NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Friday Fun Show! Broncos-Colts TNF Recap + Final Predictions for Week 5

Episode Date: October 7, 2022

A virtual room filled with some heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, Gregg Rosenthal and Patrick Claybon share their final thoughts before a weekend of football action. First, we recap the Colts-Broncos Thursday night matchup. Dan takes over "The Floor is Yours" (which is now called "It's About Me!") with a message for Broncos fans. We take feedback and questions from the live listeners, and finally hit the last nuts and bolts leading into Week 5 with predictions for this weekend. The Friday Fun Show airs live on YouTube at 10am PT/1pm ET/6pm BST every Friday.NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Hello and welcome to the Friday fun show around the NFL's guide to Sunday, Guide to Sunday and Beyond. Dan Hans is here from the home studio. Joining me, Greg Rosenthal, Mark Sessler, and the great Patrick Claibon. Nice foursome here. Like it.

First time we've had a guest here on the Friday Fun Show. I don't know if Claibon is ready to bring the requisite fun, but he looks ready. Oh, he doesn't look ready at all. He's also manning a small child, so let's see how this goes. I know he's got multiple duties. I mean, the answer, there's your answer, Greg, is Claibon ready for the fun. We haven't heard him yet, but he's going to work through the tech diffs.

There's nothing but fun here, guy. There he is. This is all we have. We got some spelling games going on. This is fun. I love it. This is what you need here on the Friday Fun Show. This is what the people have been missing.

The doctor ordered this. People think that the idea of. having young children and constant responsibility is not fun. Well, you know, plug in because it is a ball. And yes, the reason why, if this is a regular podcast, we might stop down and say, oh, we're going to get Patrick's audio working and then we'll start the show. No, but this is live. That's part of the fun.

It's a high wire accessler. And we are here with all the listeners from America and abroad. So thank you to everybody that's on right now. The numbers are going up higher and higher. Sessler, do you have any butterflies when we're in a true live environment? Yes, I mean, even though we just are about a week removed from doing a live show

in front of real people, it's this production that gets me very nervous. I'm not sure what to say next. I'm just going to deal with it on a minute-by-minute basis. I get a little nervous about the future of our company after Thursday night football, which we're going to get to in a little bit,

but also we're going to have our predictions for week five at the end of the show and also, you know, a constant rebranding, a shifting as we figure out, like Friday Fun Show, working title, that's clear. Our new spotlight segment, same spotlight segment with a new name. So that's a little tease. Get ready. I mean, Greg, pinch yourself.

I mean, one of the commenters says after Thursday night football, another pandemic might sounds like fun. I mean, that's going a little too far. So if you're live with us right now, sending your questions during the show, we will hit some of those throughout the episode. But let's start, yes, as we must. Because this job isn't always fun,

just like rearing children, not always fun. There's responsibility. And talking about the American football game played on Thursday is an example. Let's go. Surveys, good protection, slides, fires, broken up in the end zone.

Gilmore on Sutton so the defensive player of the year a couple of years back and somehow some way the Indianapolis Colts who took their first lead of the game on that field goal pull out a 12-9 victory Al Michael speaks for us all on Amazon

the final call on Russell Wilson's incompletion in which he missed an open KJ Hamler try to stick it into Cortland Sutton, but Steph Gilmore said, no, sir. Final score, Colts 12, Broncos 9, overtime win for the Colts somehow, impossibly. Ingraver is like, are you kidding me? I'm trying to win the AFC South over here, and I got the Colts picking up these garbage wins to stay afloat as they try to figure themselves out. Let's get to the Broncos in a bit,

because I know in some ways they're the more compelling story. But, Pat, let's start with the cults here, because it couldn't be any more ugly on offense, and yet they found a way with some help from the quarterback on the other side, of course. Yeah, you go into a game without Jonathan Taylor, you're losing offensive linemen. Patrick Zertan has MPJ in absolute incarceration. There's just nothing to offer other than some Alec Pierce. A lot of Alec Pierce, Matt Ryan was chucking and ducking.

He had one super weird fadeaway throw. Oh, that was sad. Barely crossed the line of scrimmage where it's like, oh, I don't know, guys. I don't know what we're doing here. There was so much excitement coming into the season. And now it's like, Matt, are you okay? Like, I was legitimately worried for him. Can I just say to that, Patrick, like, I know exactly the story you're talking about.

