NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Jameis' Masterpiece, Broncos' playoff chances and an MVP Ladder

Episode Date: December 3, 2024

Gregg Rosnethal is joined by Nick Shook to recap the wild Monday Night Football game between the Browns and Broncos. The guys start with appreciation for Jameis Winston (01:30), followed by a look at Bon Nix's play (10:27), the Broncos defense (16:40), and the remaining schedule for the Broncos' playoff push (20:38). After the break, Ryan Poles is leading point for the Bears in their search for a new coach (27:50), injury updates for Taysom Hill and Christian McCaffrey (38:42), and Gregg and Nick give you their MVP ladder (42:25) and players of the week (53:35). 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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Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. First down, Cleveland at the Browns 42. Empty set, three left, two to the right for Winston. Denver, four-man rush. Quick throw outside the ball is intercept.

Interceptive by the Broncos down the east sideline. This is going to be a house call. That is Jayquan McMillan. Jayquan McMillan caps a absolutely wild Monday night game between the Denver Broncos and James Winston. Yeah, some other Browns were involved to. 41 to 32. That was Dave Logan on K-O-A.

I am here in my garage. Nick Shook in Cleveland, a Browns fan. When you saw that James Winston pass left to the inside and Jaquan McMillan taking it to the house for the final score in what was one of the wildest games of the entire season, what were you thinking, buddy? I mean, I should have been prepared. We should have thrown the tweet up that just says,

you know, James has the opportunity to be, to post the career high for a single game, set the franchise record for the most passing yards in single game, win a prime time victory on the road. But we all knew it was coming, which is going to be a crushing James Winston interception. And that's exactly what it was. So it wasn't the least bit surprised that that happened.

In fact, I laughed because you knew that was coming. But what a nightmare. What a wild game between these two teams. I hope you're not, like, too, downtrod. And I was wondering what kind of shook we were going to get tonight. No. That was a lot of fun. And it got me kind of thinking about James Winston.

because this was the ultimate James Winston game. And this guy's been in our life for a while now. Florida State, number one overall pick. You know, Wes and I would just drive each other crazy debating about James Winston, Marcus Mariotta for years and years. And I got to thinking, like, how much time I wasted debating that James Winston was somehow better than he was, that there was going to be more than this.

when in reality, like, he's perfect. He's perfect just how he is. He has given us so much, and this is him and his final form, shook. He should always be the guy that's on a bad team that replaces a bad starter and makes a bad team more entertaining in prime time at the end of a season when they're three and eight. This is the perfect James Winston. we don't need more. Like, he is enough.

You know what I mean? Like, this is the James Winston. He was always destined to be. And frankly, I appreciate it. This is the 30 touchdown 30 interception hero. This is the guy who, you know, is great for a soundbite. This is also the guy who had Browns fans texting me in the third quarter that he was pricing himself out of town for next year as if he'd done enough to be their start.

And people online were saying the same thing. That might still be true. That might be true. I haven't even mentioned he threw for four. 497 yards and four touchdowns in this game against a really good Broncos defense in 497 yards. His price is going up at least. He was kind of, he was out there for very little this offseason. His price is going up a little bit, buddy.

Yeah, I mean, but at the same time, there's the stink of the two pick sixes that he threw tonight because you know that that's also part of his game. At any time, he could explode for something like this and also crush your hopes in the same breath. But you know what? For a losing team, it's fun. It makes it entertaining. It makes you believe that they're not. that far away, no matter what team he's on. And it makes for a fantastic drunk Monday night

football game, because that game was hammered. Broncos fans, we'll get to all the implications for you, but you do have to understand that weirdly, and James has a way of doing this, your team was not the main character tonight. James was that main character. And I'm glad you brought up the 30 touchdowns, 30 interception season. This was a guy who's very first throw in the NFL, Nick Shook was a pick six. I mean, that, that, this was a guy who to wrap up that 30, 30 season led an insane comeback for Buck's team that wasn't going anywhere and threw a game-winning touchdown right at the end of regulation to get to overtime, to get his 30th, you know, he had over 30

touchdown to get to overtime. And then in the overtime, he throws a season-ending. walk-off pick-six interception. There is something about this guy that you just can't even believe is real. Like it's Shakespearean, it's tragic comedy, it's hilarious. Let's actually listen to James Winston after the game. I am a better player, you know, but in times like this, you know,

this is the opportunity to continue to glorify the Lord even through the toughest circumstances. I know I'm better than this. I know. Like, I'm just praying for the Lord to deliver me from pick sixes. Like, that's just, that's not me. Like, phenomenal game, offense, do some great things. But I mess it up.

Deliver me from pick sixes. I'm sorry. Because he was, he was actually pretty somber in this press conference, but him praying to the Lord, to deliver him from six pick six is like the funniest people are the ones that aren't trying to be funny that just there's just something inside of them he almost reminds me like will pharaoh i know he's not will pharaoh but there is just something like about james winston as a human that you watch and you just can't help but smile or laugh or whatever i don't know man this this was this was the night

i'm so glad let's put them back in prime time i know they flexed about in week 16 Like, let's put them back in, Shucky. Yeah, you know, spicy browns. I got to give you some numbers for context for James's performance tonight. Because we talked about the 497 yards. The four touchdown passes. Everything is he could have had a fifth if he wouldn't have thrown a pick at the end of the game. He is the first player in the Super Bowl era with 400 plus passing yards,

four plus passing touchdowns, and multiple pick six is thrown in a game. First player in the Super Bowl era, it gets better. When factoring in the 171 interception return yards gained by Denver against James Winston, the 668 combined passing yards plus interception return yards off of his passes make for the most by any quarterback in a single game in NFL history. That's it. Like, that's everything. That's, that's bigger than a victory.

That's winning. That stat is the most jamest stat you could possibly come up with. What quarterback had the most yards plus interception yards and the history of this league that goes over 100 years. James Winston deserves to have that. And to get there, he did have to have a lot of great throws. Another record set tonight. Jerry Judy goes nine for 235 and a touchdown.

That's the most yards in the history against the Denver Broncos on a day that he came into it saying he wanted to put it on their ass, that it was the ultimate revenge game, and he got some revenge. Let's listen to our buddy, Andrew Siciliano, on the big James Winston touchdown to Judy. With the play clock winding down, James has the snap, takes a deep drop, and he wants a deep shot. He has Judy running free. He has it at the 30, the 20. Jerry, Judy to the far pylon, high stepping and falling backwards into the end zone.

