NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Midseason Awards: MVP, Rookies, Revenge Body and WAT?? with Colleen Wolfe and Jourdan Rodrigue

Episode Date: November 5, 2025

Gregg Rosenthal is joined by Jourdan Rodrigue and Colleen Wolfe to give you NFL Daily's Midseason Awards! The group tells you who wins the Revenge Body Award (03:10), the Rage Award (06:55), the WAT?? Award (10:30), the I Can't Quit You Award (30:10), and the 2nd Year Leap Award (32:10).  The group also has discussions about who should win Offensive Rookie of the Year (13:40), Defensive Rookie of the Year (17:00), Coach of the Year (20:10), Offensive Player of the Year (37:30), Defensive Player of the Year (40:00) and Most Valuable Player (43:30).  Things are wrapped up with a preview of the Thursday Night Football matchup between the Raiders and Broncos (49:50). Note: time codes approximate. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Welcome to NFL Daily. This is a great jaunty, too, and I love it. I'm in good spirits. We are here in the Chris Wesleying podcast studio, and my name is Greg Rosenthal, and I'm here with college. Eve and Jordan Rodrigue ready to pass out some hardware.

Yeah, we are. Welcome everybody. This is so much fun. This is, I feel like, should be my theme music. This is what plays in my head when I'm at home and I'm singing to my dogs. I love it. Great job. This explains a lot. I want you to host. I was going to say future award shows, but can you just take the wheel now? No, Greg. You are the host. Jordan Roderig, you're here too. I love hearing the sounds of Colleen's brain. It's wonderful.

Weird, weird place. Now, what are the sounds in your brain, like, after, let's say, the Dodgers take out the Phillies and the players? Okay. Nothing. Darkness. It's just, like, post-apocalyptic sounds. Wind. Monk chance.

Okay. We're going to spin it back positive here. Okay, yeah. Look, it's awards time. And we're here on the NFL channel, in addition to being in your ears. We love everyone that listens to the podcast. In your ears, your hearts, your mind, wherever. And they said, it's the mid-season.

And in your room right now. And in your brain. I know what you were thinking about, Jerry. It's kind of weird. We, I showed up last week to pick up some pizza on Halloween. And then what happened? I was neighborhood dad and had literally. 17 children at my house, which was way too much.

We're going to, we're going to whittle down that list next year. Really? You had 17 kids? Exclusive. Well, and parents and stuff. So it was just way too much. Greg lives in a mansion. We get it.

They were absolutely packed in my backyard, which is only like half of a backyard. Anyways, when I picked up the pizza, I saw us NFL Daily on the NFL channel. And so the NFL channel, it's important. It's free over-the-air television. You get it on all your TVs. And they said, this is halfway through the season. You've got to do a mid-season award show. And we thought, well, it's trade deadline week.

How about both? Why not both? And so what we're going to do is we're going to give out some of our own awards. And we're going to just kind of discuss the actual awards that the Associated Press hands out. And we're going to give, not predictions. I want this to be clear, not predictions for what's going to happen at the end of the year. We're going to give for what has happened so far. Just this half season.

Got it. Give our half season. Love it. MVP. You did write that in the text. Maybe. Actually, probably a conversation we should have had. All right.

Cool. So they tell us to do some awards. We're going to do them. We'll go back and forth between like our awards and the regular awards. And let's start with the most irregular award of all. And that's one that's given out by Colleen Wolf. Oh, okay. Great.

Well, congratulations because the 2025 Revenge Body Award goes to the Indianapolis Colts. Yes. They're so deserving of it. And it's because I broke up with them essentially by not doing the normal thing that I do that I have done for years and years is supporting them, believing in them, thinking this is going to be their year. And I quietly stepped away. way and said, all right, I'm not going to let my heart get broken again because I know I keep committing myself to this team and they're not putting in the work and reciprocating. So I'm going to protect my own energy here. And now I'm watching from afar how great they are doing. They are winning. This offense is incredible. I know they had a down week last week. I'm just pretending it didn't happen. Every single team has a bad week. Okay. So let's just deal with that. But their general manager is making trades big ones sauce gardener this is a huge deal and i just love the fact

that carly ursay gordon is running the show and the show has been so much fun to watch and so successful she's been incredibly hands on you see her on the sideline with the headset on she's been in these meetings she's asking these questions there's so many stories about her And the fact that they're having this success with that happening, I don't think that it's a coincidence. So I'm going to say that Carly is the good luck charm. And this is, she's taking revenge on the entire league, basically. And I think she would say that the team,

and I wouldn't even discount this being part of the whole Soss Gardner equation, is inspired and trying to take advantage of this post-Gist. Irse passing season because it, look, it's on their helmets. They've talked about it a lot. And they've kind of talked about, man, wouldn't it be incredible to get back to the Super Bowl to honor her father, Jim Ursay? So I love this. And unlike most revenge bodies, though, I feel like you've now done your Mia Culpas. Okay.

I think Colts fans forgive you. Who was really on the Colts the last handful of years, especially in the Stikina? I was there in the bad years. They're welcoming you back. You did so much emotional labor for them, Colleen. I know. Right. I think now you should be able to enjoy the spoil of their revenge body.

Well, Daniel Jones. That's my guy. Daniel Jones. We got a new one. Yeah. Were there any other candidates potentially for the revenge body? I was trying to think of, uh...

Yeah, Sam Darnold. To the Vikings and to the world and to the jets. Actually, like the, the, the, the ex-jets on the, Seahawks from the other night. Leonard Williams and Sam Darnold together making great music. And ex-Giants with Daniel Jones and Leonard Williams also an ex-giant. So it's like double dipping there. It's a microcosm of your pick, but Lou Anirumo Revengement.