And that was the one where I think I went to Twitter and I said, we got to get Matt Ryan in a broadcast booth stat because this feels like it's, it's setting up for disaster. It was, it barely reached, it barely crossed a line of scrimmage. Like, it was almost intentional grounding. And there was, there was no reason for it. It was like a kind of like fade away flying kick throwaway that was just so awkward and uncomfortable. And that's how they won the game.

It was awkward and uncomfortable. They almost turned the ball over two times on the game-winning drive. But because it was just it was not going right, the Broncos were hemorrhaging defensive players. And Russ was just, it was a bad Russ game. It was a bad Russ game. Horrible. Arguably the worst game he's ever played in his career. And that's what happened.

You should have run the ball on fourth and won. Because there was so much conversation. It's like, oh, Nathaniel Hackett, you paid the quarterback all this money. You got to, and so it's like, yeah, okay. So here we're going to throw the ball. Like, just run the ball, it's fourth and one. I think that was absolutely a reaction from week one and all the criticism. Although Hackett was quick to point out after the game,

we gave Russell Wilson the option to run or pass there in the run look he thought wasn't great. Despite the fact that they ran the ball, fantastic their last couple of drives. That was what was lost on it. Like Russell Wilson hit on a fourth down that they were. went for the drive before, before he threw that interception that should have won the game. And up until that fourth down, like, they had run the ball straight down the field and they had moved the ball down the field there. There were so many, like, unbelievably ugly moments where Russell Wilson doesn't see the other receivers. But the game was so bad that you're talking about

here, Dan, that after the game, even the next day, Frank Reich was like, I didn't know how to feel about it. Like, you just won a game. You're two, two, and one. You're, you know, people are worrying about you getting fired. And even Frank Reich is like, I don't know, that was so bad. I actually don't know how to feel about a last second comeback from the jaws of defeat victory. Like Frank Wright couldn't even enjoy it. I mean, I thought, Dan, you tweeted this and I could not agree more visually that Frank Reich, it's probably this season, but I thought from the first quarter through overtime, aged visually about seven years. I mean, he suddenly looked like an old man. And I mean, Quentin Nelson called it a disgusting effort.

And Matt Ryan talked about how he's just simply exhausted after the game. I mean, it's hard. You can look at either side and say, I don't know which team was more visually unappealing, but there's no stakes for the cults in my book. What's happening with Russell Wilson and the Broncos is... What do you mean there's no stakes? They're two, two and one. They're trying to save jobs.

Here's the thing. I'm saying, like, in general, the cults, I've said all along, I think the cults are like a good but not great team. I don't even think they're good. So I'm not really concerned about their final destination. But the Broncos experience and that there's nothing greater than the cutaways to the fans in the stands. Like last night in every one of these games that are just like, this is what you sold us all offseason? Like who's at fault here?

This is like utter dumbness from at the outer reaches. Like it's the most unwatchable football product we've seen in years in Denver. That's saying something. I think that was one of the, it's certainly in the conversation for the worst primetime game I could remember. and I thought I was thinking about it. When it was through, and we'll get to more of the fan stuff a little bit later in the show. But when it was through, you got this sense

that in terms of Denver's where they're at as a team, even when it looked like they were going to win the game because the cults were totally lost on offense, you could tell the Broncos and the fans on the sideline, no one was happy. But it's like, we're going to win this game, but we're not going to feel any better about ourselves and there's going to be a lot of questions.

And then when Russ throws the second pick, which was brutal and they give up the field goal to tie it and then can't get a stop in overtime and then can't match it. That's kind of the worst type of loss you could have because there's two type of brutal regular season losses. Let's keep out like it knocked out of the playoffs and week 18 out of it. But there's the one where you suffer some type of catastrophic injury to one of your best players and then you work your way through a game and you lose the game on top of it. And then there's a game like this where you're ahead but feelings are terrible and you know there's something broken about what's going on here.