Touchdown, browse. 70 yards. Jerry, Judy, welcome back to Denver, how sweet it is. brings out the best in people. I mean, Jerry Judy should have been the main character. On any other night, like, this is a Jerry Judy podcast. Jerry Judy was hilarious, asking for the booze, waving to the crowd, going backwards into the end, and like, stunting on the crowd and putting his hands on his hips. He could have gone for 300 yards if James didn't miss him wide open earlier, but there were, there were so many, like, great outroutes. Eric behind the glass,

if you can put up that Ali Connolly tweet that he had, or maybe it was on Blue Sky earlier, He said Jerry Judy had the all-time kind of revenge game that will probably actually make his own coaching staff mad. It's like, oh, this is what you look like when you're engaged and running at full speed every rep, too. It's like Nick, like Winston brings out like the best in these guys. Suddenly these wide receivers look amazing. And yes, this Denver game like made Jerry Judy look like

like he was the best wide receiver in the league. It's a valid statement, but I would also like to go back to their Thursday night, went over the Steelers, because he was just about as important in that game. obviously it was snowing, so the offensive output wasn't his same. But six catches for 85 yards, a massive catch on fourth down to set up that game winning touchdown. He's been much more productive.

He's, I wouldn't quite say flourish, but he's looked more like the receiver that they went out and traded for and gave an extension to since James came into the lineup. I think he's a key part of their future. But yeah, tonight, obviously playing inspired football and ready to get it from the crowd. The crowd's booing him. Every time he touches the ball early in the first quarter, he gets two matches against Pat Sertan, catches two right at the sticks for first downs. like he was balling. You're right.

This would be the Jerry Judy game if it wasn't the James Winston game. He was absolutely balling tonight. And the other thing that it was missing was a win for the Browns. Right. Okay. So right after that Jerry Judy touchdown,

which made the score 28 to 25, rather right before that touchdown, was what I thought was going to be the highlight, was going to be the craziest, biggest play of the game. At this point in the game, it's 21 to 17. Denver, despite Winston throwing a killer pick six, and we might listen to that from the first half, and then getting a touchdown late in the first half. They had almost 300 yards of

offense at halftime. Winston had well over 200 passing yards at halftime. But the teams actually were trading some blown possessions early in the second half. Bo Nix was a little up and down. Troy Aikman's actually giving Bo Nix some grief right before he makes this dime of a throw. It's third down at 12. Nix, with a pair of receivers on each side, takes a shotgun snap, drops three yards into the end zone,

loads it up, deep ball down in the little field. He's got Mims there. Mims is gone. 40, 30, 20, 15, 10, high stepping into the south end zone. Touchdown, Denver, 93 yards. Perfect strike. Bow Nix to Marvin Mims.

90 plus yard touchdown. What did you think of Bo Nix tonight? I think you're right. He was up and down, kind of a mixed bag. Surprisingly, when you look at the next gen numbers, he didn't get out on the run very much, which is obviously where he's been very good for most of this season. I think he had eight attempts on the run.

He had like six attempts outside the pocket, which is just not typical of how they use him. And half of them were on that early touchdown drive that they had in the first half. He must have had three or four on that drive. But you're right, it kind of went cold for a while. Yeah, when he kept rolling out and finding Cortland Sutton open on the deep crosser, which he dropped one and caught the next one. Yeah, I mean, there were big plays

that he made. He had wide open receivers and he was hitting them, you know, all night. It's just that at times they kind of entered a rut. And then that play, though, that play, I'm just like, oh, yeah, there's the potential with Bow Knicks from the pocket because he's backed up against his own goal line. It's a short drop out of the gun. He just steps up. He immediately sees the inverted cover two. He sees Denzel Ward bailing out from the right side of the field to play the deep half and he just rips it down the field and Ward misses it by inches. And there's mims to catch and run for 93-yard score. Not his best game, but a game in which you saw the potential

and how he was spinning it in the second half in a wild affair. I thought he handled it well. Yeah, he threw two interceptions, was barely 50% completion. I don't think he helped his offensive rookie of the year, Canada C. Tonight, I think Jayton Daniels and Brock Bowers have better cases than Knicks, who's been very good.

It was almost like he was inspired by James. Because I thought he was chaotic all night. He was big game hunting. And he's done a decent amount of that all season where he'll pass up an open receiver, which is not his reputation to go for something bigger. But I felt like it was cranked up another level where he could have run for some plays. But instead, he, like, threw a couple deep ones against his body. He got burned for one of those was an interesting.

interception to Mims. There was a couple that he got away with, like one or two he hit. But it was almost like he was watching James Winston. And he actually said after the game with Lisa Salters on ESPN that he's been watching James, you know, for a long time. And he looks up to him and really admires how he's what he's gone through in his career and like how he plays and stuff. And I was like, you might be too inspired by him. Yeah. It was kind of a crazy game out of Nix. But you do love the ability to make that throw to mims on the goal line shows a lot of confidence from Sean Payton. And it was after a couple really rough plays and rough series where he was doing just what I was saying, where he's missing some throws and certainly not really seeing the

field. But he kept, you know, winging it. And ultimately, it was enough to win on a night where, yeah, the defense got a couple of those touchdowns too for the Broncos. Yeah, I think that play in particular was one of those examples where you call something and you think, hey, maybe we'll get this look and the shot will be there. And if not, we're punting. And they got the look. and he confidently threw it, which is what I was most impressed by. It was just the fact that a rookie who is not even through one full complete season yet was able to step up and just let that rip and put it perfectly on him. I mean, it required basically a perfect pass to put it where he put it for Mims to catch and run for the touchdown.

And as soon as he caught, I think Joe Buck was just like, he's gone and he was because there's nobody else left back there. You don't see that from a lot of rookies, that type of confidence, just let it rip. So, yeah, those are the positives there. And you'll take some of the negatives because, you know, the defense was able to score. couple times off of takeaways and ultimately they come away with the win. I think that this game in general for the Broncos is good teaching tape for them because you see the ability to hit the big play. It's a chaotic night where those things are possible. There were some positives in the passing game. Jaliel McLaughlin has a really great second half. I think 60 of his whatever he finished

the total yards. I think it was 84 came in the second half. They really got the run game going. You also learn that your defense needs to be better prepared for a night like this. Like this is a Broncos defense that entered the night. Top three in yards allowed per game. one of the best teams in passing yards allowed per game and points allowed for game, they gave up a ton of points and a ton of yards to the freaking Browns. Like this is a moment in the season where you get to eight and five and you think, all right, let's look at this tape and correct these things here so that this doesn't happen again. Yeah, the Browns ended up with 552 yards,

which actually doesn't sound like that much when you know that Winston has 497 on his own 28 first downs. They felt like they could do anything they wanted as long as, Winston didn't throw a pick six like yeah they missed a field goal early to there actually were a number of puns there was just like a ton of possessions in this game it was one of those games where it was all big plays incompletions and like interceptions pick sixes which just leads to a million possessions and short possessions and their defense made a couple plays but they weren't really getting after james winston that well one thing i do give nick's credit for like He does a good job, I think, playing while moving backwards or navigating the pocket.

