the Patriots and they suck now. That's almost worse than anything else. I'll turn it over now to Mark Sessler.

Well, fair point on the Jets. You mentioned in your show consequences that, you know, in the past, if a running back fumbled, like, you don't see that guy for two weeks necessarily under Bill Belichick. But in today's role with all the mistakes, you said there's sort of a lack of consequences. And I really question, like, there's been whispers, like the Robert Kraft-Bill Belichick relationship. It's sort of heading towards this flashpoint. That's why we're sort of talking about this. And if you're Robert Kraft, is it the win-loss record or is it the Bill Belichic experience

and where your faith is in this coach in 2023 while you've got Mike McDaniel and other young coaches like Kyle Shanahan just turning the league over into something new. We're watching this Patriots team sort of stuck in neutral. And so I'm wondering, like, what is it that crap, what would compel Kraft to move on from outside of these seasons the best coach in NFL history? The interesting thing is the evidence mark is lying kind of. of in plain sight. Robert Kraft in 2020, right after the 2021 free agency binge, said we can't keep drafting like we've done. We've done a poor job in the draft. You can't live like this.

So that was a saver rattle. So calling Bill out in his drafts. And then 2021, excuse me, 2022, he said, look, we haven't won a playoff game in the last three seasons. And I'm not used to that. and I expect that we're going to compete for the playoffs now. And Bill puts Matt Patricia and Joe Judge in charge of the offense of a second year quarterback who showed promise and basically ran him a ground while he's on his rookie contract. I mean, you've got to maximize that, the dollars and sense of it. And then we asked him in March,

will Bill be allowed to chase Don Shuler's record by Fiat? You know, he said, look, we have all the respect in the world for Bill. He's done an unbelievable job, but we've never been about individual goals here. We're about wins and losses. So he's done enough saber rattling to indicate he wants results. The question you pose, what does the team look like? How many wins does it take?

To me, it's about quality control. And I said that all offseason. Kraft even kind of started to hedge his bets by saying we have a really tough schedule. He wants to see the team pointed in the correct direction, improving, cutting the crap with kickoff return touchdowns and pivotal games like you saw two times against the bills last year, Stop digging 22-0-0 deficits like they did against the Bengals last year. Stop throwing the ball backwards over your head on the final play of a game. Bless you like they did against the Raiders last year.

But instead, we've seen it exacerbated this year. And now you see the quarterback who Kraft had faith in going in the tank. So it is very much, Mark, coming to a head. Our cough button struggling as much as the Patriot Special teams, apparently. Well, you needed the sneeze button. I thought I hit it. thought i hit it you missed it bro or maybe it was so loud it picked up on our mics i think that happened um you know i think it's there's so that's where it is that's really where it is

i mean robert has if he if the team gets to one and seven and they keep getting their doors blown off and robert craft says we're making a change here this week you guys can all say well it's not like this is out of the blue i think that nationwide people think it's out of the blue but they're not playing close enough attention, which they can be blamed for. They've got a lot going on. But here you can tell. And I think there's a bit of a wicked irony here that, you know, during that beautiful run when it was Brady and Belichick, there was chicken and egg talk, like who's really

responsible? And they were both responsible. But now I'm wondering where we are now, is it the quarterback position that's a problem? Is that the head coach? That's the problem. And will that be a decision? At the end of the season, does that buy Belichick another year?

does he get another quarterback? And maybe there's something more to it, Tom, and you tell me, like, is there an avenue here where, let's say this does go to hell? And they do move in a different direction of quarterback. But Kraft also wants changes in terms of how the roster is constructed. Is there any scenario where Bill would loosen the reins on control of the 53, but stay as the coach?

Or is that really where the divorce heads if things come down to it? Bill tries to intimate that he has deferred a great deal to macro. He tries to intimate that he allows his people around him to make the decisions. But from guys who've worked in this building, who've worked in personnel, it's not the case. Bill still is the overlord. And the people that he's hired have been reared under his guidance. So their answers are going to align with whatever Bill would generally say. so I don't know if divesting bill of any offensive responsibility period you can't pick an

offensive player you're done with that would work but I mean that's what kind of needs to happen it's the offense that's killing them but back Jones you have to allow him to finish his rookie contract he's not beyond salvaging it was an embarrassment the other day he melted down He made high school quarterback level decisions. But in the first three games, especially the first two, aside from the idiotic turnovers, again, here I go with the caveats, he played good football against the Eagles. He played good football against the Dolphins. He just shot himself in the foot. This one, I've never seen a meltdown like that from him and his 36 games that he started for the team, but he did it.

I think if Robert Kraft has asked who goes, or Bill says, we can't keep going with this. Kraft is going to go, well, he makes bad decisions. Well, that's because he's looking at a jail break every time he drops back. How come that is? Well, we don't have any offensive alignment. Why? So Kraft is very much aware of the landscape around Mack Jones and why Mack Jones is who he is right now.

Very, very against and outspoken about the Matt Patricia Joe Judge thing, but he deferred to Bill. And at the end, Robert Kraft does have, I told you so, power in that instance. instance. Yeah. And he's kind of used it. Yeah. And I think there's always been an underlying ego tension between Robert Kraft and Belichick

and Brady, too, because of course they all have big egos. They were all part of the greatest, you know, run of success any NFL team ever has. It's totally natural and they've handled it well enough. But I think Robert Kraft is like thinking about the Hall of Fame and he's thinking about his legacy. And that's why I said coming into this, he was like, I think they got to win. I think I don't know if Belich. that can survive a 6 and 11 type of season here because I think Kraft will want to start thinking about his legacy.

I do want to hit you on just because we had news today and it speaks to what you're talking about, which is J.C. Jackson coming into the Patriots, which looks like a nice trade for the Patriots on paper. You're basically getting him for free. It's a late round swap. You're not paying him anything, but he's replacing Christian Gonzalez.

And I remember something you said, it was in the middle of training camp, and you said, I think on your podcast, that Christian Gonzalez might be the best player on the team, which I was like, that is a crazy statement. He hasn't even played in the preseason. But then you sort of explained it. And first of all, you watch him in the first three games.

He might have been the best player on the team. But the way you explained it just highlights how talent poor this team is. Because you were looking at him, you were like, well, here's a physically dominant, really smooth athlete who's really good at his craft in position. And they don't actually have anyone else. else on the roster that would qualify for that. You could say Trent Brown, I mean, the fact that Trent Brown might be the best player on their roster, Matthew Judon would be another candidate, but it's, it's freaking

crazy. A first round rookie is the best player on their roster and that they're having to replace him with Casey Jackson. He's getting emotional over here. I am concerned about Greg. He is. He's inflamed. He's in Flint.