Oh, perfect, perfect. I wrote that down to say, thank God you said a big Lou. And yeah, who knew, who knew that Sam Darno will be showing off that revenge body and maybe making Kevin O'Connell a little jealous I didn't expect that to be the revenge. All right, Jordan, your award. My award, first award today.

Congratulations to Joe Burrow for winning the, despite all my rage, I'm still just a rat in a cage. Joe Burrow seemed to get everything he ever freaking wanted and he is still freaking watching and seething from the sideline and his defense implodes all over again for another year despite all his pushing and his emotional lobbying

for all these wide receiver contracts that still ends the same way because you're stuck in the cage of this defense and you're never getting out until you get out of there, Joe. Get out of that! Right as a tour group walks by. Love that for us. Love you guys.

Awesome. Awesome. I mean, maybe the cage is the entire Bengals organization. Oh, no. You get the metaphor. You can't get out. You get the metaphor. It's a tiger and a cave, too. You know what could make, I'm not saying Joe Burrow is this self-centered, but if you're coming up with like the worst possible equation, it's actually someone putting up quarterback stats as good as Joe Burrow could while they're still losing. So it's like the worst of both worlds. Joe Flacco is out there having all this fun and showing like, hey, anyone can look good with T. Higgins and Yoshavas.

and Jamar Chase, but they don't even get the wins for Joe Burrow to return to it. Yeah, he can't even reap the rewards of his own emotional labor that he put in. And he just has to watch again, this entire team fall apart because the problems remain the problems. And he still remains stuck there in sort of this hell of partially his own creation. Also, if you're watching right now, the video that is playing is Joe Burrow on the sideline. I think that was the Thursday night football game when Joe Flacco got his first start. And he looks like he just came out of that cage. Yes. Yeah. Rolled out of bed. I feel so bad for him. He did get bangs. That's how we know

something is wrong. Um, also, also I want to paint the picture of people for people who are listening and maybe we weren't watching. You should be watching this show, especially this episode. Um, but we were, we were rocking out. Um, and we were in full, um, like, thrash metal mode right as a tour group was walking by the windows and then they all stopped because we look like we're all having seizures in here um that's show biz baby felt really good you ever go to um like a hard like heavy metal type of show are we the colin i know jordan do you think i have i think jordan has yes she's definitely been like uh i've caught some tools Tool. No way.

Oh, yeah. Cool? Big time. Yeah. My, sometimes I write to Tool, my good, our good friend, Nate Tice, Grines Film to Tool. Shut up. Yeah. Wait, okay. I'm so sorry. I must know this. What was your first concert you ever went to? My first concert I ever went. That's tough. I don't think, uh, there was one. Yeah, there was one. I just don't know if I remember it in the moment. Yeah. Do you remember yours? Third eye blind? I do. Yeah. My first concert was a They Might Be Giants with Frank Black, the lead singer of the Pixies opening, which is a great one.

But even better, my second concert was Nirvana in utero. It ages me, but it's pretty good. That's pretty good. I love that. That's awesome. Mine was Red Man and Method Man. That's amazing. Hell yeah.

And very fitting to this day. Great. My first award is the Watt Award. And it's the team. What? What? I love it. I love this drop.

It's a lot. What? What? What? What? What? What? What?

What? Like, what are you? Turn it off. Okay, stop it. Stop it. Please. The Falcons, who you hit on last week, I think very well, Jordan.

So I don't need to repeat it. The Vikings, they actually lead the league in the most variance. According, like, you can statistically measure what? And that's kind of variance in terms of inconsistency week to week of like how good or bad they are according to football. The Vikings would be in the mix. The Ravens, like I think we've just accepted. Oh yeah, the Ravens, they might be coming back to the place. What are you doing being three and five? You stunk even with Lamar Jackson. Like the Panthers are there for me too, which is just like, how are you good? It confused me.

But ultimately. I was thinking about that for revenge body or like sneakier grim reaper. because to me they seem like they aren't a very good team like they're the 27th best team and yet they're 5 and 4 so you've got to give them a little credit but ultimately it's the Packers and they've won this award congratulations let's get the award sounds from early in the show I really like that

Jordan Love for like three weeks he'll just be on top of EPA per play and all your numbers Why isn't Jordan Love in the MVP? Conversation. And then they have a game where they don't punt and they lose by a field goal

and they score in the teens to the Panthers and you're like, I can't even really criticize you because the numbers still look good, but you still find a way to lose. I don't really know what you are. Green Bay Packers, you're the winners of the Watt Award. I don't know. I'm obsessed with the song. I really have this.

I want to tell you, I listened to everything you just said, but I'm just dancing. It was about the Packers. This is what I'm going to play every day that I leave the parking garage of work. I feel like the Packers started this season as a lot of people's Super Bowl favorites. They did. They're right there still near the top of the NFC. Like, it all looks like it should make sense.

And yet, I'm left a little wanting more. I don't know what it, like the Packers fans are, having serious Matt Lafleur conversations, which is really surprising to me. Wow. Like, is this guy a good coach? Do we think he's the right guy? Which is troubling.

But the game management, the less than the sum of their parts, does leave you saying why. What? I was surprised that they lost to the Vikings. One more time since we're not going to listen to a little bit. Hopefully. Who knows, though?

Okay, let's actually take a little break from our awards. There's other awards? Yeah, we're going to talk about the actual awards. And this will be a little more open-ended. We're not, we don't know how this is going to go. I'm just going to throw out some names that I think would be worthy of discussion for potential candidacy for offensive rookie of the year. Let's start with. Emeka, Abuka.

Yes. Certainly in that mix. Who else? Jackson Dart has played pretty well for a starting quarterback. I know he missed three weeks, but he's actually the betting favorite in Las Vegas. Now, they're doing something different than we're doing.