But you're going to win and get out of it. And then you get caught from behind and beat in a game like this. And I don't know how the Broncos recover from this where they're at right now because the vibes could not be worse around this team, the coaching staff, and of course the quarterback who we can't. I know it's everyone's piling on Russ right now. But when you deliver a performance like that and you start the season like this, Patrick, there's no way to deny that his failures are a major part of the reason the Broncos

are one of the biggest bust in football. Absolutely, absolutely. He's a part of it. Nathaniel Hackett's a part of it. Melvin Gordon's fumbles, absolutely a part of it. The defense does not deserve this from the other side of the ball and the coaching staff. They have been so good. They lost a couple of guys last night.

Garrett Bowles lost last night as well, carted off. And so it's like both of those bad case scenarios, Dan, where you're talking about where you're ahead. Right. And you somehow eke out of it, but everybody's worried. but also you guys get hurt also you lose in heartbreaking fashion and it's like what are we going here we're committed now to this quarterback

we're committed to this situation how how do you continue and all you can really say is that the season is long the ball's not round and a bunch of weird stuff can happen and we've just seen it too many times right if you have talent then you're not out of it and we've seen Russ do this this is not like

this is Brian Hoyer out here we've seen Russ be a good quarterback so you can at least harken back to that but what we've seen this season? No, it's been awful. It's been bad. We've never seen him at this level. I think he's shown hints of it over the last couple of years. This is obviously him in a new system, but he's been in a lot of new

systems. I mean, that's the thing is we've tried a million different systems to try to figure out where Russ's weaknesses in terms of throwing over the middle and not seeing the whole field can match up with his, which is obvious strengths. And now the weaknesses are just like crazy there for everyone to see.

because almost every single one of these third down throws where he dumped it off like Alex Smith, like at his worst when it was like third and 13 and he's thrown at five yards. Like they almost immediately showed someone wide open on the other side of the field. And Russ just didn't hit hit it. And there were like four or five throws

that weren't close to anyone, that were like way out of bounds or were hitting like a huge patch of grass where no one was there. The most telling play to me was one where he was scrambling around in the reds forever. And it was like, oh, here's the old Russ. Like, this is kind of a crazy old Russ play. And then at the very end of it, he just winged it as fast as he could. And it hit

the play clock. And it just, like, hit the play clock at the back of the end zone and went like clunk. And I was just, what, what is happening here? It's, um, like he, him and Ryan are two of the worst starters in the league right now. And that's just, I just, even me as a, as a huge Russell Wilson skeptic, uh, could not have expected anything like that. Couldn't you say the game. became sort of beautiful in the sense that, and I'm not saying like it was fun to watch, but no Thursday night football game this year has attached itself to bigger talking points at this point.

We were watching Russell Wilson's like entire career changed before our eyes over the course of one night. And I'm wondering if he'll ever return to what we thought or if this is something, if you're a Broncos fan, you're thinking we just married the wrong person. We just signed up for this guaranteed money for a long time. And if it doesn't get better, this thing is going to become as ugly as any story in the NFL.

Well, might have married two of the wrong people. Right, right. You can get rid of one of them. I think that's part of this story here because I also sense you could definitely go down the road of Russ's washed or he's not close to the same guy he was anymore. And now that the data and the stats, it's starting to back it up. So it's like, okay. But he doesn't look comfortable in this offense. And I still don't like, I hated that last play call, even though Hamler did flash wide open.

It just seems like the whole scheme is out of whack. But it's also, I think, to your point, more kind of open season, Russ is a guy that people, and we're not innocent in this. Like we've long kind of poked fun at Russ and his public, the way he postures and the way he presents himself. And sometimes it comes off as inauthentic. And then you have on our own airways, on NFL network, I want to play Kyle Brand.

This is an example of like why this game is bad as a, was to watch is weirdly good for football because it brings heat and it brings discussion. I think Russell Wilson is one of the least authentic personalities we have in this league. I think Russell Wilson is a poser. And that doesn't mean he's a bad person. I actually think he's a good person.

I think he tries to be something that he's not. And when you make the $245 million, you either got to be a really great guy with the locker room who loves you or you got to be an amazing player. And then he wasn't done. He does not like Russell Wilson, Mr. Brand. You know, I work the NFL honors. I work the

red carpet. Kelsey comes by, Rogers comes by. Russell Wilson shows up with his sunglasses and his wife, and I think they think they're Jay-Z and Beyonce, and they will literally put their hand up and say, no, we're not talking. Why? Because you think you're that cool and you're that famous and you're that amazing and everything is so perfect. That does not work in a locker room unless you were really good or really, really good guy. Greg, we talked about in London the comparison and how it feels similar, A-Rodd and Russell Wilson, Alex Rodriguez in baseball, and and Russell Wilson in football. There's just something about this guy.