Look at their best players. Kyle Dugger, nice player. He's not a pro bowler. Matt Judon, really good player. He's a top 10, maybe top seven. edge rusher maybe maybe um hunter henry okay he's top dozen tight ends romandre stevenson he's a top 10 back maybe but not even i well he's had a tough star but but that's that's what we're looking at hey where's the talent well these are the guys everybody

has everybody's second best guy at least among good teams is as good as their best guy it's it's it's really tough but you know the mac jones and and the the the wrestling match that i wanted to to lob to you guys is with Kraft's legacy, what will be damaging to his legacy or could be painful to his legacy is Robert Kraft, whose Patriots team suffered a severe decline after Tom Brady left and he fired Bill Belichick in 2023. And the team went into a funk and was a three and 14 team for several years. And he has that on his head. He not only allowed, and Brady was the one who believe this bill was just being bill when bill was just being bill and moving on from brady brady expected robert craft to intervene robert craft said it's bill's decision that's why

in general and i think it's all passed out but brady was more pissed of craft than he was a bill but robert's mad at that still taking the heat for that and now if he takes bill out behind the woodshed old yellers him then he's good now he's fired not He let the best quarterback go and then he fired the greatest coach. No easy answers. Yeah, you are one of the, you know, less than 1% of humans on earth that have spent like hundreds of hours with Belichick in these press conferences. We all nationally think we know who he is left and right and like he's always grumpy. But do you sense with all this happening over the last couple of years and they, you know, whether he hears it or not, this Brady versus Belichick thing, which gets a little tired.

But still, it's Belichick thinking about his pride and his own legacy. like in these pressers, I thought you were an interesting comment that he's gotten to a place now where maybe he was always doing this. Like, he doesn't like answering the question, obviously. Like Mike Rees, I thought the other day had an excellent follow-up to the Mac Jones why he sat and why don't you sit in Jude on Wright? It was just like there wasn't even a pregnant or a dramatic pause by Belichick. It was like a 10-second silence where it's like, what happened to Bill in that period?

But then he kind of starts spinning things in his own way. Like, is Belichick getting testier, more grumpier? Is he getting grumpier, less community keep? Can you feel the heat? Is he just Bill is Bill? Nope. He's less communicative. I think he feels under siege.

I don't blame him. There's probably aside from us, aside from the fan base, I bet he's more tortured that he can't figure it out, that he can't get the team to play the way he wants to. I don't think he's quite as, look, he drafts generally players from the same programs frequently. His free agent signings are unimaginative and often are guys that played good against his team. He's just not the same worker that he was previously. And what does he have the same network of young coaches around him that he did in the 2000s? All these guys rising up at once.

He's got guys who came up in the same sphere as him. It's a hard place to work. So guys have short money, long hours, and kind of a humorless atmosphere to work in. So it's not a fun place to be, so he doesn't have a great, experienced, huge coaching staff. How is Bill, though, was the question. He's under siege. And there was an interesting comment. Remember this?

Greg, you'll remember this. A woman asked something about after the 2019 playoff loss where they lost to Tennessee. A woman asked a benign question. Not a great question for Bill, but after the loss, what do you have to say to the fans? I mean, they've been with you through thick and thin. And Bill looks at her, cuts her off and says, I mean, I'll do respect. I don't think there's been a lot of thin around here. And I, that is very much, I think, his mindset, whether it's me who used to have a great,

ah, hey, Bill, we're having a good time. And now I'm kind of a dink as far as he's concerned probably. He probably looks at me and goes, you know what? You got a nice life right now because you cover the Patriots. while I was here. And look at you. You know, look at you now. You had it pretty good.

I made it pretty good for you, didn't I? And look at you, you weasel. So I think that there's a lot of that. Outwardly, he's bitter that he delivered so much to this region. And now we're all saying, see on the hot seat. Yeah, and I think that's fair too. Like multiple things can be true. You are a dink.

Multiple things can be true. You're going to try and get rid of me. But here's the interesting thing. And I have felt bad about talking about Bill's hot seat. But whether it was Logan Mankins or Richard Seymour or Tom Brady or you name it, Bill had no problem when those players had outlived what he considered to be their expiration date saying, sorry, we can't keep on with this. So it's weird that I feel badly. And he was talking about it with Bill. And Tom, he was famous for getting a guy, getting rid of a guy a year or two too soon before it was way past the expiration date.

And maybe now Kraft is going to do the same to him before we say goodbye. And by the way, check out the Patriots talk podcast. Check out Tom on NBC where he's got hot takes and he uses McCorkle and it's all fun. Circling back to what you said, you lobbed it to us, the legacy of it all. From my perspective, and I'm curious, what you guys think that I think Kraft's legacy is secured six rings, nine conference titles. Yes, it got a little sloppy in the back end. Even Belichick, you could say his legacy is a little bit tarnished at this point. No one cares about Vichlamardi's Washington days, you know what I mean?

What I'm saying is I think he's okay to. I think the person who really came out on top here, Tom, is Brady. I think Brady is the ultimate winner of the way this all played out. I think everyone else is going to go to the Hall of Fame, but it was Brady who left and then the Patriots dynasty crumbled with him not there. That's where I come down. I love Tom Brady. And he's such a nice guy legitimately.

And I know that after 23 years of watching him, we see his eccentricities and wonder if he's genuine. I do believe he's a genuine guy. He's such a nice guy that I bet he feels so frigging bad for Belich. I bet he does He does not take any pleasure in it because he is a card carrying good fella and he gets it out of his system

that he was pissed I think and he doesn't want to see Belichick go down in flames I mean I don't really either who does I mean some people do but Dan does this guy does that's fine I get it okay it's sports

he's gotten his comeuppance but he's had a great run Tom, thank you, sir. You are, if you, well, it's Bill that called you a dink. I don't think you're a dink. He didn't call him a dink. Well, he thinks he might find him to be a dink. We are dinks.

So maybe if you are a dink and Bill is right, that's why we get on so well. Just four dinks chopping it up, chopping up the pig. Four dinks. Hey, maybe we'll do a spin-off pod, four dinks. All right. Thanks, Tom. Thank you. Thank you, guys.

Great talking to you. All right. Love Tom Curran. He is the man. And again, that's why, in a lot of ways, Mark, this is the Crown Jewel segment around the NFL. Yeah. Wow. The flashpoint focus, because it's not just about talking about the NFL and what's happening now.