Really? They're predicting in a sense who's going to win the award at the end of the season and they're kind of baking into that quarterback's win a lot. We're not predicting. No. We're awarding. T-Mack is in the mix and Tyler Warren.

Those would be my top four. Those would be my top four. Yeah. I'm into Tyler Warren. I think that he would be, he deserves it, I think. It's a really good offensive rookie class because I didn't even mention

Arande Gadsden, which Sleeper. He could easily have like the best numbers. He could have better numbers than Tyler Ward in the end. He could set the all-time record for tight end yards in a season, beating Brock Bowers from a year ago. Like that's possible. Ashen Genty has obviously been good. Quinchon Junkins.

I don't think they're serious. Where do you go here off the bat? I feel like you already know where I go as the leader of the Emeka Boot Club. Like I love this guy. I think that he is deserving his production is slowed a little bit, but that's injury related. And then obviously they have the buy.

So I feel like he's going to come out swinging again post by. And he still is leading all rookies and receiving yards with 5602 and receiving touchdowns with five. And he's still got Baker Mayfield throwing him the ball. So and going to need him to really produce down the stretch, a back stretch of the season. So I love Tyler Warren for this award too. But I really, really think that Emeka, Egbuka will win it. Does feel like a two-man race. Or should win it.

Should win it. We're not predicting. I said should win it now. It's the half season award. What we're going to do, we're going to put in a time capsule. And then we'll be able to look back and be like, oh, look, those were the half season awards. We'll always know who had the best half season.

I think it is Warren or Abuka. Well, I would say Warren just because maybe this isn't the prevailing situation now. But traditionally and before, tight ends, rookie tight ends, specifically, they took a little bit longer to develop in the NFL, would be a couple years until you really. saw them at the peak of their powers. Maybe that is kind of old school now, because we've seen college offenses evolve too. But I specifically think that's why what he's done has been impressive. I like him with the Colts. Obviously, I love the Colts. We all know that now. She's back. Yeah. I just think he's deserving of it. It's very close. I'm going to have to

break the tie here because I do think it's one of those. I'm going to give it to Mecca and Buka. Just I think more wow plays. Warren's amazing. Like they've seen. skiing him open so well, he unlocks everything that they do. So I don't think you could go wrong with either of those two. I think of Bucca, too, really just surprised everyone because no one saw him coming. Nobody realized that he was going to be this good. And Tyler Warren was someone who was like prognosticated to be this good. They are both like all pro candidates.

I mean, Abuka not as strong today as he was a couple weeks ago before that injury, but he was a candidate to make first or second team all pro. And so is Tyler Warren. So they're not even just the best for Rook. in the league, like they're among the best at their position. Good for them. We're giving the award to Abuka. Sorry, Colleen.

Defensive rookie of the year, it's not a good class for, I'm just comparing it to other years where there's not as many strong candidates. These were the four I came up with as the top ones, but you guys happy to listen to anyone else. Carson Schwessinger for the Browns has been really good. And then at the same position, Jahad Campbell for the Eagles, like two guys plugged in, playing most snaps. Campbell getting a few less snaps now

that Nkobo Dean is back, but he's been really solid. Abdul Carter, a lot of pressures there for the Giants. Jacob Parrish, you talked about a lot, Jordan, at cornerback for the bucks. Those, to me, would be the best ones. Nick Amon Worry is coming fast, but he just missed too much time, I think,

to win like a half-season award. Michael Williams was pretty good as well. But we're talking about just this half-season, who do you think's been the best? Carson Swessinger, because I think that he's playing among the most difficult, Jehad Campbell is playing a very, very difficult position, but Schlesinger is calling the defense,

is running the defense for the Browns and has produced to that level as a rookie. It's extremely difficult to do. And he's looked incredible. I think it's really, really lucky in the context of this award that we're marking this at the halfway point because he is injured. So he probably will not have a shot at winning this down the later portion of the season.

I think he's coming back soon. I was glad to hear that. Maybe first game right off the bye. Off of an ankle. injury. So you always got to look out for for something like that. And I, and I, I really, you know, Jihad Campbell's one of my favorite players in the NFL right now is one of my favorite players coming out in the draft. We were so excited about him, projected him where he should have gone in the draft in our mock draft. But I do think because playing that in that middle linebacker position, especially

on a defense where you are done no favors by your offense time and time and time again and you look that dominant still and you look like a player so beyond your years, that, that's a player who I would give that award too. I thought that I was going to come in here and be the one person that said Swessinger should be the answer here and he should get the award. So I'm glad that we're all aligned on this because I just also feel like he's playing in Cleveland and he's not experiencing like probably a happy year at this point. And he deserves a little bump here because he's played so well. He's an every down player. He's come up in clutch moments. that interception he had against the Patriots.

He had a couple really big splash plays against the dolphins, too, I believe. So I just, I loved him this year. And hopefully he can come back and put on a good performance the second half of the year. Yeah, I was a little surprised he's lower than I would expect it, at least in like the betting markets. Even Worry would be, I think, a great pick for that because I think he's going to come higher.

I think Abdul Carter and Campbell are the favorites right now. Carter has a lot of pressures, not a lot of QB hits or sacks. He's been solid. Trey Amos, by the way, just shout out to him. He's played pretty well for the commanders. And Xavier Watts at safety has had a good rookie season for the Falcons. But we're giving the award to Schwessinger. Let's do the coach of the year and then we'll take a break.

I'll let you start calling in of just, there's a million candidates for coach of the year. So I don't even want to narrow it down. There's probably four or five that I think are the main ones. But you could even go off that. board and pick anyone you want. Well, you might be thinking, oh, of course, she's going to pick Shane Stike in here. All she does is talk about the cults. No, why not?