Like, it's dangerous. You have to make good decisions in those circumstances. But I did think he got away from the Brown's rush to give himself a clear throwing lane a number of times. And it worked a number of times. And sometimes he should have just eaten it or thrown the ball away. So he's showing a lot. But you mentioned it. The running game is what really carried them in the second half.

In the first half, it was really the Benito pick six that turned the game around. At that point, the Browns are driving. It's late in the first half. It's 14 to 10. Let's take a lesson. Winston takes a snap. Protection is good with a three-man rush. He throws the ball.

Interceptive 35. This is going to be a house call down the sideline. 30, 25, 20, 15, 10, 5. Touchdown. That is Nick Bonito. 71 yards as Nick Benito with an interception return for a touchdown. Man, who had Nick Benito on their bingo card for a pitch six? Not me.

That was Javis Winston just forcing a ball that he shouldn't, that he just looked at it forever and then just didn't want to take a sack and he threw that pass. But my God, like maybe it's the number 15. I know Benito's one of the smaller pass rushers in the league, but he looked like a cornerback out there. That was an incredibly athletic, excellent play by Nick Benito. Yeah, well, Benito's been an athletic freak since his days at St. Thomas Aquinas in Fort Lauderdale, Florida,

ends up at Oklahoma as a big-time recruit, gets to the NFL. It doesn't have quite as much fanfare coming out of college. I think some of that had to do with the regime change there with Lincoln Riley going to USC. But ultimately, he's really come on strong in the last month. In his last four games, he's got five sacks. I think it started in the Kansas City game

where he first popped for me on the tape. He gets two more sacks the next week, and that dominant win over the Falcons. He gets one more sack against the Raiders in the following week. He gets one tonight. He had a team high six pressures. He was winning in one-on-one situations against Jack Conklin when lined up on the right side.

And then he has that pick six. A really good night for him and a guy that I think people are going to start to pay attention to as these Broncos get closer to making the playoffs. And they have to start figuring out, okay, who's on this defense? And who's on this team? Because we didn't expect this out of them this season. Yeah, I'm not got to panic. I do wonder it's such a, it's been such a blitz-happy defense.

they really missed Riley Moss. Who knew that taken away Riley Moss from this defense would matter so much. But Riley Moss is a really strong number two cornerback, which we didn't expect coming into this season. And that's opposite Sartan, who's probably the best cornerback in football. So that's such an important spot.

And the Browns were just absolutely hammering Levi Wallace or whoever else, McMillan, whoever else they were throwing out there. By the end of the game, they had a kid I hadn't heard of yet that. I don't think it played this. season to just give them a shot. And they need to get Riley Moss back. But because of that, Vance Joseph, I played a little more conservative, didn't do as many blitzes. That maybe did not

pay off. And they should go back to the drawing board there. Let's look at the schedules for these two teams. And while we look at it, if you're on YouTube, you can actually see the graphic that ESPN put up. Oh, this is great. I'm in the garage and I'm just I got sports center on in the background and this this thing pops up and I'm just dying James Winston is just being goofy as hell you know the thing where they're they're just in some room in the Broncos facility or the Browns facility this week and they're saying hey James can you let's keep keep it out hey James can you just stand in front and you're just kind of like throw the ball around we're going to like put the

next to it and he's out there just the comparison is the best because on your right you have bow knicks who just like tossing the ball around spinning around on his hand like a classic quarterback just looking real stoic and on the left it's jamis tossing it around wildly eating a couple of ws

making goofy faces like that is just what you expect he's a character I don't know how you can't like him it's so funny it reminds me so much of the S&L skit where Will Farrow plays this guy that's going to be like on a new TBS sitcom and he keeps popping up on the lower third interrupting.

I think it's inside the NBA or some show or whatever. And he's just like talking with the people in the show. And he's just so freaking goofy. I forgot to even talk about the schedules. Let's mention Denver. Cleveland's schedule doesn't really matter other than they play a lot of teams in the playoff race. So they could play spoiler.

They get the Steelers again. They have the chiefs. They finish at Baltimore. The Dolphins will see if they're in it in week 17. So they could play spoiler and they're certainly a more dangerous team with Winston than they were before. The Broncos finally get to their buy and then they're really in the center of the NFL right now. They play the Colts coming out of the buy, which is a huge game in the AFC wildcard race. And then they play the Chiefs and like they are now main characters.

I don't know how they're going to like fare. The Chiefs are the Week 18 game, which could be interesting if the Chiefs are resting their starters at the time. Who knows? They're also at the Chargers and they lost to the Chargers in Denver earlier. So we'll see. It's kind of wait and see. But this was a big win to get in their pocket, Nick, at 8 and 5 with really all four games down the stretch being kind of difficult. So they are not guaranteed by any means to make the playoffs. So this was an important step for them, even if it was a little rickety. Yeah, you know, they were talking about on the broadcast tonight how this was actually a very big game for them. They were 7 and 5 coming into this game. and I agreed because 8 and 5

get one step closer you can do the math but I am very intrigued by that at Cincinnati game in week 17 just because who are the Bengals going to be at that point? Are they going to be a team

that's like all right well we've tried our hardest offensively and we can't win games like are they going to pack it in or are they going to try to play spoiler because I think the Browns will be this team you know for the teams that they play against in the remaining stretch

just because they have a character quarterback and they just seem to play hard for Kevin Safansky despite not having anything really to play for but I don't know about the Bengals man that's going to be interesting as the Broncos is trying to get closer closer to playoffs. That's an interesting call there by you because if they beat a team with the

winning record, it would be the first time. They're 0 and 7 this year, the Bengals. So that would technically be their best win of the season. Just a few other little, just James Nugs before we move on. And maybe this is more of a Browns Nug. There's only been, and this was from our friend Pat Dardy. Five different players or five different games of over 235 receiving yards in the NFL this decade, you know, since 2020. One was Tyree Kill. Two were by Jamar Chase.

The other two are by Brown's backup quarterbacks, you know, after replacing Deshaun Watson. You know, Mari Cooper and James Winston. This was a team that didn't, you know, Mari Cooper last year with Joe Flacco and then now Jerry Judy with James Winston. This was a team that literally didn't have over 200 passing yards in a game this season before James came in. I know. He's got over 400 twice.