So a game like that, an island game, where he sets himself on fire, it was kind of the perfect stew for these type of reactions. Right, but including from their defense, their defense is bawling out. They're like a top three or four defense. Baron Browning had one of the best games

any pass rushers had all season last night. He had 10 pressures and five QB hits in 21 pass rushes. I've never heard of such a thing. Like, they have been incredible. That actually gives me some hope for this Broncos team, because as bad as they've been, they look like they have a top four or five defense.

But we, you know, we've been annoying people with Russell Wilson takes for a while. Great, I got you guys all upset last year with a take. Let's listen to it, Justin Graver. Oh, Greg. I'm not too high on MacDoh, I mean, Russell Wilson right now. To me, I don't want to be giving up first round, a ton of first round picks for Russell Wilson right now.

You know what? During the game last night, during the game last night. Searching through the archives. I knew, I knew, and I wish I had sent this to you guys on Twitter, on text. I knew Greg was going to replay a Russell Wilson tirade from last season. I had no, I didn't even remember this. This is Greg's moment. Listen, Greg, I'm not hating.

But it was the legitimate football argument because it was the whole idea was, would you trade a ton of first round picks from Russell Wilson? And I said, no, I would not trade him for almost any of these first round picks. At this point, I think he's past that point of his career. and I'd take Mack Jones over Russell Wilson. And you guys at all my mention, I wouldn't have remembered it, but I got a lot of mentions.

Listen, I am, you are, you're on a season left. You're on a bit of a heater, Greggy. And you deserve this moment because Gino is balling out. Russell Wilson has sucked. So I am not going to say you shouldn't call that up. That's good. Good job by you, Gregi.

Let's see. But like Patrick just said, I want to see where we're at at the end of this season. because I don't think Russ is this bad. I don't think he's washed. But I will say Nathan, you'll hack it and we should move on. But my last thought on this game and then anybody else that wants to chime in,

I think he's on a hot seat already. I think it doesn't happen a lot. We've talked about this, a one and done coach. But if this is the way this holds and you have Russ under contract and it doesn't work this year, first thing you're going to do is start over on the coaching staff. I would not be surprised if that happens, if this stays the course because that would be ugly. Can I say one little thing about Kyle Brandon NFL honors? Dan, you and I used to cover that and it was a chore. Let's be honest. But the first time I ever did, it was right after Russell Wilson's

first season. And I waited around for 30 minutes to interview him. And it wasn't because of him that I waited. It was just the way it went. He couldn't have been nicer, kinder, more humble. He was a totally different person. So to hear what happened with Kyle Branton him, I think that speaks to the change of the Russell Wilson experience and what he's done in his life since then. I do think it's probably a nice person, but there's a lot of artificial substance going on there. Or it could have just been an accurate portrayal of an event that took place. Like at any point, somebody could meet me and I could be a certain way.

And they could say, all right, that's Patrick Claibon, right? The idea that Russ is uniquely disingenuous when it comes to NFL quarterbacks is kind of weird to me because it's not like all of these guys are really giving us the 100% truth about how they feel about a given thing. I think the other quarterback on the field would be a clear example. of that last night as well and it kind of drives home the fact that we don't really know any of these guys and in terms of like how it works in a locker room percy harvin knocked out his teammate and then they went out there and won the super bowl if you execute it doesn't matter like people work with people that they don't like all of the time like sometimes it just goes south as for why like shirm

and doug baldwin and all these guys have such vitriolic energy for russ when he like threw a pick on the goal line, like, why it's that intense, I don't really know because I don't know these people. And I think, like, it's very important for all of us to remember that despite the interaction, despite the exposure, despite the access that we have, we don't necessarily know these people. And I feel like sometimes the pendulum swings back a little too hard. And we're really getting after Russ when he doesn't have, like, sexual assault accusations. He's not lobbying for people to not take a vaccine. He's not doing these other things. People are going, like, pretty hard on Russ right now.