Because who is the other team I always talk about with the quarterback that I've always talked to? Oh, no, not that one. Sirianni would be a hilarious pick here. I wouldn't even hate it. In the Pacific Northwest, we have Mike McDonald for Coach of the Year. I love what he's done with the Seahawks team. They're performing so well.

I mean, just look at the way that people respond to him. Look at Marshawn Lynch. If you're watching right now, giving him a massage. What's that Marshawn Lynch? I'm not sure. He has done such a good job with both sides of the ball. And you could just see, I felt like when Sam Darnold went there, everyone was kind of like, oh, well, the Vikings, they were with him all year.

So they truly know what he's about. And obviously, they did not value him enough to keep him. So let's see how he does out in Seattle. and he's done great. And Mike McDonald, I think, has done a really good job. Good pick. I was talking to a coach the other week who knows Mike McDonald well. And the thing that he just kept saying he was so in awe of was how he constantly evolves.

You can see it on the field and you could see. But it's a combination of evolution and communication because he understands how to teach his offense. He understands how to layer it. We talked about this last year with him because you could start to see it progressing, especially down the backstretch of last season. Defensively, you could see the little layers and the progression teaching points that they were building in to this group.

And now it's one of the best defenses in the NFL. And I think that's such a credit to him and how he runs the entire operation. I, however, I'm going to go with a guy who I predicted at the beginning of the year was going to win the coach of the year. Uh-oh, confirmation bias. Mike Vrable.

Oh, yeah. Oh, that's such a good one. And Greg, I remember it like it was yesterday, Greg, because you rightfully said that market is going to have crazy high expectations and he is going to have to not only exceed expectations but the team in terms of win-loss but the team is going to have to play

like a totally different team. And guess what? Check and check. Both of these things are happening. And it's crazy. And honestly, it's a little startling to me how we haven't seen you be more vocal and excited about this.

I've been... Is it a fear of being judged, I think? No. I've been enjoying watching Drake May... It was really stoic. He's like... Slang it. The expectations were high.

it. Like they had to win 10 or 11 games minimum for him to get a chance to win this. And they're 7 and 2. So all they got to do is go 4 and 4. He has a real chance. And I think the number one thing that you can see that he does. Number one, I think he just has such great buy-in. He's great on the relationship front. I think if there was a model for him as a coach, it would probably be like Mike Tomlin, but better in game management, which would be an awesome coach if that, if we could get that. Because they're really good at situational football. They're really good at like late and clock situations, when to be aggressive, when not, like, the details are really good. He's not a, he's not a scheme guy.

Yeah. And we'll see how their defense looks when they play better offenses. But running the whole operation, I think he's, he's a great choice. Also, what about Sean Peyton? Don Peyton's in the mix. Throwing another name in there. Yeah. Scyken, I think, I didn't cut you all.

No, no, no, you're good. I love that you said that because I do think he should, he should be in it. Dave Canal is too, especially with kind of how his teams, I'll get to it in a minute. but how his teams have really started to develop a very specific personality. Yeah, I like it. Wait, you're going to talk about the Panthers? So what if I do? I'm just kidding.

So what if I do? A lot of good candidates out there. But I think with Rabel, you touched on something awesome there, Greg, because I keep seeing little moments with this guy that really sway me toward the EQ side of what he does too. always heard stories about it. But Drake May had a bad second, third, and part of the fourth quarter last week. And they didn't score any points in the second, all the three points in the second half. And he struggled. He turned the ball over twice. After his second turnover, Mike Frable comes over to Drake May on the sidelines where he's sitting with the tablet and looks really mad. And Mike Frable puts his sort of his forehead to forehead like dad's son kind of, we're going to have a

talk, you know, kind of thing. And you could tell he was saying, like, I got you. I believe in you. It's okay. We've got your back. And, like, I was like, oh, yeah, got the EQ. EQ is there as well. Yeah. I love that.

Yeah. And Drake May said after the game, too, he, you know, he appreciated that basically was saying, move on to the next play and be confident. Like, we're, and they, the thing I love about how they treat him is they show their confidence in him with their play calls, which is like the best way to do it. When they need to close out a game, they will ask Drake May to do hard stuff. And he delivers, just because I want to throw out. a different name.

I might go Kyle Shanahan. Ooh. I like it. Okay. Interesting. I like rewarding plans coming together. I think Mike McDonald, it would be a case for him to like year two there. Like it's not, I thought Andy Reid was the coach of the year last year because like it's not just what he's doing that year, but everything that he's built, that was a bad team and he somehow won 15 games with him. Like what is a better example of being a good coach?

And so I think Kyle Shanan is kind of like that to everything that he has built. there over the years and what they've overcome injury-wise this year has been outrageous. You can even give him a little credit for having enough of a good relationship with Robert Salad to get him back in the building. Bring him on back into the building. So I just think they've overachieved. And so I throw his name out there. But we do have to make a decision.

So someone has to go to the other side and just like make a choice. Stikin, by the way, is a really good candidate too. There's a few many good candidates. Yeah. Well, we know Greg's not changing his name. I was going to. was going to just go with Mike McDonald because that honestly

was where I was leaning. That was where I was leaning first. I'm on over, guys. I'm so, so impressed what he's done. I think for the first half of this year, they have been incredibly well coached and it's a plan coming together. Like this show, we did it.

Eric has been working with the Englewood Orchestra for weeks on this little ditty here. And it paid off. We'll be back with some more awards, including the MVP Award. Oh, bet you guys can't guess my pick. Back on NFL Daily. With the greatest award show in the business, it's the NFL Daily mid-season award.