They didn't go over 20 points. How many times does this franchise need to watch, and this is not to go into Browns but just quickly, how many times does this franchise need to watch the Browns pull somebody off of the bench, replace Deshawn Watson with him, and watch him explode for 400 yards in a game with their top or see? in order for them to sit back and go, you know what? That guy wearing number four has no business being on this roster. Maybe we should look elsewhere.

I think this might be the straw that breaks the camel's back, but $92 million left. I don't know. It's broken. Troy Aikman was more pointed about it than most of the broadcasters are, but he could be even more pointed. Deshaun Watson's never coming back there. But the fact that Winston has now twice thrown for more yards in the first half of games

than Watson did in an entire game, season. He's making all these, he's like kind of changing the math of how you look at these players. This Jerry Judy contract extension they gave before the season's like, oh, that looks really good now. Elijah Moore actually looks like a football player. Cedric Tillman actually looks like a football player. Their offensive line doesn't look nearly as bad. You know, Kevin Stefansky is suddenly a better offensive coach again. Jim Schwartz, things aren't really great on the defensive side. Ken Dorsey, saving his reputation a little bit.

It's just crazy. And Browns fans pushed back when I've pointed this out, but I think Watson stayed in and they stuck with him way too long. Going and you're going to say, well, they had to do it. They had to do it. They had to do it.

Well, you didn't have, like you don't have to do anything. And them sticking with him for so long, sunk this not only threw away this season, but it's just weird to me that Watson getting hurt, is saving them all, is saving Barry when he's the guy that brought in Watson. You know, because I think Barry could have gotten fired after this season.

Even though I know he just got the contract extension, I think their GM could have gotten fired because he's the guy that brought in Sean Watson the worst trade in NFL history and it was all misery, all, all nothing. I know maybe it's ownership, but someone's got to pay. He owned it, he wore it, and he always defended it.

So I don't know. Well, what else is you're going to do? It's just crazy that it's crazy that if he heard, it saves them all. I'm just going to sit back and be like, it came from on high. And I just did what the owners told me to do. Fair enough. I guess you can't say that. I guess you can't say that.

What a night. What a night for James Winston. That last sequence was just James in a nutshell. He makes the hard passes. And this is why I couldn't quit him for so long. Let's throw up that other Ali Connolly tweet too here. That's why I couldn't quit him. James hits that third and 12 to Elijah Moore on the sideline right before the two-minute

warning. That was an absolutely ridiculous throw that very few quarterbacks could make and takes a lot of guts, a lot of accuracy, a lot of anticipation, and it's in a big spot. And that's what sets up the pick six. Like they shouldn't even even been in that position. Ollie pointed out, like, what he loves about his brand of recklessness is not that he like bombs down the field. it is the opposite like hash hitch routes

that aren't within the flow of the play. You know, just like doing things that are crazy. He says hanging things inside on a well-covered outbrager because it may have a chance. And it's true. Like he tries so many low-percentage throws that there is a reason why these things happen. But my God, he hits those low-percentage throws so many times.

It reminds me a little bit of Will Levis, who I just watched this afternoon at a much higher level. Yeah, that's good call. We'll have some great throws this week. Two guys that trust their arm, and, you know, James as Joe Buck was happy to note tonight, former college baseball pitcher can, you know, threw a 97 mile an hour fastball. He's got the arm strength to rip it in there. Trust your arm a little bit too much.

But hey, it's got a miss far, so why not? Why not? He's still got his fastball. This is the ultimate James Winston heater game. Let's take a quick break. We're doing something a little different today. We're going to do some news. We're going to do our MVP ladder.

We might do this every week down the stretch just to kind of show where we're at. maybe we talk some other awards in future weeks and then have our Captain Morgan captains of the week right after this. Hey, this is Matt Jones. I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL cover zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts pretzel?

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

What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you. inside the game from scouting reports and player development to team building philosophies coaching trends and how front offices construct winning rosters every week we study the tape talk to decision makers and share the insights you won't find anywhere else is the kind of conversation that connects the dots from college football prospects to the NFL stars of tomorrow we break down the

draft analyze matchups and evaluate how teams put it all together on game day plus we dig in the coaching strategies roster construction and the trends that shape the league year after year. Whether you're a diehard fan or just love understanding the game on a deeper level, we give you the full picture. If you want insight that goes beyond the box score, this podcast is for you. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Back on NFL Daily. We've got to come down a little bit. Got some news and what better way to come down than to talk about the ultimate NFL come down.

The Chicago Bears, they had a press conference, a post-firing press conference for, what, has to be the fifth time in about a decade or so. This time with a relatively new team president, Kevin Warren, and general manager Ryan Poles, and we learned that it will be general manager Ryan Poles for a little while. Let's listen. The next item I want to make sure we're clear about

is Ryan Poles is the general manager of the Chicago Bears, and he will remain the general manager of the Chicago Bears. Ryan is young, he's talented, he's bright, he's hardworking, he has done everything in his power on a daily basis to bring a winner to Chicago. This will be the most coveted job in the National Football League this year. And Ryan and I need to work hand in hand together to make sure we bring that to life, not only from a head coach standpoint, but also from an entire staff standpoint.

Okay, two things here. Number one, let Ryan Poles make the decision. And eventually they asked him, and they did say, he'll have final say, but it'll be, you know, a collaborative effort. Okay, good. make sure polls and the coaches align do not fire either one of them separately at any point in the process or else you're just going to do it again number two is don't tell me you're the most coveted job coveted job in the league like do something right for for once that's not what we want to hear right now you you puff in your chest out that we're the most coveted job why

why exactly is that because you run through new coaches every two years that you've hit your like over under wind total literally once in the last decade that was Matt Nagy's 12 and four year like they you this is an organizational thing where you don't meet expectations year after year after year don't tell me how coveted you are come out yeah watching that i felt like i was getting talked down to as if i was sitting in there i felt like i was getting scolded by a parent i felt like i was in the mike holmgren press conference in cleveland way back in the day when he told everybody don't come calling me for playoff tickets when they were struggling as they did for much of that decade.

A little too arrogant, maybe, is the word for where you are as a franchise right now. Let's let the proof speak for itself first and go earn that first. Now, I'm totally on board with him backing polls. Warren arrived there after polls, and so he's new to this, and former Big Ten commissioner, and he wants to believe it's a new era, and he's saying, we will get it right. But as we've seen with these teams, the teams that struggle and keep making the same mistakes. You have to prove it to us that you're doing something different for us to believe

it, because all you have to go on is history, in the history with the bears. It's obvious. Or you can change your owners like Washington didn't. And then suddenly you're like, oh, okay, now I believe you because it's new ownership. But that's not happening here. Let's talk about the Baltimore Ravens. Interesting note from that game we didn't talk about on the recap show is Deonte Johnson didn't play a single snap. Maybe we did talk about that. I lose track of things. John Harbaugh was asked about the fact

that DeAndi Johnson was active but literally didn't play a snap there had a very interesting answer. At this time, I'm going to have to wait just to clarify it. There's some moving parts there that we're going to have to figure out and explore and just see where we're at.