Yeah. I'm with you on that. That is a clay bomb. Everybody get under the table. Duck for cover because I'm with you too. But there's something about him that just whatever, for whatever reason, makes him a target and people get after. Well, his game is also divisive and I think it always has been.

I think there's always been people that thought like if you're a real football guy and you want quarterbacks to be a certain way, like he's had these shortcomings and now they're coming out a little more. I did want to just support your point on the coach, Dan. and point out this ownership did not hire. Well, if you're supporting my point, then go on. Yes. This ownership did not hire Nathaniel Hackett. I think that's really important in terms of the timeline. And they did give Russell Wilson a somewhat unnecessary contract. I would say totally unnecessary. He had two years left on his contract already making him one of the higher paid quarterbacks in the league. And they extended that thing five more years at a time that was unnecessary. But the ownership did give him that money. They did not hire Nathaniel Hackett.

So I think that supports your, your hack. It could be one and done. G.C., good call. All right, before we move on, I thought the only true positive to come out of Thursday Night Football was Al Michaels, who doesn't care? Like, there's nothing you can do. I don't, how many billions of dollars is Amazon worth,

the bosses in the highest levels of American corporate society? There is nothing. Anybody could tell 75-year-old Al Michaels on Friday morning. Oh, you've been too critical of the game. We want to keep people engaged. Don't tell them the product is bad. I don't care. So I want to, this is how I'll start with this.

Here's Al Michaels calling the end of first half field goal going to break. Well, what do you know? Six three, we are back in a half minute. How about an Al Michael's reel? How about that? Al Michaels is annoyed real. Type of game you'd like to have in the fifth regional on CBS on Sunday. Less anyone think we couldn't find highlights we did.

6-3, Denver at the half, nine points tied for the third fewest in the first half of the game this season. Third. Yep. Forgive me for getting excited there. We haven't seen a lot of office. No, I get you. I was like, wow. Right.

That was beautiful. You know, I'm only half kidding. But sometimes a game can be, at least at this point, so bad, it's almost good. You know what I'm saying? No. Okay. Don't. I'm not feeling that.

Just not over here. The game is like sort of bad. It's not good. Yeah. Good performance by Michael's. Bad performance by everybody else connected with the game. Herb Street's like what? What's going on here?

Al is in like this great place in his career where you can't tell him nothing. Even Roger Goodell, if he's watching that broadcast like, last night, I think, is laughing at L. He knows. All right. It always goes on about. It always goes on about six seconds longer than I expect. It is time to every week.

each of us takes a turn. The floor is ours. It is our time to shine in a segment has been rechristened in the name of Chris Wessling. It's about me. It's about me. And I want to talk about, it's my turn. I want to talk about fan entitlement.

I grew up in New York as the rarest of birds, a fan of the Jets in football, and the Yankees in baseball. I have lived in opulence, and I have lived in squalor as a fan. My teen years, which are kind of the most formative in sports fandom, featured a 1996 to 2000 stretch where the Yankees won four World Series titles. And that drift for the Yankees has slowed considerably this century,

but I get and I know that I'm entitled, that I'm blessed in that realm. The Yankees start another playoff run on Tuesday. They haven't had a losing record since 1992. Then there's my Jets fandom, which has included zero Super Bowl appearances in 42 years on this planet and counting. And that's been the yin to my Yankees Yang. I've lived on both sides of the coin, my friends, is what I'm trying to say.

And I bring this up because the scene at mile high last night, got on my radar a little bit. Broncos fans are pissed. They booed their team after the first drive stalled in the red zone. This has been a common occurrence really since the beginning of the year. The booze only got louder there as, Denver stumbled through one of the more grotesque offensive performances that we could remember. And, well, maybe the Colts was somehow worse on Thursday, but you get it.

And the booing part is fine to me. I know that not everyone believes in that, but I believe that's within a paying customer's right to express dissatisfaction, where you pay obscene amounts of money, and then the performance doesn't seem to match what you paid for or what you were expecting. it's sports, but I do take issue with the shot by Amazon of the stream, the steady stream of Broncos fans exiting the building as overtime was set to begin. And I understand they had every right to be disgusted by Denver's performance through four quarters, but failing on a tie game at the coin tosses to me the peak of fan entitlement. And just a reminder, this is an organization with eight Super Bowl appearances tied with the Cowboys and Steelers for second most all time, only behind the Patriots.