First annual? yeah it's going to be we'll be here next year NFL bring us all back you know please universe

bring us all back I think the building's leased for a while we're good yeah yeah this actually leads perfectly it's all right

okay do it another death talk guys we're doing an award giving an award doing another death talk um okay everyone

the 2025 mom and dad please stop fighting award goes to YouTube TV and ESPN I need you guys

to make up we love you both so much we need to see you together again it's so difficult to watch things now I really only watch sports and I would love to

see this marriage last yeah we would love to see you Stay together. YouTube TV is so fantastic for games. I love all of the quad box that you can do. I love that you can have whatever you want. You can see all sorts of customized things. You can watch games.

You can watch politics. You can watch, you know, cartoon shows if you want. You can watch whatever you want. But they're really making, mom and dad are really making Monday night football difficult to watch. And I just, I don't want to see them fight and in this pain anymore. We can come to an agreement here. You guys have done so well for so long together.

So please, like make this relationship last. I do hate to see monolithic corporations fighting. You know what I mean? It just hurts me. You could have checked out NFL Plus. I was thinking it would be funny if NFL Plus was doing some counter programming, just like, hey guys, we're here. We got Monday night football.

But yeah. Well, yeah. I'm sad to see. I know. I know it. Get it together for the kids, guys. I am a... For football.

I am a subscriber. I think a lot of people learn that, like, that they had an ESPN subscription, but apparently there's some, like, higher tier where they give you, like, gold, you know, cuff links or something, and you get to watch Monday Night Football.

Because somehow you have a subscription and not Monday Night Football. Yeah. It was very strange. I was confused about that. I have a lot of subscriptions. I don't even know what I have subscriptions to anymore. That little award, you know,

might not even make it to the show. Just because of corporate. coming down on us. Well, it's fine. We like our jobs. Sorry. No, no. I agree.

They should make up. It is ridiculous. It's ridiculous. Just make it happen. Usually these things happen and then they just figure it out quickly and they haven't figured it out quickly. Jordan.

Yes. Well, much like my life in general. I have the I just can't quit you. Oh, no. I can't imagine where this is going. And this goes to the Carolina Panthers. A team who also simply won't quit, guys, the way that they've battled through adversity, now finding an identity playing spoiler to other teams.

It's becoming their identity to ruin other people's day. Maybe teams that came in with just a higher quality perception or better narrative around them. The Carolina Panthers are giving them the business. The run game is off the ground after finally moving to feature Rico Dowdell. We love him. The defense is playing way better. these guys have a little something and I always knew

I was here the whole time. I always knew they could do it and I'll never quit these guys. Dave Canales, he is modeled and he said it after Pete Carroll and there is a little bit of like radical positivity.

Greater than the sum of their part. If the Packers are less than the sum of their parts, the Panthers are greater. The vibes are fantastic. Good vibes. Great vibes this year compared to last year. We love to see them win.

And I do. And I was still there. And I do love... Is this a shot at me in the Colts? No. No. No, I could only aspire to live on that timeline. Yeah.

No. I'm still in overeating on the couch part of the revenge body. Oh, I got you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. That does indicate like a level of narcissism from Colleen where she thinks everything is about her. Oh, no. And I personally appreciate.

This is what I... Don't you dare insult, my friend. No, I'm just, uh... That's going to like stick with her. me now forever. How dare you? How dare you, sir? I was, it's kind of like those, uh, every accusation is an admission. Oh. So, you know, you know what I mean? Like that, that if, if I'm seeing that. Okay. Well, now you have to say something bad about yourself. I just did. That's the point. Okay. I'm going to give out death. I'm going to give my final award and, uh, it's just the second year

leap award. And you said I wasn't having a enough fun talking about the Patriots. But I looked around because I I feel like there's always a lot of type by the rookies, the rookies, the rookies. And then you don't really look as much about the second year. And I got to say after going through last year's draft class, a lot of people are on the struggle bus right now. Like overall, maybe not the best draft class. And a lot of rookies, certainly at quarterback, but otherwise, too, played better last year than this year.

But these gentlemen all are playing better. I think you know who the winner is going to be, but I do want to give a shout out to the runners up. Tanner Bordellini of the Colts, one of the best centers in the league. out of nowhere. Sounds like a sauce. Latu of the Colts. Pretty quiet rookie year

and like, it was really made a complete game coming off a three sack game but had a ton of pressure. And then Tyke Smith developed into one of the better slot players' safeties in the league for the bucks.

But of course it's Drake May. I mean, we didn't even have them on quarterback island. We weren't even really considering it to start the year. He's on there now. I remember hearing from, uh,

Our guy, Nick Wright, that I think we did some sort of quarterback rankings in the offseason. And he was at like 16th or 17. He was like, can he just do something? Can we actually see it first before we get there? And now here we are. I think any reasonable ranking of just this year would have him in the top five. Maybe he's going to come up in our MVP talk. I don't know.

But he legitimately would be in it. I mean, right? I mean, you're not wrong. He's in. There's kind of no case. The conversation. Yeah. And stay tuned for later this week where we all.

all have a conversation about the conversation. I just can't believe he's leading the league in completion percentage. And it's not like he's thinking and dunking. Like, their average depth of targets, one of the highest in the league. That's quite a combination to be throwing down field that much and leading the league. I can't believe how good he is on the short stuff because that was something that everyone coming into the draft thought would take a little while. I'm just noticing how you did not mention me in year two as someone who improved.

I mean, who thinks that way? This is your, year one, this is your rookie season in terms of... I thought that you performed so well your rookie year. I would have given you offensive and defensive rookie of the year award. It just was so great the second after I said that just the shadow of the past over Christmas. I was like, wait, what? He was like... Really blew this.