I know it's not the question, the answer you want, but it's the best I can do fairness to everybody right now. Oh. That's weird. Sometimes you're in a press conference or I've watched these press conferences. A reporter asks a question that it's like, oh, someone's got to ask it, like whether

it's going to be Jeff, is it going to be, you know, Mary? Like who's going to ask this? Ask the Deonti Johnson question. It's just kind of perfunctory. And it's like, oh, your coach gives you, like then the coach just gives you that answer, which is basically, oh, Deonti Johnson's never going to play for the Ravens again. I don't think based on that answer, that they're working out something contractually, suspension, whatever.

I don't know what's happening. They actually followed up about it. And he said it'll be sorted out in the next couple of days. And it just sounds like it's a disaster for Deonti Johnson at least. Yeah, I mean, it's a guy who has one catch for six yards in four games,

five games with the Ravens now. They go to Thailand Wallace at one point during the last game when they desperately need another receiver after Rashad Bateman goes down. And he's nowhere to be found. Weird. It's weird because he was actually having a nice year in Carolina. He was their best weapon once Adam Thielen went out.

And then he got traded because he had some value to him for a Panthers team that wasn't going anywhere. And then he goes to Baltimore and does absolutely nothing and is probably on his way out. Weird. He got traded for virtually nothing. It was like a conditional six, seventh. I haven't looked, but he's not going to meet those conditions.

So it literally might turn into nothing. It just sounded complicated. And you just wonder where Deontes Johnson's head is at and what happened here, because this is a guy who's been very productive, 4,700 career receiving yards in six seasons. That's, you know, every season, he's six, seven, eight hundred yards. When I did the top 50 free agents, like, I thought he's going to be one of the best wide receivers out there, but he's had about as bad a franchise or year that you could have a contract. Yeah, it's that, and it's an organization in Baltimore that usually

does well with these types of additions. Like, they've brought in a number of veterans over the last 10, 15 years that usually thrive or produce at some level and get acclimated to what's going on there culture-wise. This is like the first that just completely flopped in my at least recent memory. Right. It's a good call. Sometimes, Nick, I'm at home on Mondays, and I see a quote, like a post-game presser, and I was like, I wish we kind of talked about that on Sunday. So let's hear from Lamar Jackson, who did exactly that for me this afternoon. Mark, looking back, you feel like there were some opportunities to run today for you that you may have passed up.

My mama just told me that. She just cussed me out. So, like, I'm mad. So, like, we're going to get after it, but I ain't going to lie to it. We're going to get after it. I can't wait to just buy to get on. We got the Giants coming up. I'm ready to go.

Like, I'm just ready to go, man. So what did she cut you out about? She said it was lanes I should have took and ran. But, you know, I was just trying to let guys develop routes. We had developing routes. I was just trying to go through my progression. But, yeah, she's right. I'm going to do my shit.

Ooh, Mama knows. The pain in Lamar Jackson, you felt it in his chest when he brought that up. And it's kind of great that his mom is the one immediately after the game, giving him hard criticism, same as ever. I mean, he's about as close with his mom in terms of she was his agent and everything growing up. And she's still the one being like, take those eight-yard runs, Lamar. Like, they were right there in front of you. But you understood what he was getting at, waiting for the receivers to run the routes.

Yeah, if anybody's going to light a fire under, Lamar Jackson, apparently it's his mom. And you know what? He'll probably take your advice. He's become less of a, like, run first guy over the last couple of years, despite that being, you know, like the reputation or the criticism of him. And he's become, he's proven himself as an excellent passer, especially in the last, you know, 18 months or so.

But I'd like to see a little bit more running because I think he could have done some damage in that game. Well, just when it's there, when it's the right play. Right. That quote, actually, I wanted to put it on the show, too, because it does make me think that. Sometimes in these big games, he is in his own head a little bit. Like, he's not always making the right football play.

And I think what Lamar's mom was getting at, and she's watched him, obviously, and knows his game better than he was. Like, that was the right football play on a number of them. And he was so locked in to letting the receivers, like, develop their routes that he wasn't taking the profits. You know, he wasn't taking the guaranteed money on a lot of those plays. and he forced some passes. And he's just been in his own head a little bit in some of these games.

And you give a ton of credit to the Eagles defense and what they did. Yeah, you don't want to take away one of the greatest strengths that makes Lamar Jackson so special, by the way. Like when you have a mobile quarterback like that, and especially one who is evasive and slippery as he is, you wish you had a 12th defender on the field. So why limit yourself? I want to see him improve that before the playoffs

just because that kind of reminds me of what happened in that weird game against Kansas City that they lost in the AFC championship game last year. You got to get better, you know, after losing a game like that last year. And, you know, right now there's some reason to be thinking, I don't know. I don't know if they're going to quite get back there.

But I think they will. They have the talent, too, but he's going to have to play a part in that. Well, it reminded me of the Steelers game from just a couple of weeks ago, too. So he's got some big games down the stretch. And you're right. I think it'd be big for him to play his best

in the biggest games down the stretch. And, man, it just feels like the Ravens, kind of like this Broncos team tonight. It's just like they needed a break. This Broncos team needed a break. The Ravens especially feel like they're in the biggest game of the week every single week.

And they're not always at their best as good as Lamar Jackson has been this year. The Lions have gotten pretty close to being at their best. So they could have lost that game to the Bears on Thanksgiving. Afterwards, there was a little bit of a controversy that Jemir Gibbs had a TikTok post

that showed some of his offensive playbook, some of the calls, protection calls. Dan Campbell was asked about it today. This was with Costa and Jansen on Odyssey's 97.1, the ticket. I don't really give a crap. I mean, if we're going to lose because of code words, then we're not good enough anyway. So I think we'll just post the whole freaking playbook out there

and every code word we've got. And it doesn't matter. It's not going to hurt us. It won't affect us. I love it. I just love Dan Campbell. I look forward to finding the PDF. downloadable PDF of the Lions Playbook.

Can't wait to peruse that. I mean, it's not like you're going to get the whole thing, but there were some call. I think they're going to have to change some code words of like what the different line moves and stuff. I did not study. You imagine the practice. All right, guys, instead of doing this today,

because of Jamir being an idiot on social media, we are now spending time changing words. So this is now this. Let's rep it. It's true. Like some of these teams, they don't change their audibles for like two, three years.