Three Super Bowl wins, including a Super Bowl 50 triumph in 2016, not too long ago. You're the team of John Elway. You're the team on the right side of the history for the drive and the fumble. You got the temporary euphoria of Tebow Mania. You landed Peyton Manning in the greatest free agent sweepstakes of all time. even the Russell Wilson trade. As bad as it looks right now, when it happened, I can tell you from personal experience

that the have-nots of football felt envy for a Broncos organization that always seems to keep itself in the picture. Now think about being a fan of the Jets or the Browns or the commanders or the Chargers or the Texans or the Panthers or the Falcons or the Lions or any other team that doesn't have a quarter of the history, the glory, the juice

of a Broncos fan so boo the team go ahead sure they're playing like hell and you paid a lot of money to watch them that's whatever but walking out on the team and a tie game entering overtime

cry me a river you should see how the other half lives the clapping is the sound of the ruler hitting their knuckles like get back in the game what are you doing our audio listeners really should check this uh show out on

youtube uh because the the stream of the viewer commenters uh was was making me laugh and i enjoyed it and it adds a lot to the i like uh blake wingo old man yells at cloud okay whatever blake it's it's old man yells at crowd is what we're looking at oh i like that i yeah it's a hard it's a hard uh oh Overtime, that's a tough, tough spot. I, uh, I'm with you. Although I do think, uh, as someone who's lost a little bit of juice after seeing their team reach the absolute, uh, pinnacle, uh, you know, once you've seen the

mountains, once you've seen the very best, it's like, oh, well, probably never going to get there again. It's hard to get, get the engines revved. I'm with you, Dan. Like, I, you know, I lived in Denver for years. And I do think in general, the Broncos fans historically have been like a top five fan base. And not ultra-annoying, to be honest. Like, I just think they're passionate.

I kind of take an issue with what I saw last night, too, as you do. But I kind of think what's happened with the Broncos, their games have been so public. The crowd reaction from the minute that they started counting down, the play clock. I mean, all this stuff has almost become like a public circus and Coliseum to go and react to the team this way. And I think that you wouldn't have in another game of this nature the crowd shots and the camera selection. and the camera selection that they used from the very beginning this thing started to really stink up the joint.

But leaving, I'm with you too. I think if you're in overtime, what are you doing? Everyone knows, like, I had a friend whose dad took his sons to game six of the Mets Red Sox World Series and they left early, and that's on you for the rest of your life. So you just, I'm not saying this game was a disaster, but like you don't fail if you're in the stadium in overtime. I'm with you on that.

Let's check in with the people, watching live. Any questions, comments? Hit it up, Gravedigger. Jay Tweeter asked, where does last night rank in the pantheon of horrific games? You know, Greg, you're very good at this stuff. I know there's been a lot of bad ones. Thursday night has been the home of a lot of bad games. Is there one that kind of sticks out to you is somehow worse than this? No, because it didn't cross over into the so bad it's good realm, which are the ones I enjoy, like so ugly. It's good. I think the fact that there's, these two, like, potential Hall of Fame quarterback. Like, it made it unfun. It never got to the fun place. Even Al said that at one point. Like, they were like, are we getting to a good thing? Right.

Yeah, it just was sad. Like my kids, my kids are starting to get into watching sports now. Jack's turned eight and Harry's five and a half, six. And he just likes what his brother likes. And I actually, they have time for their bath. And sometimes I'll tell Emily, I'll be like, let him, let him watch the end of the game. In this case, I was like, no, there's nothing to be gained here from them watching this game. It was just kind of a sad, sad game.

What else do we got? Dan, this is from Greg Scamado. Just double G there, Gregi. Dan, how early is it to call a team Moribund? Are the Panthers there now? Moribund, it's more a feel. There's no designation. But it usually comes in the second half of the season

when there's no hope. Hope has to be totally lost for a team to be more abundant on the flagship program. Justin Swanson. who's the worst two-win team? Patrick, you got this one. Rams, Jets, Broncos. Oh, that's who.