It's letting people know what's ahead. Yeah, I mean, our inaugural episode came out of a combine think tank where there was a lot of whispers around, at that time, Baker, Mayfield, and Cleveland. Like, how would you even suggest they'd move on from him back then? And then, like, a week later, it was a national storyline. We dug in on the cults, about a week later, national storyline going into bizarre areas. People are talking about this. There's some surmising, except I think he went deeper with us in a week from now. Everyone will be talking about this.

And as has happened so many times over the past 10 or so years. Greg didn't see it. And I'm like, Greg, you got to come. Come, come on this journey with us. Come. And he's like, no, pushing back, pushing back. And now where are we at? What you're trying to bring this old canard back?

This was when we brought the showman scenario in that you just have to have it. It does all connect because as he was talking about Tom Brady being such a good fella. I was thinking he's getting tested with that because a certain Baker Mayfield, the first flashpoint focus subject is out playing what Tom Brady was doing in 2022. For four games. That doesn't feel like a national storyline. For four games. That's not a national storyline, but for four games.

That is. Great start. It's crazy that Patriots are so underground that, like, trading for J.C. Jackson, who got the most, you know, guaranteed money of any free agent just a year and a half ago, it just feels like, eh, that's a nothing berg. Yeah, but that's to his point that he, Bill's just bringing back one of his guys. Where's the imagination? Where's the creativity? It doesn't exist.

Pretty wild. Pretty wild. And Mark was co-executive producer of that segment. Yeah. Let's go get a drink. Yeah, it's another victory. I mean, I don't get a producer. Your producer credit for texting Tom, my long-time relationship with Tom.

I used to work with him back in the day. I think if you didn't mention that publicly, but you just kind of did it quietly and humbly behind the scenes. We would want to give that title. You're not so humbly just gave yourself. Well, no, this is a Trondent executive producer. I respect that you've joined us now. And if you want a credit, production credit, Mark and I would be happy to have a conversation.

Yeah. Yeah. You can't verbally spar with us, but then also want the title. So, and while taking credit for securing the guest. There's a lot happening here, Greg. Well, that's where the producer credit comes from. Securing the guest. Well, it's the idea, the original idea, conceived by marketing.

What's the idea? Streated by. What's the idea? Talk about a topic? See, this is what I'm talking about. I know. Well, it's a difficult. It's vision over visibility, and it was never just a topic.

It's about what people aren't talking about yet. We're going to take massive strays for the rest of this show after what we've just tried to do to Greg. I know. I couldn't do that to Mark on haircut day. He's looking good. Oh, yeah. I like it.

Pivot. I like it. So this is the... London haircut. Cessler, give him his guitar. This is Cessler 2.0. This is not a 2.0. I love it because you got the Vicious Vee, black tea.

Right. You got Harley. Levi. Yeah. And now you got the cut. So... You're ready for London. Yeah, I needed a haircut for London.

My hair was turning into a disaster, but it was more like... Looking good. This is a little birthday boy haircut. You either come in, like, two-hour, because I've, like, literally my entire wardrobe is in that locker room downstairs. Either I go through the shenanigans of changing into another shirt, and I was like, don't, not doing that today. This is your look now. This is the plan. I resent 2.0.

Like, I was, like, there's many, you know, changes throughout life. I would say. I didn't go from a child's clothing to this, but. Sartorily, there's a lot of, everybody gets self-conscious in the studio about it, okay? I'm saying if you look at, and we've all evolved in different ways, if you look at what Mark was wearing, 2016 on the show. Yeah. Flashpoint.

This could be a flashpoint focus. Yeah, if we wanted to. And the off season, Mark's fast. You look great. I, I, uh, you know, wear this almost every day. So it's like an action figure type scenario. But thank you. Meanwhile, I'm going back to...

I think Greg has been a bigger fashion change. To Greg, 0.5, though. I believe this is the oldest t-shirt I own. It's a dice gay Montezaka shirt from about 2000. Dice gay. I don't know. When did he pop over? I think he got there around 06 and was there maybe till 10 or so in that zone.

Nobody cares. All right. Let's take a break. And when we get back, we will hit the previews of the island games ahead of week five. Stay right there. What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks.

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

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with the great fans of the England, the United Kingdom, and surrounding territories, we'll be at the Shaw Theater in London next Thursday for our latest live show. And that will be a great old time. A gay old time. I'm doing those. All right.

Let's get to it. Starting with Thursday night footballs. We dig into week five. Here we go. Man, we're at the quarter pole, guys. It is a little murky now. Before all the bye weeks start messing up with like, you know, the stats. Like now, oh, the leader in passing yards.

Yeah, but this guy only played four games. You know, I like the quarter pole. A good time to check in. It's the beginning of the by week. Browns, Chargers, Seahawks and Bucks are off. Let's start with Thursday. night, though, where the Chicago Bears still looking for that first win after a just brutal, brutal loss to the Broncos a game. They were up 287 in their building and

hope it finally infiltrated Soldier Field only to be snuffed out by poor play down the stretch and some really suspect coaching decisions and execution. Blurg. Now they head to Landover to face the commanders. And Mark Sessler, let's start with the commanders here, because I check that game out this morning before it came in. And there are a lot of things I liked about the commanders, even though they fell short in Philly in overtime. I love how you had the young quarterback Sam Howell throwing four interceptions and a blowout the previous week.

And what do they do? What does Riverboat Ron and Company do? They come out that first drive and he's throwing right off the bat, two passes connecting with Terry. They score a touchdown on the first possession, then the second possession. And then they go kind of punch for punch with the defending conference champions. So you're feeling good about this team and their progress moving forward.

This seems like with new ownership in prime time against a franchise in the wilderness, bears in the wilderness, a great setup for a celebration for the commanders. It's so interesting because one of my notes right here was this is one of those island TNF games that will turn into a celebration of a middling home team. I'm not calling the Midling, but they're just part of the mix. That looks like a world beater because you come out of these TNF games. it's a separate environment than Sunday where it'd be lost in a fog.

And I think Washington has all the pieces to absolutely take care of business in this game. I watched that Eagles showdown too, and they open with that 14-play, 75-yard drive. And I think it kind of showed different pieces of their offense, who they are, and that with Sam Howell, you're going to live with the sacks. You're going to live with the mistakes for now

because of the upside. And this commander's defensive line on the flip side is going against Chicago's worst. ranked run blocking unit. That sounds like chaos for a team that is not dealt with duress at well at all. And Howell is facing Chicago's PFF ranked them as the worst ranked pass rush. And it shows they don't have the horses there on that side of the field. So if you can get a safe Howell, and I think you can run on this team and keep it kind of exactly what you want, these Thursdays games, it's like you go do what you would do well as a core.