I'm always surprised about that. Some teams change it all the time. I'm always surprised when it's just like, I guess it works. You don't have to change it. Maybe he's right. Maybe it really doesn't matter. But Dan Campbell confirmed badass. Also a badass.

Tassum Hill. Bad news was confirmed on Monday, according to Ian Rappaport. Hill tore his ACL, some other damage there too. That's a devastating injury. Really disappointing. Hope to see him in a Saints uniform at some point. next season.

Christian McCaffrey, we're not going to see him for the rest of the year, a confirmed torn PCL. He will not need surgery, interestingly, Nick, but he will not return this year. But there wasn't a surprise,

along with that news, that Jordan Mason is also out for the year with a shoulder injury. So this 49ers backfield turns to Isaac Garendo. They're five and seven. Technically only two games out in the NFC West,

but that is a double-barrow blow there. Yeah, Isaac Garendo had a nice little touchdown run. that Buffalo game even though it was out of hand at that point. Yeah, you know, another blow to the 49ers and especially a tough one for Christian McCaffrey who had to wait so long just to play because the Achilles-Cath thing that he was, you know, they were treating carefully and he finally comes back and if you saw the clip of the, you know, the play in which he officially knew that his knee was done, where he takes a toss and just

immediately goes down. It's just a huge bummer for especially for such a special player like that. I mean, it's a big blow to the Madden cover curse too because he was on the cover of that game this year. I mean, it's just there's nothing good about this. just like there's not much good from this 49er season that just keeps getting more difficult. I got to say the people that took McCaffrey number one overall in fantasy are all in last place. Well, yeah, that. And they're all mad about the lack of information that was out there in Kyle Shannon.

I would say, and this would be true of fantasy, maybe all fantasy sports, like literally never draft a person first overall if they're hurt. hurt at the point like you're getting drafted top and save your draft until the day like the Sunday before week one too it's by yourself as much time but even then that this year that like we we didn't know he was even out surprise and active until we got there so there was like no saving that but here's a guy with a long history of injury that missed basically all all of training camp I think it's it's always better to be cautious like there's other good players out there that are fully fully healthy just take just take them don't don't Don't blame the fantasy experts.

Tasum Hill, as I mentioned, was the injury. The other injuries I wanted to get to, Dexter Lawrence is headed to injured reserve. We just did not hit that since that news came out. That's disappointing. I think he had a chance at the defensive player of the year. I still think he has a chance at all pro defensive tackle. That's how good he was. They also lost a rookie titan Theo Johnson, who'd been having a nice year for the rest of the season.

So a bad Giants team gets even worse. Aaron Rogers will remain the starter for the Jets. the team announced today. Malcolm Rodriguez, it also tore his ACL, the Lions backup. We'll talk about the Lions Packers game, but they are really banged up.

That'll be part of our Tuesday show with Jordan Rodriguez and Steve Weish. We also have QB Island coming back. Maybe we'll talk a little Rams with Jordan. I don't know. Probably not. And we already talked to Emmanuel Forbes, getting claimed on this show.

The number one pick of the Washington commanders just a year ago. Nick was cut. The Rams picked him up. I actually could see him, like, being on the field for the Rams. They could use a corner. You never know. It reminds of them taking a flyer on Tradavius White

and realizing that didn't work. So, yeah, sure, why not? Okay, sure. Trinavis White, like, 10 years older. It's always weird when, like, yeah, they're not the same. I'm just getting. It gets cut a year later.

That almost never happens. So we'll see. It was an interesting prospect that I think the Rams were high on, like, a lot of teams. That's it for the news. Let's get to our MVP ladder. All right. Each week, I want to go over where we're at in the MVP rankings as of right now, just a little bit of a snapshot going from five to one. If you're an Associated Press voter,

you do vote for five different players. And so that to me is really interesting because the three, four, five spot, like it's intriguing. If you want to start with your ladder, I'll listen to you first and we'll go back and forth. Let's go for it. Do we go pick by pick or do we go all five? No, just go for it. Just give me your whole five. All right. Number five, Joe Burrow, despite the fact that the Bengals stink.

He has not stunk. 3,337 passing yards, 30 to five touchdown interception ratio. He played excellent football. If they were a winning football team, he'd be very much in the conversation right now. So I'm still going to give him his flowers, consideration, honorable mention, whatever you want it to be. He's number five for me. Okay, I thought about that.

And now I changed my mind. I do want to go back and forth. That would be better, yes. I thought about that. He was probably five or six for me. I ended up going Justin Jefferson as my number five. Considered it. Joe Burroughs been awesome this year.

He's clearly one of the top five quarterbacks in the NFL. That last game he had was so typical of his season because he played excellent. You can't blame almost anything on him. And yet, like, and yet he was. involved with the pick six and involved with a couple other turnovers. There's always these little and yet. So I do think there's a difference between voting for all pro and voting for MVP. I do think MVP has to do with helping your team win. And as much as it's the rest

of the team that's let him down, because of that, he's had to do too much. I'm just picking nits. I mean, he, to me, is my number three quarterback. You're picking nits. Right. He's my number three quarterback in the league. I just think for my MVP ladder, I'd rather go with other positions. I have a couple other positions. Okay, so you're going to go with Jefferson, right? And I'm going to jump in front real quick, because since we're comparing this to Burrow,

Jefferson has been all but eliminated from a few games recently because they know how much Sam Donald depends. Right, but that's... He played a big part in that comeback win over the Cardinals, but, and I know that's, that is typical of football at times, but to make a receiver an MVP candidate, I feel like he got overcame. That's why

he's five. That's why he's five. He It's a big drop off from the top, top three especially. He's still second in the league and receiving yards. And when I think of value and how important he is, he is more important than their quarterback, for instance. And the gravity that he has, you see that week after week after week. The whole point of every game plan is to stop James, I mean, to stop Justin Jefferson and how much attention he gets.

And they still find a way to get him 100 yards. He's still second in the NFL to Jamarjay. So he is my number five. Give me your number four. My number four, you know, I'm thinking about Jamar Chase's candidacy, but I already said Joe Burrow. My number four is going to be Derek Henry. It's almost chalk at this point, but, I mean, he's had a hell of a year,

you know, with the Ravens his first year in Baltimore. He's got 1,4007 yards rushing, 13 touchdowns. He's chipped in 125 receiving yards. I mean, he has balanced this offense out so well with Lamar Jackson. It's made this rushing attack even more potent than it was in the past when they had Gus Edwards and, you know, those types. And, I mean, he's been fan. This is a guy who should be out of gas.