You know what? Hold on. Wait, while you're on the Patriots, I will, too much. He's never off the Patriots. I will throw, that's true. I will just throw in a quick. Oh, wow. A quick another award that maybe.

Eric's shaking his head. We got to get to 25 minutes or else we won't beat the break. No, I'm kidding. The duo that we didn't know we needed in our lives, Robert Kraft and Cardi B. Oh, I'm so glad you mentioned that. We needed it. We needed it so bad. And thank you, you delivered.

And I just, I want, I want every, I want her to come to more games. Yes. She said she wouldn't be coming to any games until her album dropped. So I'm hoping that means she's going to be coming to more games because I need it all. I love it. And they got him a touchdown. Actually, he got himself. They got him a touchdown.

I'm saying they got it while he's there. But I wouldn't shouldn't even say that because he caught that ball at like the 13 yard line and showed a little juice there getting around the edge and making it happen. What was the song they played when he scored the touchdown? Because they played a Cardi B song at Foxborough. And that's kind of an amazing. moment. I don't know what they played. I hope it was Bodak Yellow, but you know, it could have been like a new song to promote. Well, it could have been

yeah, it could have been a lot. She's got a lot of bangers. A lot of good songs. Instead of what, it could have been, you know, WAP. All right, let's move on. I like it. Maybe I like, fellow, fellow kids. Very different song. What? Very different song. Let's fly through these last ones.

Offensive player of the year, which has kind of turned into best non-outside. Quarterback. Was the song. That was a song. Outside. Okay. From the new Just closing the loop there. Thank you. I appreciate it. I did notice that like her song with Migos, drip, which was like a long time favorite in the Rosenthal household, is now promoting nachos, I believe. Oh. Nacho. So it's like. Velvita, I believe. I think you're absolutely right. Like a dip. So what does that mean? I don't know what it means, but it just means like.

She's getting the cheese. Yeah, that's what it means. Everyone should get paid. But I felt like that's too new of a good. good song to be a Valdita app. You shouldn't be allowed to talk about cool stuff. I'm old. I shouldn't be allowed to talk, period. Hello, fellow kids. I'm sorry, Greg. We, I've... Cardi B's more... You're not old. I wasn't going to say our generation, because she's obviously much younger than me, but I'll give her your generation. It's not like, you know, Cardi B is just a kid. She's been in the mix. I'm, I'm much older than Jordan. That's fair, too. I don't think so. Yeah. You and Cardi B about the same.

About the same age. But again, I don't believe in chronologically. She's accomplished. Fifteen lifetimes worth of all, Jordan, you know? Okay, I guess you were right, Eric, without us being able to beat this next break. Our offensive player of the year candidates. Oh. Some all throw out there.

I used to hate this award. Now I just begrudgingly do accept that it exists. Some possibilities. And if any of them you wanted for MVP, sure. Jonathan Taylor. Jackson Smith and Jigba. Yes. my pick same those are probably the two leaders in the clubhouse it's annoying to talk

quarterbacks here so other players that at least just deserve a little love bejan is on pace for 2,000 yards from scrimmage it's kind of like we're picking on the falcons for not using them enough but like that's a monster season puka is having a great year cmc obviously having a great year but yeah i think it's between taylor and jsn you said your pick was json jordan both of ours yeah i'm with you then i guess i don't have choice yeah he's he's first of all having an historic season and the parameters of the team that he plays on in Seattle, but also league-wide having an historic season, he just, similar to how Jonathan Taylor does for his own offense, adds this element of such a threat in so many different ways in the passing

game, explosive plays, sort of finesse plays underneath, and has become somebody who they've built their entire offensive identity, as multiple as it is in other areas. around and through. And he's the personality of this offense right now. And I love it for them. And you could say all of these same things about Jonathan Taylor, which is why I'm like not mad at all. If whichever way we want to go,

I think both are really deserving. I just think Jackson Smith and Jigba has just brought this electricity. Like you're thinking about the Seahawks team as the most explosive offense, which they are statistically, the most explosive pass game in the entire league and on pace to be an historically explosive passing game. I mean, October alone, like, his numbers in, like, three games, just insane.

And I think, too, this offense is sort of a run-first offense, and he's still able to do what he does within that system. And he's leading in metrics in terms of receiving yards per game. And what a huge stat that is, obviously, for offensive player of the year. I love JSN here. All right. He's the pick. I mean, both of them, him and Taylor.

could be in the mix for MVP in a world where, you know, and we can be the change that we want to see in the world. If we want to vote JSN for MVP, it's not that crazy. Imagine if you took him away from that team, they would be struggling. Let's hit defensive player of the year.

I don't think there's a favorite at all. So I'll actually, it's kind of like coach of the year. I'll just throw it to you guys of where you want to go. It seems like the linebackers are not going to really be options this year, like off ball guys, because Fred Warner got hurt and who was the other option that I was thinking of that there also was an injury like Zach Bonn is obviously not at that level this year but who would you pick

I would love to see Michael Parsons win yeah the story of Kevin Lloyd got hurt that was who I was yeah like Nick Benito is another guy that would be a good option a listener or at least a follow oh what up Nick well I'm sorry I'm not giving you this award right now but the only reason that Michael Parsons gets the edge over Benito is because I just would love for Jerry Jones to see Michael Parsons win defensive player of the year

after he was traded away from his team. I don't think Benito's a follower, though. I think I just got retweeted with some hate into his timeline. That's the worst way for it to happen. Greg had a moment. Yeah. But you know what?

We love him. We talk about him constantly. We love him to death. So if he did listen, he would be on the, then I think, be on the right side of history in that front.