Well, you got a couple of, you got, it's, with Matt Stafford hurt right now, I'm going to lean Rams. Like, he was spraying the ball. Not to the extent that Russ was spraying the ball, but almost kind of, yeah, I think the Jets are better two-win team, considering the opponents right now.

Perhaps, I mean, maybe I'll feel different after, Or, you know, maybe Cooper Rush, the slippers come off a little bit. But yeah, I'll go with the Rams right here. Yikes. All right. Jonathan Webster. Greg, what's the story behind the owl painting behind you? That's a good one, too.

You know, my grandfather, Heinz Rosenthal, painted that. I don't know if there's much more of a story. Is that true? Yeah. You know, he was a painter. And we've got many, many. And the reason why this one's out is my daughter loves owls. And I've rotated what's, you know, and so it's been out in the house for the last few years.

Where's your artwork? Do you have something going on quietly? I am not artistically inclined, unfortunately. I'm a huge disappointment in that realm. I tried. I was always terrible. My brother is a, you know, a virtuoso, musician. Extremely talented musician.

I always wanted that, but it's not in me. It's not in me. He's sandbagging. He's sandbagging. Yeah. Absolutely. He was also in a, a Prague rock

ska band so he has musical talent as well I was also Best Director One Act plays my freshman year in high school How about that? There you go.

Robbie asks question for the heroes Mark, I want you to handle this one. Would you all change your preseason playoff predictions at this quarter point

through the year? No, I'm going to stick with what I picked. I also don't recall what I pick so it would be a strange exercise too. Right, I would stick with it

because for the same reason and I don't want to go check, but I'm pretty sure I had the Colts and Broncos in the playoffs. So I probably changed that. I'm feeling good. I got the Eagles over the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. I want this thing to end right now. Throw it to another clip, Greg.

No Broncos. In Nugget Jr. In honor of last night's game, can we get a quarter season pain rankings? I would have to think about that one. So no. Next. That's just,

that's pretty, that's off the top of my dome. But thank you, Nugget Jr. And I like your avatar. Looks like a nice mustache. Avery Baum is Russ the new line on the Dalton scale? No. That's a, that's, he wouldn't be because he's always been above it.

And now, right now, I think it's fair to say he's well below it for the way he's played this year. He's sink, he's sinking his team. So the Dalton scale guy has to be someone who's, you know, nice and steady right towards the middle. I think Kirk Cousins is settling into that. Ryan Tannehill, maybe. All right. It is time now for the Greg Rosenthal Week 5 Injury Watch presented by AccroShore, a non-FDA approved supplement for men seeking to shed man boobs in middle age. Maybe. I could use that. Send me a little Acresher.

Miles Garrett looks like he's back, not on the injury report. Janavian Clowny, though, is questionable. Brian Robinson looks like he will be playing just about five weeks after getting those two gunshots in his leg. He practiced on Friday. That'll be confirmed later in the week. Daniel Jones is starting that game over in London. That's good. But he will be without Kenny Galdi, Cadarious Tony, Wondell Robinson.

Jair Alexander will be back for the Packers in that game, which is great news. I thought he might be out a little while. Zay Jones is back for the Jaguars this week. Kyle Pitts is out. Get him out of your fantasy lineup. Amon Ross St. Brown was back at practice Friday. He might play for the Lions. Isaiah McKenzie has a concussion still in the protocol.

Dawson Knox is out. out. So the bills are rather short-handed on both sides of the ball. And your lock is looking pretty good, Dan. No Sam Cosme for the Washington commanders. They're missing three starting offensive lining. They're also missing Jahan Dotson, who's out with a hamstring. I like the Titans in that game, too. I kind of like the move potentially. And I, Greg, I know when you were in your heyday picking games, I think you were someone who'd like to do this. Find a team that you know sucks. And then anytime they're in the lock zone, you just lock, I might just lock. I might just lock against Washington 10 times between now and January.

This will be my fourth time in five weeks locking against the Cardinals. So I'm two and one so far. We'll see if that works out. That's your thing. That's your move. All right. Before we say goodbye, uh, let's do our hero picks. We're going to, uh, first cycle back to last week.