And then you look at like Washington's defensive line, Duran Payne, Montez Sweat, Jonathan. Allen, Chase Young, I kind of just love this whole formula for, as you said, a celebration for Washington after 20 plus years as a mess. I was surprised early on. I peaked at the line in this game. It's Washington now

by five and a half. It was over the lock zone even, seven or eight, which I'm seeing it at six here. Which is too much, too much respect. I think to me, Chicago last week at least had a really encouraging offensive performance. And Washington,

Washington's got to look at this. And you mentioned the roster they have on defense. They've built up this defense as the core of their team and have to look at last week as a missed opportunity because they got an A game out of Howell. I mean, that was as good as you could hope for against Philadelphia. They're moving the ball up and down the field. He's playing clutch.

You put up over 30 points against the Eagles defense. You want to get out of it with no turnover. You want to get out of there with a win. But the defense let them down. I don't think Sam Howell lets them down though this week. Like, look, right now he's, probably the best quarterback from his draft class. I guess 49ers fans would

push back pretty hard on that with Brock Purdy, but it's one of those two guys. I would push that. Either the last guy in the draft or a fifth round pick. Wait, you think that Howell has been better than Purdy so far? I know he's in a much better situation. No, he needs to play more to know,

but he did things in that game, certainly, that you haven't seen Purdy do. It's tough to take pretty out of that environment. Mark, you hear that disrespect? I totally, I totally disrespected. totally disagree, but, like, I do not disagree that Sam Howell's been a nice surprise. Yeah, I think we've seen enough to know that, like, he's not a fluke. Now, his ups and downs might be a little crazy.

His numbers kind of speak for it. In QBR, they have rushing value. Quietly, Sam Howell is the fourth ranked quarterback in terms of rushing value. He's brought a lot in terms of his scrambling. He needs to get down some more. I mean, he'll take some big hits. He's dead last in sacks in terms of sack value, like taking negative plays. So that kills him.

And then he's in the middle of the pack in terms of his passing, which makes sense because there's a lot of great passes. And there's some, every, like, seven throw is like four feet over the guy's head. But he, to me, is what you thought Baker Mayfield could be when he was a young player, except he's a little more physically talented. That's why it's so crazy. I was talking about with this with someone in the league this week. Actually, it's like, it's really crazy the same how it was the fifth round pick

because he's very talented. A lot of people said that on draft day. Right. Not that he wasn't like a first round pick, but that he kept falling between two and four. Yeah. Because he gives his wide receivers a chance. That's one thing you can't measure in college.

Like these wide receivers are good, and he's given Terry and Jahan Dotson and Samuel a chance to make plays. He's not afraid. It's a game of inches, and he throws a beautiful ball in overtime. I think it was McLaurin, was it? Who got one foot down, and then a second foot comes down,

I believe, on the hand of the D. and then maybe he's out of bounds. It seemed like he might even been in and gotten the second foot. And even though he stepped on the hand of the opponent, they rule it out of bounds, which leads to the punt, which leads to the game winning field goal for Philly. So it was that close to Howell making a money throw

to potentially win that game. He was called sneaky athletic about four times in that telecast. He's athletic. He moves. Is any NFL player sneaky athletic? Josh Dobbs. If Josh Dobbs... Well, no, but I mean, like, to get to the NFL,

the requisite for athleticism is already higher than 98% of the earth? Yes. Josh Dobbs stuck up on me where it's like, oh, if he was white, he would be called, you know, feisty and sneaky athletic and it's like, wow, he really is. He's got moxie. Yeah, like Howell is built like Ryan Fitzpatrick

and he'll surprise you, I guess. But I think he's going to, he's never going to be boring. And I think that's a good thing. I like the way, not just the game plan early on last week. I also liked the way Howell looked early on. He didn't look gun shy. He's not one of those rookie quarterback. who get jarred the week before and then comes back in his gun-shy.

And he's going to do it every week. On their second drive, he threw enough for grabs on first and goal, which you just cannot do. He's going to make mistakes, but he's going to be fun to watch. So that's good. And we'll see what they do. They should take care of business in this game. The bear side, yeah, where do you go after last week? The positives are obvious that Justin feels like way more comfortable.

They move the ball at will in the first half of that game before getting. getting bogged down and Ibra Fluse with a dreadful. We don't need to talk about that again, but dreadful decision not to kick the field goal when that team really needed a chance to close out a win there and they didn't even get that chance. So now I want to see how Fields, if he could string together, another good game. The game ended poorly. He took a grounding penalty in the last minute, then the I&T on third down to close out

that game. Let's see if good Justin Fields is back for another week. I think it's like important that they got DJ more involved last week. He had nine targets, eight receptions, 131 yards. before that he had been targeted on about 17% of routes in these terrible earlier three weeks which was the lowest of his career

it's like the guy that you were kind of linking to Fields all off season is what would unlock Justin Fields through the air has not happened I don't get what Luke Getsy's doing on some level too it's like we've got Justin Fields what makes him special what made him special last year it's like no one's saying is passing

like he can do it to some degree he's got to grow but it was him on the ground he has 43 fewer rushing yards per game than last year they have only had eight design runs for him this entire season Luke Getsy has him doing boot action left and right all over the place. And it's not working. And he's not better protected than he was a year ago.

Right. I think part of his they can't run block. And that's why I'm worried. Like, Fields can play well, like last week. And I know he made some mistakes at the end of the game, but he played more than well enough to win. And everything else will fall apart, whether it's his offensive line.

And that's a tough matchup. I think Chase Young has shown up well so far this season. It's been kind of a quiet story that since he's come back, he's looked a little more like the rookie Chase Young, which is nice. But when you have this bad of an offensive line and this bad of a defense, even if Justin Fields was playing at a much higher level,

what are you going to do? I have a stat here. I couldn't believe this stat. Matt Eberflis, defensive coach, Chicago Bears. I know they're short in the secondary, and they're still short. Jalen Johnson's out.

I think Eddie Jackson's not going to play in this game. They have given up at least 25 points in 14 straight games. Stop. Wow. That's never happened. I was like, that can't have ever happened. How many wins in that, in that window?