But I was going to go with Aidan Hutchinson. as much as I love the story here of Michael Parsons, and I think very much he could run away with this on second half of the season, but up until now, it's not just Aiden Hutchinson quite clearly,

like changing the entire aspect of what this defense is capable of, and his return being so impactful, schematically and really bringing this, like, gravitas and ferociousness to a group that's already very well coached despite the injuries that they had on the back end. It's also like such a great emotion, story coming back from how horrific that injury was.

And I want to give them this because I am so annoyed year after year by the comeback player of the year award when somebody who died on the football field did not get it after coming back to life and playing in another NFL football game. And so I am so annoyed by that award in general. And I don't want people to say, oh, we can't choose between Micah Parsons and Aidan Hutchinson. And so we're just going to give, you know, Micah Parsons, defensive player of the year.

And we still have a category for Aiden Hutchinson. I'm like, no, win it definitively. And I think Aiden Hutchinson win this award. I'm done with Comeback Player of the Year, too. That's why I didn't even bring it up on this one. Thank God. I would just want to make it most improved. Do a most improved award.

Most improved would be a great award. NBA has that. And that's just like, who got better? Daniel Jones. That would be a great one. I mean, like, May would be an option for that. Although you would probably want to avoid the, like, guys in his second year. I think I'd probably go with Miles Garrett right now,

just because I just think he's the best player. I think he might be the best football player. I'm not mad at any of these, honestly. And if it... But the numbers, the numbers really aren't quite there. I mean, they are with sacks, but in terms of total pressures, Hutchinson actually is leading the pack by a decent amount.

Will Anderson's had a great year. I think those would be probably the top five options when you include Benito and Hutch. We got to break a tie, though. So I think... I'm going to go, Hutch. Let's go with Hutch. I was going to go Hutch, too.

I think that wins. Yeah. Miles Garrett, it's more like... Congrats to Aden Hutchinson. He's turned into maybe the best run defender in the league, too, and that's part, like, he is just, they're just changing every opposing offense has to just change everything they do because of him. But Hodge, get it done.

All right, MVP. All right, here's my list. The thing that I think is going to be key about the conversation, and we're going to hit this more on Wednesday. The conference. This isn't, this isn't about who's going to win the MVP. It's just who's been the best so far. there is no obvious choice.

I think any one of like eight guys could win and actually there's no one that's particularly ahead of the pack. That's my opinion. And I would, I'm not listing in any order here. I think any, if we're giving it to a quarterback, any of the following quarterbacks would make sense to me. Darnold, Stafford, Josh Allen, Drake May, Daniel Jones, Patrick Mahomes.

You can't really tell me that one of those guys is way ahead of the others. You're missing someone. Who am I missing? I thought that's what you were going to say. No. You say what you were going to say. No, I was letting him know that we're going like this. We're all pointing at each other.

What are we going to say? I was just going to say, there's only one of these players who's doing this at 37 years old. Sure. Who's in this caliber of the conversation. Matthew Stafford, 21 touchdown passes 268.4 yards per game, two interceptions all season. It's incredible.

watching what he's doing. The Immortal Chamber really did its job because at 37, let me just forget, at 37 years old, Matthew Stafford is having maybe one of his best seasons in his entire career. All right. You got me with the only one is doing this at 37 because I was watching him and just the way that the ball comes out of his hands. It's just so beautiful like art. It's like a choreography of watching him in the offense play. And yeah, this level of play, I almost feel like people forget about him because he's one of the older quarterbacks in the conversation. He gets left out of the conversation. And he, 1,000% should be in it. He's played so well consistently all season. And I feel like the thing with him is always, oh, his back. Like in training camp and

every, like, if he does get hurt, it's like, well, he's old. It's a bad back. What are you going to do? But that doesn't seem to be a problem this year at all. He looks great. It's also like the tale of two MVP, most valuable player, the tale of two seasons. If that really was going to be something that was the issue coming into the regular season, this Rams team is not here. They are not doing this. They are

not having the type of production they are. He is their A plus plan and he always was because they know that he not only can play like this, but he also elevates everyone else around him to the point where it's an entirely different team

in outlook when he's not on the field. And you never know. he has the back injury, but like Tom Brady still had like four top two finishes in MVP to go after 37. You never know. I wouldn't pick Stafford. Just be, it's a, you're picking Harris, splitting Harris rather. Darnold would be my pick so far. Just because the numbers are just way better. I mean, I just love that you said that. Yeah, he would be my pick so far. I think Josh Allen and May and Joan, like I basically am just repeating myself. All those guys I think are pretty close to each other, including Stafford. But, Donald's numbers are pretty overwhelming. And that's where, like, Stafford, for instance, he's not giving you anything running. And the advanced stuff is not as good for Stafford, where he's like, you know, 8th to 10th and EPA for play and success rate, all that stuff.

Where, you know, Donald's far and away, like, won in a lot of those. And it's just the eye test. He had that moment. Granted, they lost to the Bucks, but I'm kind of thinking of moments in the year. Who's given me more moments? Like, the first half against the commanders, that was a moment. That Bucks game for Darnold was a moment.

You don't think Stafford has given you moments? I think they've lost and he hasn't, like, yeah, I'm just trying to pick between them. But yeah, they've lost their two biggest games of the year to the Colts and Eagles where it was kind of like uneven. Like if, I mean, not lost. They beat the Colts, my bad. Or is it because it's been more surprising to see Donald play the way that he has? And it's almost like we've come, we've become accustomed to watching Matthew Stafford be a really, really great quarterback for a while now. so you kind of like, he gets lost in the sauce a little bit because of that.