Mark, you said Zach Wilson. What was the prediction of Zach Wilson? I really was just sort of egg, hegging him on to rise up to the challenge, be a hero, guide the jets to victory. and change the way we think about him. And I think he did that. Check the box. Yeah.

That's a hard check. That's a hard check. Big old green check mark for Sessie. Greg, you had Ryan Tannahill would do well or something along those lines. I'm taking the L. They were three and a half point underdogs. They won the game. I thought he played well.

I mean, taking the W. I believe I just gave myself an L. I had Andy Dalton would play well in London and then be able to leverage that into holding on to the Saints job. Man, if Will lets his field goal goes through the uprights and then they win an overtime and then he wins again. Maybe, but that's not how it played out. I mean, he is going to start for them this week. Yeah, but two good quarters was not my prediction. I predicted a win and high level play. So I'll take the L there. All right. Now, week five predictions before we say

goodbye, Patrick Claibon. You're not even a guest to me. You are a member of the ATN family. So we always love. You said, you've almost said it all, but you need to share your prediction for week five. Yeah, let's get, let's get bold people in this fantasy world. We're frustrated about Travis E.N's production. He gets in the end zone twice. Two Texans, two touchdowns for Travis E.T.N. Beautiful. I like that. Sessie.

I have a double prediction in its result based. The Jets are going to beat Miami by 10 plus points. Zach Wilson is going to. You're all over the Jets this year. This is just what I saw this morning. Zach Wilson, 350 plus yards, four touchdowns. And this, part two. The Falcons are going to beat the bucks by 10 plus points

and not even make it look close. You just made that really hard on yourself, but I admire the moxie, Greg Rosenthal. All right, my prediction is just that Travis Kelsey Rex shop against the Raiders. It's like all these other tight end come along lately. Oh, Darren is going to be the future. Oh, Kyle Pitts is going to be the future.

Oh, like, here's this guy, this guy. Who's still the best tight end in the freaking NFL? It's Travis Kelsey. He's on pace to have one of his very best seasons ever. Travis Kelsey. He still got the championship. Wait, what is that? But what's your prediction?

Because I'm seeing this was hero the week. He's the hero. He's the hero. The sun's going to rise in the east. What does that mean, though? He's got to be fantastic. How do we decide whether that does he need to win the game? I mean, you're not giving me Ryan Tannel from a week ago.

That's BS. I just checked his PFF score. It's 70. That's over the bar of like, yeah, You were pretty darn good. I mean, you have so many things going your way, Greg, right now between Gino and Russ. Like Tony Soprano once said, you got two Virginia hams under each arm and you're crying poverty. I will go with, I don't like this one.

This one's not positive. But the more we, the closer we get to Sunday, the more I hate the Detroit Lions going to New England. I think Bill Belichick, even with a compromised offensive situation at quarterback, sees holes all over that he could exploit and attack. And I'm predicting 200 plus rushing yards for the Patriots and a win that drops the team of ATN into Mooribun territory. Oh, this is the fun show, Dan. Right.

Yeah, you can't be picking against the team around the NFL. It's going to be fun for Greg and all the other Patriots minions. This is Dan's, like, move. I remember I used to do this quite often with teams of around the NFL. He would never really get on board and he would pick against them regularly. Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, pump the brakes. I love the Lions. I did a whole Hard Knocks podcast on them.

I really enjoy them. Then you could quietly believe that they were going to lose and not put it out into the universe on the show. You could choose anything. I want to change my prediction now. I want to change my prediction now. Jared Dawson three touchdowns, Lions. A prediction off. That's good.

Good. You know what? I'll trade that. I'd rather be wrong than right. But I'm just saying it's just the feeling. It's in the air. And I don't love it. I do love everyone that came and joined us on the Friday Fun Show working title today.

Thank you for following along with everything we do next time you see us on NFL Network. It will be our preview show, which they put on the network every Saturday morning. And then Sunday, the flagship program recapping everything that happened in the Sunday that was an hour. Check out Claibon and I on game debut, too, Friday afternoon. We'll be picking some games. By the way, people are saying, Greg, on your. Kelsey prediction. You did not hang onions, you hung shallots. So I don't, you know, take that into your weekend. Well, I'm 0 for four, so I need, I need something. Tiny gonads. Until Sunday,

heed the call. This is an IHeart podcast.