Well, I think they've lost 13 or 14 straight. Two wins, maybe tops. I think they ended last season with about a 10-game losing streak. Yeah, I think they've lost. To be fair, the one thing that's fair to Iber Fluse, like, it's like, can you check that out? No, I'm not going to be fair. What is there to be fair about?

But mid-seat, the one thing is like, are you a defensive coach that came in with the guys you can do your system with? It's like they add- But that's where they've put all their draft picks and all their free agency capital, too. They've spent all this... They did not add a super key free agent on the defensive line

until the very end of the offseason. It's like... Yeah, but they spent so much money on... They trade away Rochuan Smith. I'm not... Look it. I think Iberflus is probably gone in less than a month, and he's not done...

They're spending more at linebacker than almost any team in the league. Tremaine Edmonds and T.J. Edwards. They drop second round picks on these defensive tackles this year. They spent all their first three picks on guys in the secondary last year. They've actually spent more on their defense.

I know it hasn't. been on the defensive line, but they ended up doing it with Ingaquay, too. I'm just about any team in the league. They have no pass rush, and you can affect the quarterback. They're like in the bottom of the league of that. And like, Liber Flus has no, he's not been able to show what he's special up, but he may not be special of anything. I love the show when you guys

don't agree. Yeah. I mean, I just mean, though, I think their whole point, like, I think Iber Flus and Ryan Poles, their whole point has been like, let's make Iber Flus look better. Let's spend so much on your defense and you're the worst defense in the league. Yeah, I I almost thought about blocking this, but I stay away from Thursdays.

And it's, yeah, kind of a mirror game as well. It was interesting. It was over seven for a minute. All right. Let's head to London with a second of three games in the annual London series. Again, we'll be there next week for Titans and... Come on, man.

Ravens. That's a great game. We're getting to see Lamar live. What do you mean? That's on me. You got to know the game. He's throwing it to us. I throw it to you to build the excitement.

I knew it. Clearly, I knew it. Jaguars v. Bills. Now this, and I know the Jags have been underwhelming so far this year, but this is one of the better London matchups I can remember. This is a Jacksonville team that made it to the second round of the playoffs last year. The Bills also made it to the second round. So these are two teams that have big aspirations.

Three and one Bills, Gregi here, who are playing better than pretty much everyone in the AFC and maybe outside of San Francisco, the best team in football. ball since week one, uh, sets up well for them, but this is a Jacksonville, even though it's a Bill's home game technically, it's a Jacksonville. It's on their turf. Does that matter at all on this? I think the fact that they've played so many games there and that they've been there for the extra week can't hurt, right? Right. Right. And they do have fans. They will have, we know how we feel three days after getting there. You're lost in space. Right. The Jags, uh, really do have a nice fan base there. So they'll have more support than the bills, but the bills, I'm sure we'll have plenty

because they do everywhere. And those games kind of feel like a Super Bowl anyways. Everyone's just loving football. Everyone's loving that Josh Allen's in this game. I mean, we'll talk with Nick Shook a little later this week. Hell yeah. A little bonus up everybody. Josh Allen, I mean, he might be my QB1 right now through four games.

I know the first game was rough. But part of that is because he's got a good offensive line now. And to me, that's right there. I mentioned CJ Stroud to me is one of the big stories this season. I think one of the big stories of the season is that Sean McDermott has the best offensive line probably he's ever had in Buffalo, and that the best O-line, D-line combo, the Bills maybe have ever had. They've had some good D-lines over the year,

but this one's playing really well, and they're going to potentially add Von Miller in this game, Mark. And even if they don't, I think they have big advantages against the Jags up front on both sides. So now you're looking at, wow, a Bills team that can steamroll you a little bit, that can protect Allen and get after the quarterback. That's dangerous. just to remember back to what they were when they had Von Miller,

the way they wrecked the Super Bowl champion Rams in the opener. And then to lose them, I think the whole Bill's team journey in general last year started to go a little south. Von Miller coming back to this would be incredible. But without them, this defense and what they did to Miami and rewatching that game is just that schematically, I think McDermott's like, oh, can he handle being head coach and call the defense, no issues.

The one little part of their defense that would concern me a little bit and where Trevor Lawrence, they've been, they're like 26 in explosive plays. And they kind of looked like it. It's not really Trevor Lawrence's fault. There's been a lot of drops. There have been some weird stuff in the red zone. I think Lawrence has looked really good. But the bills were down to the last two outside corners last week.

They've lost Trudevius White. So there's an opportunity to make plays, I think, for Jacksonville. But that said, like, you've got to find a way to unsteamroll a steamrolling offense that can run the ball. They're more balanced than ever. You're getting the best version of Josh Allen. And after that week one where I think the talking point was like, who is this guy at this point? Post Brian Dable, who is he? And we're like, he's him now.

So unsteam roll, stop the steam roll. Yeah, you'd have to like find a way to unsteam it. Yes, you mentioned it, Greg. The offensive line, they added, they redid the interior of the line with two new guards. They drafted the tight end and they're playing a lot of two tight end sets. They got two running backs that are really playing well right now. And they also have Latavius Murray, Damian Harris. They're kind of break your back a little bit.

They're kind of a mean team to face on offense. And when you played Josh Allen playing at this level, Stefan Diggs playing at this level, I just feel like this is a team right now where the steamroller is not going to be stopped. And I would not be surprised if this is a winning streak that continues because you just get the feeling they've reached a level of comfort and they found a place here on both sides of the ball

where I think they're going to eat and start to even run away with this division. Isn't it interesting that like in the off season, what we were kind of looking at the way their draft and their free agency, it's like, oh, they lack a key weapon or they're lacking weapons in general. And it's like they're the team

that might be the window closing a little bit. Now we're four weeks and it's like that was always a class of the AFC. It was not silly. It was because their best players are young. That's why it was silly. But changes occur, Greg, and there was frustration around the organization.

And it's not everything's fixed, by the way. It's week four. Part of the reason why, there's tension and this idea is like all this is great and they can win 13 14 games but this core needs to get over the hump in the playoffs sure but in terms of window closing i'm with joe burrow saying the windows while i'm here and and especially because the front office is good but i'm not talking about right i'm not talking about the quarterback's window i'm

talking about the the group as the greater group that's been the nucleus that's been contended there was a period and it's you know this stuff maybe is overhyped in in this age but like we're stephan digs people were like what's going on with stephen on Diggs. There's something going on with him and Josh Allen. It feels like there's a lot of pressure. Their butts are tight. And like that can lead to something negative. And here they are. They kind of brush that all away. That's a great matchup in this

game. Diggs has been playing out of his mind. I mean, that was a dominant performance. But part of it is coaches in front office, and that's why I think the window's wide open because the players will all change quite a bit. I know Micah Hyde's been there and he's a guy that they build a defense around. Poyer won't be there

forever. But like when guys leave, like a Tremaine Edmins who got huge money from the Bears, they replace him with Terrell Bernard and, like, you fit him in. And it's like, is Joe Bernard better than Matt, then Tremaine Edmonds? Because he's been balling out. And that's why I'm with you. I think the steam roll keeps steaming. I have not been big on this jack steam.