I was thinking of the 49ers game in price. But he was good at, like, he's been good in these games anyway. That's what I mean splitting hairs. Because I think it's honestly, you could make just as strong a case for Josh Allen overall. And May wouldn't be like too far off either. The biggest thing gets him is just the competition. It just made me so happy to hear you talk about Sam Darnold in that way because it's true. I mean, honestly, and if you're going to go, it's, it is splitting hairs.

if you're going to go moment to moment or you're going to go stat by stat by stat you can argue some for some and others for others and it would just be like a vastly shifting chart and scale and so for me just in my gut now I'm going to pick Matthew Stafford but if both of you want Darnold I'm not mad at it and I'll come with you on it and with a full support because I just love that for Sam Darnold if so it's up to Colleen then okay see what we'll see what we've done I know I I just You know what? We talked about manifesting a little bit. I don't even know if that was on the show or if that was before the show. But I would love to manifest this for Sam Darnold.

Because what a redemption story this would be for him. He's already had all of these chapters. But to have the success he had last year and then get traded away and then have the same success and go on to win an MVP would just be such a chef's kiss. Well, you know what? Revenge body. He doesn't even need to go on to win an MVP. He just won it. The half-season MVP from NFL Daily.

Play the music. Congratulations. Sam Darnold, congratulations. I don't want to be weird about it, but it's kind of nice to give him the award because I feel like Stafford's maybe, if I was predicting, Stafford might be more likely to get the end of the season award.

But who knows? Oh. You know, what a moment. Honestly, you could just turn this music on and I'll forget whatever we were talking about or doing, and I'll just be in a happy mood. Congratulations to everyone who, What is pain? We don't know it.

NFL honors. Let's jam in our Thursday night football. Quickly, we got the Raiders and the Broncos. A little bit of an anti-climax here. But the Raiders in prime time coming off maybe their best performance of the season, certainly on offense. You know, it took until the fourth quarter to get going. But ultimately, I was looking at like the numbers of like the best pass. performances from a week ago, top five.

And I was like, oh, Gino Smith is on there at number four with four touchdowns. And I don't know if it was the Jaguars defense or what. We'll find out because this is a brutal matchup against a great Broncos defense. Do you know it was kind of interesting that so the Raiders now are going to be a full 12 personnel offense and they showed that this last week and against the Jaguars, especially Brock Bowers being back is so huge. What was interesting was they ran several of the Rams own 12 personnel plays that they previously ran against the Jaguars in London, against the Jaguars again, including a touchdown

from the goal line out of a heavy personnel look that was almost like tape, like moment for moment tape the same thing. And that's smart. You got to find edges. You got to figure out ways to win with the personnel that's working for you. And Brock Bowers being back allows them to do that and to stay in that very dynamic heavier personnel and give Gino Smith bigger targets, especially with all the zone that they're seeing, giving him bigger targets. within those zones. Yeah, this will be the first time that we're seeing the Raiders offense

without Jacoby Myers. So everything is going to run through Brock Bowers. So that's obviously going to be interesting just to see how that goes with the Broncos secondary. The Broncos have just been one of those teams this year.

The Broncos and the Patriots have both won six straight games to unexpectedly lead their division with second year quarterback It's just been really cool to watch. But for Sean Payton and Bo Nix, this is going to be a spotlight game for them

just because they're going to be able to show off, I think. Yeah, they should. This Raiders defense just does not have enough talent. Pete Carroll has not come up with answers and they end up giving up four straight scoring drives to the Jaguars. Like their offense finally showed up and the defense couldn't get one stop against the, Jaguars in the fourth quarter or overtime of that game.

And, you know, the Broncos are favored by eight and a half. But who knows? Bo Nix, like, so far this season, the Broncos' offense is 16th in DVOA in efficiency, and the defense is three, which of you had said before the start of the season, it's like not that shocking. But watching Knicks really struggle, like, early in games so often has been a little surprising to me. So this, like a lot of Raiders games should feel like a, okay, just feel bad.

better about everything after this week, like create open receivers for him. And don't wait until the fourth quarter to start hitting them because he has missed a lot of Troy Franklin and Evan Ingram and Cortland Sutton down the field. Yeah, agreed. And I like when they get them into a rhythm early, you know that they're going to want to keep trying to run the ball, I've had some success with that, develop more of an identity there. And, you know, I think if we get an even bow knicks get even, like not negative plays,

not making mistakes or forcing throws, in an even bow Nick's game and the same caliber of game that we are accustomed to seeing from this defense, they should have no problem with the Raiders. But when you suddenly change your dynamic or your dominant personnel in the middle of a season like this, it is really tough for teams to adjust

to it when they've looked at all of your tape previously and it was not this thing. You only have one game of tape of what you're going to be moving forward. That's really, really tough. And I think it does throw a wrench into this. And Brock Powers is just so fast. He's a freak. It was so nice to see him back to

rookie Brock Bowers because I have never seen a tight end move that fast like with the ball in his hands and Gino Swift hit him in stride a couple of times and I thought Ashton Genti coming off the buy had a little more juice and played really well last week

Gino had a few more deep throws so if you're looking for something positive that can happen and then you're just hoping for a bow necks fritz out like there was this one play where he stepped up in the pocket last week late in the game he's got it's totally wide open in front of him And he decides to, like, jump and throw a sidearm on a third and 13.

And he missed it by, like, six yards. And I was just thinking, like, why did you jump and throw it sidearm? Why not? No, I guess. I'm just kidding. That's for Patrick Mojams. Okay, Raiders are going to Denver. And, yeah, the Broncos are eight and a half point favorites.

We'll be recapping that meat and shook and we'll add something fun and spicy to make it even better just in case it's a blowout because it absolutely could be. This was the award show to end all award shows. I don't even know how to do death metal. For Colling Wool. And Jay Rock. Let's go. 100% G.

We'll see you for the preview show. Cool. I can't believe that. What a plot twist. I love Tool. This is an I-Heart podcast.