Like, he's approaching 30. He's had an incredible amount of carries going back to his days at Alabama. This shouldn't be happening. It's like that old tweet that says, LeBron's going to be 35 soon. We're almost done with this. And then they're not. It's the same thing.

So he won't win it. And I think part of that is because he's on the same team as my maybe next guy on the ladder. We'll see. But at the same time, he's had such a phenomenal year at this age with this team. I can't help but recognize him. I like that you didn't say Lamar's name there as if Rashad Bateman was potentially coming up. Jay Flowers.

Duh. Maybe Ronnie St. Stanley, if you wanted to get spicy. I didn't have Henry. That's a totally valid guy to have in your top five. And I think if the season ended today, he would get some top five votes. I love that now that we end up seeing like a top 10 of the MVP rankings. The Lamar factor, to me, Lamar is helping Henry even more than vice versa in this particular case. And so he just got knocked off a little bit, but totally great pick. I have Padaisal number four. I've been banging the drum for him as an offensive player of the year candidate. So I'll throw him here in the MVP as well.

I think it's totally fine to make the award what you want. And to me, he is representing the lions on some level and that offensive line on some level, but also he's the best at what he does in the entire NFL. And so I think it's totally fair if voters want to put him on their ballot. He's my number four. You know, I think you've often said it and you're representing it right now. be the change you want to see in the world. That's what I'm saying. Going an offensive lineman in there. Look, you're speaking to my heart.

I just know it's never going to happen. But if you want to treat it this way, I know. If you want to treat this way, we can make, let's make everybody else think this way. Oh, I'm so on board with that. I know, I know you're out there. Josh Dubo, if that's how you pronounce it, of the Associated Press, he listens. Can I get a vote? Please.

Or at least maybe this will influence some voters. Who knows? One for the pod? Why not? Yeah, I'll take. I mean, when I was at NBC, I'm not going to name names, but let's say some people had votes there that didn't follow football that closely. Yeah.

And it got passed around a little bit. So I did contribute sometimes to some of those votes. You could probably guess. All right, give me your number three. My number three is going to be Lamar. And, you know, I think you make a great point that Henry and Lamar, I think they'll cancel each other out ultimately. At one point, probably about a month ago, I felt Lamar was almost running away with it. And we've seen some other players rise toward the cream of the crop here and make it very

interesting. But when you look statistically, oh man, it's tough. Like, it's tough to not have him in there. 3,290 passing yards, 29 to 3 touchdown interception ratio. It's got 678 yards rushing and three rushing touchdowns. I mean, he's doing it all. He really is. It's just that he also has another candidate on his roster that's going to make it a little more difficult. And they're not as consistent as a team as I think that most people would want from an MVP candidate. Now we still have these remaining weeks before we decide that. But he's definitely going to be in the running, I think. Yeah, you can look at different stats. Like he's, I think, fourth in QBR. It depends. You know, PFF is maybe not like quite as high. And yet he's clearly better than he was a year ago

when he won the MVP. Like, there's no question to me. I think he's a very strong, third and absolutely has a good chance to win the MVP still. If he's the best player over the next five weeks by a decent margin, then he's going to win it in my mind. That's how he did it last year. Right. The five losses, to me, does not eliminate him. He's just been fantastic.

Who has played the position, you know, at the most consistent level? I actually think that's Josh Allen for me, who, you know, spoiler alert. is ahead. But Lamar at his best, I think, has been the very best this year. So he's number three and he's close. I'm going to throw my two out there. I bet it's, you know, we have the same final two. I have Sequin Barclay as my two. I went back and forth with this. I don't want to get caught up with the whole word value, valuable. It's in the name. I get it, but that's sort of where I went with Sewell, too. You can decide how you want to interpret it. Yeah.

If you're voting Barclay, I do think you're partly voting for the Eagles running game and the offensive line in a way too, but that he just absolutely supercharged. And he is playing at a level at this position that we haven't seen since Lidane and Tomlinson, Marshall Falk, you know, Adrian Peterson and his MVP year. Like that is what he's doing right now, maybe even better than some of those years. So it's hard for me to not put him number one. I really struggled because that's how special a year he's having. It's 1A, 1B for me, but Sequin for me is number two.

We're going to invert these because I have Allen at number two, and it doesn't really have to do with the numbers as much as what we've talked about so much on this show, which is how he is just a game-changing talent for these bills who can win in a number of different ways, and he can succeed in a number of different ways. He can throw the ball all over the yard. he's the most effective running running quarterback in the NFL as you've said many times

and then they go out there and drop a ton of points on a snowy night against the 49ers which just kind of you know adds an exclamation point to what we've talked about for a while here I also think that he's done a really good job of overcoming the personnel changes which is what we talked about a lot early in the season when they ran into some bumps in the road and now they're just cruising and he's obviously at the center of it but since you went Alan you you went you went Sequin 2 and I went Alan 2 I'm just going to tell you right now Sequan's number one for me. So if we want to get back and forth about the comparing these two, I will happily point out

that while you're absolutely right about incorporating the offensive line of that, we can talk about the bill's offensive line and how well they've protected Allen for most of this season. Their incorporation of the running game, which is vastly different than where they were last years, basically since Joe Brady took over, they've been a different offense. And James Cook has factored into that little bit of Ray Davis too. Shout to Ray Davis. But when I look at the Eagles and I look at Seekwon Barkley, I watch an offense that

lost Jason Kelsey this offseason, lost ice. Isaac Seymalo, which, okay, near replacement level guard, if you want to talk about him like that. They replace him with McCoy-Becton. They replace Kelsey with Cam Juergens. Okay. They've dealt with injuries in the offensive line at times. And yet, Sequin has looked head and shoulders, knees and toes, and a 10-foot wall outside, higher and better than where they were with DeAndre Swift, where they were with Miles Sanders. Like, he is, I watch him run every week, and I think, God, I wish he wouldn't have spent all those New Year's in New York. I feel like we were robbed of a sure-fire Hall of Fame career because of the time he was there. Now,

injury's got in the way, of course, too, but he's playing incredible football and closing games and doing a little bit of everything so much that he got a Nike ad for reverse hurtling a guy while wearing LeBron's, okay? This is my MVP. If he continues at this rate, slam dunk MVP for me, and I don't care that he's a running back. I'm taking it. All great points. It's all fair. It's why at this point in time where I totally get it. Maybe I'm baking in that can he keep this up? it's such a crazy pace. It's not just the 70-yard runs to ice the games.