I think they're worse than their two and two record has shown. That's why I'm locking up the bills. You son of a gun. You sandbagging son of a bitch. You can lock the bills. Oh, yeah. You sure can because I'm doing it too. Well.

Yes. Well, it feels unoriginal. like I've been squeezed out, but I don't really give an F. I'm locking them up, too. I've got to win. I'm down. I got to start at O and two. I'm taking no prisoners of the rest of the season.

I might, for show's sake, I might bounce out of this one tomorrow. I would love if you did. Tune in for the preview. Yeah, I might too once I look at other games. That is a delicious result if both of you move off. What if we bounce out and then the Jags upside the bills? How would that go for you? I'd be agitated because, you know, like I love the London game when I'm America,

but you're starting to track football. in the morning. So if I've already lost my lock by, you know, 9 a.m. It's going to be a long Sunday. The bill scored on 8 of 11 drives against Miami, including two kneel downs that ended drives or ended halves. And then their defense shut down essentially Miami in the last three quarters of that game. So I'm feeling very good about that.

Jackson was capable of playing better, but through four games, they've been quite mediocre, like the 20th best team in the league. serious jet lag on their side and they could get it that i am not looking that's the one thing that i dread flying from l a to l.a to london is rough 13 hours or so we're going to we're going to soldier through and we're doing a live show less than 24 hours after we land we'll see it'll be fun see how it goes sunday night football oh it could be a potential game of the year uh situation the dallas cowboys three and one uh the san francisco four

49ers, undefeated, and they have been a steamroller as well, as have the Cowboys, other than a week three hiccup against Arizona. So this is a wonderful matchup. We got the Niners at home, which you got to keep that in mind. They're laying four points here against Dallas. That sounds about right to me. Mark, we know your stance on the Cowboys. Personal hell is them advancing to the Super Bowl. Well, all right, but I've done some things.

on that. Okay, let's go. I'm going to throw it to you. Do you see this as a one-sided game? Do you think Dallas shows up? Absolutely. I think they absolutely show up. I guess what I'm looking at and when I look at their schedule is like a period of utter domination. You take the two disappointing New York teams, you win by a combined score of 70 to 10. You beat the Patriots 38 to 3. These teams had no chance against the Dallas Cowboys on either side of the ball. That's 75% of this season. So I don't disvalue that. I do wonder, like in general, when I think about what the Niners can do well with Christian McCaffrey, who's on pace right now to break the NFL record for scrimmage yards and has looked fantastic and unstoppable.

Why did you allow, how did you allow 222 yards to the Arizona Cardinals? I can call it an aberration, but I wonder if someone like Kyle Shanahan can look at that tape and other little chinks in the armor over the course of four games and attack it. I certainly think he can. I think what I think about the Niners right now, we talk about a steam roll, is like, they don't like you said on Sunday show they're not putting their foot on the gas to win these games the way they're winning them their offense almost and it's not effortless that's ridiculous to say that but it's like if one guy like Debo had six yards last game takes a bit of a nap or he's not in full health suddenly brandon iuk blooms into like an unstoppable power christian mcalfrey's an unstoppable power i just wonder with the cowboy's defense because it's like can you stop all this no one else has been able to brock purdy we just talked about him who went 20 for 21 last year. Brock Purdy has the highest

quarterback passerating in the league since week 14 last year when he took over, and the Niners lead the league in scoring. There hasn't been a hiccup on the Niners side. That's a big matchup. Not a massive hiccup. In a little quarter, drive to drive, sure, we can nitpick, but Brock Purdy has been almost

perfect. No, some of that scheduling too, though. I mean, this is the first... Well, some is scheduling for the Cowboys, too, to play the Giants and that's what I mean. This is the first real deal test for both teams. And that's fine. That's what makes it. And it's interesting. The one game where Purdy didn't look so hot was the Thursday night against the Giants. And the Giants pass rush kind of was in his face a lot. And he threw some balls up for grabs. I think Greg, this matchup in a lot of ways. And I hope it would be good to get an update if we can on Michael Parsons. Is he practicing? Is he okay? He was in and out of the lineup last week. McCarthy indicated he didn't think it was too serious. Yeah. So Michael Parsons and that Dallas pass rush making Purdy uncomfortable. And part of the reason why I think, and sometimes I think market gets on your radar a little bit

and I see where you're at, that people don't give pretty enough credit because it seems he's in such a great position and the offense is drawn up so well and he has so many weapons around him that he's doing a great job distributing rather than being a playmaker or an actual big talent at quarterback,

which doesn't really matter because scoring is scoring and moving the ball is moving the ball. But it's going to be great and interesting, Greg, to see Purdy specifically against a top flight defense. And I know without Trayvon Diggs there, the Dalles is a little less, but Bland has stepped in well in the back end. Seeing Purdy against this Dallas defense,

and specifically Micah Parsons is going to be really interesting. Yeah, it'll be awesome. And seeing like their right tackle, Colton McKivitz has not been great. You know, we'll see, like maybe he does give up a lot of pressure to this Dallas. I think you have to because to your point about looking at the Cowboys Cardinals tape. I think what the Cardinals did really well is put a

bull's eye on Leighton Van Derrash and Desmond Clark, who are their linebackers. That's the weakness of that team. And when you think about what Kyle Shanahan has done better than anyone in the NFL over the last few years, it's putting a circle on those linebackers on either running

downs where you surprisingly pass or it's a play action pass or whatever it is, it's like, hey, you actually need to have six defensive backs out there or we're going to roast those guys and he can create those mismatches, whether it's against Kiddle or against Debo. And I think it's a great coaching matchup because I think this is why Mike McCarthy wanted to get rid of Kellynne Moore is this game. And the way the last two seasons end against this team. That's what I mean. That's what I mean. Literally this game that their running game wasn't ready for

it and the passing game certainly wasn't ready to make up for it. And I think if you look at the Cowboys this year and schedule is such a big part of it. but I think they've been able to block in their run game pretty well. And they've had some injuries on the offensive line, but they're mostly healthy there now. And I think they're going to try to run. They have run. They've run well.