It's the nine-yard runs that should have been four just over and over. Yes. He's special. He could make the Hall of Fame, by the way, Shook. I think he's on pace for it.

But it would have been guaranteed by now. The numbers are going to have to come down with running backs, kind of like the bar went up with quarterbacks. You know what I mean? Yeah. Because he's going to be,

if he's, one of the two or three best at his position over an eight-year period, let's say, those guys make the Hall of Fame. And to me, he has a good chance to do that, especially if he can rack up an MVP or an offensive player of the year season this year and another good season or two in Philadelphia. So I think he has a chance to. I just look at Josh Allen and think how valuable he is in the running game

and in the red zone and as a receiver. Okay. And I just think that it just puts it over the top It's so hard for me to give it to, I guess, a running back When a quarterback is having a superlative season like this for Josh Allen But they're 1A1B and the MVP race is just getting going So I think we can talk about it in future weeks And it's razor thin because it does matter to me

like what player, what describes the regular season the best, like in terms of what is the most signature part of this season? And I think that's to be determined. But say that's an argument for Saquan because the way the Eagles have been ending these games to me is one of the most memorable things we will absolutely remember for years and years and years. And he is the key to it all. you almost convince me, but it's a good thing. It doesn't really matter. It's after week 13.

It only matters for this podcast and this video. We'll revisit that. Maybe we'll do another award next week. We'll do defensive player or something else, and then we'll circle back to MVP. Because one thing I learned when I used to do the MVP ladder each and every week on NFL.com, you start running out. You start just repeating the same thing. Oh, sounds like what I run to in QB Index sometimes. All right. Let's wrap it up. It is absolutely. time for your favorite part of the week. Captain's Corner presented by Captain Morgan.

I'm going to get us going. You weren't expecting this one. I'm going to give it to Zachertz. You're like, oh, Zachertz. Why Zacherts? You know what Zacherts did this weekend? He had his 50th career touchdown pass. What were you going to answer?

That's what I was going to say. Okay. And I started looking up like, oh, how's Zacherts doing this season? Because he's been pretty good red zone threat for them in general. 52 catches, 501 yards, four touchdowns. I thought this guy's career, speaking of LeBron and those tweets of, you know, thinking it was done at 35, I thought he was done, done. And I mean, really done.

Like, we're making Twitter jokes about him done over the last couple of years, fighting through injuries, not looking like his body could just hold up and that he could be an effective player for a good team anymore when he was out there in Arizona. He averaged 6.9 yards per catch last year. And to see him out there, it's sort of just representing to me the players who are in it for the love of it that are playing this deep into their career like a Cleas Campbell just because what are they going to do in their life that is more fun than this. And getting it done at a very high level and being a key role player for a rookie quarterback who might be the offensive rookie there. This dude has had so many different lives. One of them, you know, breaking my heart with an absolutely killer catch in the Super Bowl for the Eagles.

That was a while ago. He was a rookie back in 2013. I mean, he was with Chip Kelly. Like, was he with Michael Vick on that team? It's been a while. So just shout out to Zachards. You're my cat. You know, it's funny because if you look at him this year, people will be like, well, he just needed a change of scenery.

He needed to leave Arizona. He followed his old coach to Washington, essentially. Like, he went from the Cardinals where. he struggled through injuries and wasn't a huge factor. After getting dumped by the Eagles who couldn't pay him anymore and he cried on his way out, which understandably so, he loved it there. And now he's having a little bit of a rebirth here. He doesn't look like the same guy he once was, but he's crafty and he's finding a way to make it work. And he's healthy. I think that's what it is sometimes for the older guys. Like if you have the body like a Mercedes Lewis for instance. That's what the

comp I was going to make is a little bit of a Mercedes Lewis arc here. Like he's just a physical freak that could like his body could keep getting it done year after year. And Zach Gertz, after being hurt for a few years, has found good health. So, so cheers to you, Zachar. It's always one of my favorites. Speaking of Mercedes-Louis, real quick, before I do my captain, um, 10 years ago, Greg, I was in the NFL newsroom. 10 years ago after, right after you'd hired me about six months in, and I remember sitting there with their former colleague, good friend, Will Robinson, and we described Mercedes-Lewis catching a pass and right down the sideline as a plotting tight end. Plotting, two Ds. He's still plotting through the NFL right now. So if he can do it, you can do

it too, Zacker. It's good for you. I'm old enough to remember when people said Mercedes-Lewis was a bust in Jacksonville. He's still out there. He's still out there 20 years later. Playing special teams and everything else. All right, my captain of the week, going to go a bit of a deep dive here, relevant right now

because of what he did in the Jets Seahawks game. It is Canaan Wong-Wu, who was one of my favorite kick-returners way back in 2021 when he played for the Vikings. He had a couple of kick-return touchdowns that season and then kind of faded into the back He's got one since then in 2022 until Sunday when he comes down and he forces a fumble on kick

coverage and then not long thereafter, he takes a kickback for a touchdown, his fourth of his career. You probably don't know his name well. He's one of those guys you get mad and you're like, oh, look at that speed rating. I'm just going to turn him into a stud running back over time. But in real life, he's a hell of a kick returner and he got back in the spotlight on Sunday. In a close loss for the Jets, he really gave them a spark at the time. Good on you for getting on that team. you're a new guy there and you're making an impact instantly.

So you're my captain for the week. Oh, and also, Greg, I don't like to do this often. But I have two bonus captains. Wow. One is a member of the show. Colleen Wolfe for going a perfect 16-0 in game picks this week. I believe it's the first time. The Thanksgiving week, I believe it's the first time

that anybody's ever done it in the history of picks. Have to confirm that with Sean Shoppy over on the YouTube side. But also, I'm the Thanksgiving. the other captain because I went 16-0-2, baby, in great company with Colleen. Let's go. Perfect game. That was just a long-winded way of patting yourself on the bracket. Yes, it was. Connie's celebrating, actually, in New Orleans right now as part of some NFL trip. I'm not really sure what's going on, but she's not going to be in the studio tomorrow because she's working in New Orleans. What a place to celebrate a 16-0 record. Awesome job by Shuki and Colleen. That was the captain's

quarter presented by Captain Morgan is delicious and Chris perfect for your game day with your friends spice it up visit Captain Morgan.com to find a captain near you please drink responsibly talking to you Colleen oh what a couple of captains shookie and Colleen that's it for today like I said we will be back on Tuesday with Jordan rodrigue of the athletic Steve Weiss will be in the building doing a little QB Island doing a little lions and Packers preview, and yeah, when James Winston is making unforgettable touchdowns and pick sixes, football is finally back. Hey, everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here.

And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move to Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else. It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sundays. Don't miss it.

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