It's been a little different. Like McCarthy has definitely put his scheme into it. And I think they're going to want to try to control the game that way too. And I think that's a good way to attack the 49ers defense if you can. So it's a big McCarthy game. One thing that I find so annoying is like every time you go out to, a restaurant, a tavern, like, and they've got four sports stations on. It's like, the crawl line is always like, um, Dak Prescott got this or that. Something about Dak Prescott. They're, and it's

like, I love that we got this far without making him the focal point. And I don't, I really find it tedious. But there are, there's been in the background this year. He's just kind of been there and not great, but not bad either. But he was not in the background in the two San Francisco playoff losses, obviously. And they ended in disastrous fashion both times. That, it's like, we don't need that, this game to end that way. But there's going to be a moment or two in this where it's like, Dak Prescott, don't throw the end zone interception or make the red zone gap. You've got to make the play

in this game. And it's like, that's who, that defines, this is one of these games I think is like, you will not forget how Dak Prescott performs in this. You will not forget how the Dallas Cowboys perform in general. This is a big kind of inflection point for who they are and who they think they are. And I don't think I almost locked up the 49ers here. But then I thought, this game is more important

to the Cowboys. Man, it's so important to them. I'll just say this for nobody's underdog. And I don't think Trey Lance is going to be knocking on the door at Prescott craps the bed in this game. But I think there is a fair open question about what is DAC at this stage of his career? Is he going to be the guy that rises to the occasion in the biggest spots? And we might have to wait until January to really get that answer again.

But this is a big spot. As far as regular season goes, this is about as good as it gets. I was thinking this is the biggest Cowboys regular season game that I can remember in first. five plus years. This is a test of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. Wait, are we okay? The purpose is to maintain and improve

warning capabilities at the federal state. I didn't get it. That's concerned. Are you, yeah, are you on the, like the dark web of cell carriers? I don't know. That's really weird that I didn't know. This is why you had to get that new computer. He's just doing all sorts of crazy stuff.

You think I don't think so. I don't think so. All right. So, all right. So Sunday night football cannot wait. Let's get that Sunday night flagship program started a little early. Yes. Yeah, let's see what we can do.

I don't know if people understand what happens. Maybe we'll try to move at a faster pace. We do have the buy weeks, so that helps. I don't know if they get it, though. We start recording the show right after, soon after, relatively after. Kind of right as kickoff is, yeah. Yeah, I've been a nice couple of weeks here for Toriko. You get a nice, a nice Jets game.

Now we're talking how the sausage gets made. Oh, with Taylor Swift. you get the game of the year. I didn't mind missing the first half and it was like Cowboys 30 and Giants Zero or whatever it was at the break, but this game, I want to see the whole thing. Going to have to be a little quicker on Sunday night.

Can we do that? No. Yes. We can do it. All right. Finally. Jermaine Johnson was also held on that Pat Moeum's Scramble. We didn't talk.

We're going back there. Okay. That one was unquestionable. The other one, you know, I've seen worse calls not made. Yeah. The, the, the, the, the, the, the, The Drayne one was tough.

You know, maybe, maybe, maybe we got a job there, but I won't say anything else. Taylor went home happy. All right. Last game. It is Monday night football. It is, I mean, I felt we just saw these teams in prime time. And yet here we are again, the Las Vegas Raiders, once again, at home against the Green Bay Packers, this time on the road. And it was.

I'm not crazy, right? The Packers were on Thursday night football last week. Yep. And the Raiders were on Sunday night football two weeks. Yep. Okay. It feels like maybe we, let's get some of, all right. We'll talk to 345 Park about that immediately.

They will not listen. But yes. So here we go. Mark, the Raiders, nearly, nearly came away with a win last week with their backup quarterback, but they're one and three and just there's not a lot of juice around this team right now. And Josh McDaniel seems. to be potentially heading towards the crosshair. So this feels like a fairly important game for at least a head coach who doesn't

want to drop to one and four after a bad year one in prime time on an island game with the, with the owner in the suite upstairs. You know what I'm saying. And the Packers who really, let's start there, the Packers who kind of no-showed for the most part last week on Thursday night football. And it's hard to, right, for me anyway, get too excited about the Packers being anything else other than a loge level team. Yeah, I think that game was a pretty decisive turning point for them because...

Shifting from mezzanine to loge, but the same meaning. Yeah, speaking of the loge and the sweets, like Mark Davis, like, got into a verbal tiff with a fan who was demanding that the team fired Josh McDaniel. So it's already getting a little hot. Really? Yeah, you've got Devonte Adams, who's probably wondering, like, wait, do I really want to be on this Raiders team versus this, like, young Packers team on the other side? Mark Davis is the only owner in this league that would go into a verbal sparring.

I don't think he sparked it. I think it was the fan probably coming at him. I mean, I assume. Yes. I mean, I met Mark Davis, nice person. We saw him at a Super Bowl week. Oh, we've seen Mark a lot three years. Nice, nice person.

Always out and about. Sometimes wearing Zubaz. Always. Yeah, white track suit. I feel like he took over for his dad, he wears less Zubaz, but I definitely saw him wearing He has, and I love it, and I don't think this is telling tales out of school. This is part of the experience. covering the sport, especially at the tent pole events.

Mark, and maybe a little less now, but maybe like a decade ago, it was literally every tent pole event. If you were at the league hotel that happened to house like the owners and stuff, Mark is always at the bar and he's always having a good time. And he's always wearing white jeans and a white long-sleeved Raiders T-shirt. Yep. It's amazing. And I think white sneakers.

Yeah, he's got a, you know, like one of those words. where you, it's just like 80 of the same thing. It's kind of one of those cool things working for the league. And then, oh, there's Al Davis's son at the bar doing it up. Yeah. So he's, you know, he was getting into a verbal argument with a fan, not a great situation. So there is, I think there is this, you're right about this Raiders team. It's like at some point, in their space for it, like in this matchup, I think you got to show up.

The one area like that you kind of thought last year for me when I thought the Raiders under McDaniel were starting to develop an identity on offense, which they've been kind of. kind of identity-free was like when they were just running the ball, Patriots-esque, down people's throats. There were a couple games like that, then they went away from it. But the one area with Joe, with Joe Barry running the Packers defense, and they gave up to 211 rushing yards to a good rushing Detroit team a week ago, while running for like 27 on themselves with Aaron Jones back in the lineup, I think he'll be healthier this week. If Josh Jacobs can have one of these kind of island game at home, like this is the spot. Like you can run on this defense.

And I really wonder, outside of that, like, how the Raiders, like, through the air, like, can actually get this done. I think Devante Adams is going to be a big part of that for obvious reasons against the team he's playing. But I really like the idea of trying to control the ball, take it out of Jordan Lum's hands, and have Josh Jacobs have that game we've been waiting for. We don't even know, as we're taping this, you know, who's going to be the quarterback for the Raiders. It might be something that goes throughout the week. Jimmy G., when last, you know, heard from Josh McGain, was still in concussion, protocol, but that's not surprising considering he missed the game he could get out of it by the end of the week. He did confirm he will start. It's not like they're going to stick with O'Connell

who had, you know, more bad than good for a rookie, but it wasn't total disaster. Like, could have been worse. They need him. They need Devonte Adams who went out of that game, hurt and then played through it and is definitely banged up. Both these teams have had a lot of injuries. The Packers get back Elton Jenkins at practice early this week, which would be big. We We know David Bakhtiari is now expected to miss the entire season. But you had Aaron Jones back in the mix last week. You had Christian Watson back in the mix. Their snaps were a little limited in that Thursday night game.

And now hopefully you get a full compliment. I feel like we still haven't quite seen this Packers team exactly offensively as we want. They were quite dominated by Detroit. And now they get to play a Raiders defense. It was not going to dominate anyone. I mean, they're getting some good play here and there from some players. but it's crazy to look at their pass rush, which is last or close to it in a lot of categories,

pass rush win weight and pressures and all this stuff and think like, they've got Max Crosby playing as well as he's ever played. He was a demon last week. He's been a demon all season, but as Browns fans know, you can have a pretty bad defense with a defensive player of the year candidate

on your defensive line, and they are getting no pressure outside of him. Number two on their team in pressures is actually their inside linebacker, Robert Spillane, who they have like blitzing every now and then. They're just getting absolutely nothing from anyone else on that. It was probably doubly painful to see former Raider Kahliel Mack

ran up six sacks against them last week. Yes, Josh Jacobs, it feels like he's been kind of getting into football shape in the front of the season, but last week he had about 140 total yards and a touchdown. I'm with you. I kind of like the, I don't know if I'm going to pick the Raiders here,

but I think that Jacobs is going to have a big game here. And I think this is going to be his first, like, hey, I'm Josh Jacobs, the guy you remember from last year. Now, will the Packers be able to match that? We shall see. But, yeah, I guess I'm a little spooked by the Packers. I've seen, I know there was a really nice comeback mixed in there, but there's been a lot of quarters of not so hot football.

They've been very banged up, and that's part of it, too. We shall see. For the most part, they've had close game. Easy matchups in terms of the defenses they face except for Detroit. and this is another one and I want to see some Love Flur specials. I mean, he's been having some nice Jordan loves. You protect love and you should be

able to move the ball on the rater. Jordan loves QB rating has dropped 50 points in week three and four from where it has to do a lot. Yeah, I think that's part of it is like, I mean, I have a lot of forgiveness for their offense in terms of like all these new pieces. I think they've got like 10 players aged 25 or younger

with a reception on that offense. Yeah. It shows you how raw and young they are. And they, you know, look at their last eight quarters. take out the 18.4th last week. It's been a lot of, it's been rough. It's been rough at times this year for the Packers. It's a transition for them.

That they're two and two. But they're two and two. All right. There we go. And by the way, the Raiders, they're 5 and 11 in one score games. So last year. Right.

So that's a lot of one score games. They're just there. 16 in, what, 22 games or whatever? I was like, why is this game in prime time? And then I thought it's the Devante Adams revenge game. I actually think that is part of it. We bought in a stadium. I mean, Packers fans care, but you're right.

I mean, he's a national. Revenge. You know what I mean. It's Devante Adams. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A future Hall of Famer, I believe. It's hard for me as a fan. And I love storylines and narratives around football,

but like to get into revenge games unless there's a QB involved. Like QBs, it feels a little personal. Well, I think just oversold in general. But it wasn't revenge either. They basically gave him what he wanted. If Devante Adams leaves the Raiders before the trade deadline and gets with another team that faces the Raiders, that feels like a revenge game.

Because I think Devante Adams behind the scenes who was kind of annoyed with McDaniel. Did he want out of Green Bay so you can go to the Raiders? That's why I don't think this one is. And he got paid. The Raiders thing feels like it's getting a little uglier by the week. That could play out on national. The whole thing, like, there's no like, you know, the Chandler Jones thing.

was, you know, unfortunate for everyone, primarily Chandler Jones. It's not like Josh McDaniels is saying anything that's driving anyone crazy, but just there's not a lot of life there. You feel like there's going to be a lot of Packers fans at this game. I saw our old friend Will Bachman saying there's not a hotel room to be found in Vegas for this game this weekend. He was asking if he could grab someone. So, yeah, that's the thing.

I guess that's why they put him on Sunday night and early in the season. It's like, it is a scene there. I wonder to that point, sneaky big-time pressure on McDaniels for this not to go sideways. I'll just throw it out there. Tuesday morning, could there be a bombshell if the Raiders get stomped in this game? Based on their lack of success so far and maybe behind the scenes, issues around the team. I mean, not if the owners arguing with fans in the in the opposite direction, but that's that there is also this weird thing. Maybe this has no impact on.

We don't know about the back and 40s. He's trying to stay patient. He's been telling reporters he's trying to do have. Tom Brady is a minority owner, right? For the Raiders? I don't know if they have signed the paperwork. All right. Well, but that was heading that direction.

It's like super tight with Josh McDaniels. Does that keep him around? I don't know. He is officially an owner of the Las Vegas Aces in that WNB finals. I feel like you brought that up, too, sure. I know. That is why I said. Where the Liberty is trying to bring New York a title.

Well, I'm just saying. Brady and Mark Day. I'm making your point. Mark Davis owns that team. Their business part. You know what? Rebecca Lobo is taking it home for the Liberty League of here.

I think she's far removed from the lineup. No. They actually have the MVP. They traded for a woman at one. So you are on top of it. I'm not tracking this. Listen, a New York sports fan will take any success we can find.

Sure. Let's go Lib. All right. Anything else? That's it. Thank you to Tom Curran. Thank you to you, the listeners again. And we'll be back on Thursday with a full preview of week five.

And the NFL Plus show is back as well. Till then, heed the call. Hey, everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape,

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