NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL ATL: AFC playoff picture

Episode Date: November 14, 2013

A room full of heroes, Gregg Rosenthal, Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler and Chris Wesseling break down the AFC playoff picture and catch up with New York Jets columnist Manish Mehta. Get caught up with the latest headlines from around the league and find out which unlucky team makes their debut on the ‘Stick a Fork’ segment. The crew also previews the Week 11 “Thursday Night Football” matchup between the Indianapolis Colts and Tennessee Titans. Join the conversation on Twitter: @NFL_ATL or #NFLATL.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the League podcast. Feeds on Wes's softball pants. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the League podcast. My name is Dan Hansis, and I'm joined by a room filled with heroes, Chris Wessling, Greg Rosenthal, and Mark Sessler.

What up, boys? Hey, Dan. What's up? Good to be back in the same room. Wednesday show. You got a big smart. I know, Dan. I've never seen you so happy. Well, I'm just happy. I like when the room is filled with heroes.

Dan's jets are on fire. Well, we are heading towards a big, a big weekend. Could get two wins in a row, which is... What is that? Wow. Great, great job, K. Rich. Get excited, people. Wes, you are lathered up with some type of lotion.

You are in on your off day. Your face is red. Hold on. I don't use lotion. What is this? I was at the pool in the beach earlier. Wow. For those of you who live in other parts of the country,

it's 86 degrees in Marina del Rey today. Not a cloud in the sky. I'm just living life to the fullest. What a jerk. You have a sheen to you. Yes. Well, that doesn't mean I was like behaving in a Charlie Sheen manner this morning or anything. All right.

True or false, pre-podcast alcoholic beverage or not. Did you spend any time in the hot tub with the Zarina's? I did last night, not today. There's Steve Winwood, no. No. Big show today. We're going to take a look at the AFC playoff picture. We did the NFC last week.

This week we'll do the AFC. We're going to stick the fork in a sad team, who's 2013 season's over. We're going to preview Thursday night football. But as we always do on Wednesday, we will start with K. Rich behind the glass and the news. Uh-oh. Got a love to love it. Kay Rich on the headlines.

K. Rich, what's up? What's going on, guys? K. Rich, wearing a red blazer and matching red pumps. Pumps. And a pocket book. And a pocket book. Old school. What is, because I said pumps before we started, and apparently you're not supposed to say pumps.

It's out of, that's from an old style. It's a certain type of shoe. These are just red heels. Heels. Anyway, back to football. Oh, okay. All right. Coming up first, Dwaying Bowen.

will start against the Denver Broncos despite his recent arrest. Andy reads, like, please, I used to coach in Philly. You're still starting. Wow. Put her in the red heels and everything's off the rails. I like it. What do you guys think? Does it matter?

Of course it matters. I think the contract that they gave Dwayne Boe before the season is one of the worst deals handed out. I'm going back in the archives and checking the ATL. that you wrote when the contract was signed? I don't think, you know, look, he's still their best receiver. He's not great, but they need someone. I agree on the point with the contract, but it makes a big difference to me if he's playing or not

because he's not making a lot of big plays, but he's still the best option they have, and I give them a chance to be in this game. Why not? He was assistant coach last week, too. There was a play where he noticed the defense was doing something. He went over right to Andy Reed and said, let's run this. They ran it, and it worked, led to a touchdown.

Very versatile. He was sober at that time. That was good. They have to be frustrated. I mean, he's had problems throughout his career, off the field, motivation, being in shape, and they give him the big money, and then this happens. But it's kind of a sliding scale of NFL justice. If you're valuable, you're not going to get punished too quickly.

What else is in the news, K. Rich? All right. Next up, unless picked up by another team, we may have seen the last of Ed Reed, who was released by the Texans and has cleared waivers, who is now a free agent. Well, Ed Reed, the Jets, it's funny the Jets who we'll be talking about later. Rex Ryan was asked about this, whether the Jets would be interested in. He kind of hemmed and hawed, which I found interesting. But ultimately, what it comes down to is Ed Reed, he would obviously sign with a contender

if he was going to attract interest. I don't know why someone that wasn't in the mix would even be interested. But does a team that's trying to win a Super Bowl think Ed Reed can help in 2013? Well, Wes put out an emotionally stirring piece yesterday. listing the possible destinations for Reed. Was it the Patriots at the top of your list? Yeah, I don't think it was meant to be like a power rankings list. It was just a list of teams.

The Patriots... It was meant to be emotionally stirring, though, wasn't it? I did not know that it was that much of emotionally stirring people. Mark's had a lot of problems at home lately, so everything's kind of funny. I had the Patriots, Colts, and Jets as the top three just because of connections to Ed Reed. Belichick doesn't have a connection other than those two just love each other. you know, and Steve Gregory's missing from the Patriots for a while, so that made some sense in my eyes,

but I don't know that there's any... I mean, I think he cleared waivers more because of his game film than his comments about the coaching staff. Jim Ursay tweeted that they might bring him in as a wide receiver. Slash safety. Hilarious. Ersay's just trolling us now. He doesn't even care.

He was a straight troll job. Well, have you guys... I know all of us in this room have seen a lot of the Texans this year, did we see anything from Reed that maybe put on tape that a team would be interested in grabbing him? I'll tell you what I did see was DJ Sweringer all over the field taking Reed's place last week. Right.

They had young players. Reed was going to be an issue. I think the Jets are the team that you can just, I mean, listening to Rex Ryan, it sounded pretty obvious that he wanted to bring him in, and I don't know if John Edzick, their general manager, is going to agree with him. But I kind of think, like,

couldn't Ed Reed be an upgrade on most number three or four safety where if he's playing some snaps he could provide some value to one of these teams, I don't know. I guess he just has to understand that there's a chance that he might not really play. Like, he'll get a look. But I think that's what kind of did him in in Houston is he could have, if he was a little, you know, less talkative, maybe he'd still be there. But once he spoke up, they're like, why are we keeping you around at this point? I could see someone picking him up and then cutting him two weeks later. I think if he was still in the starting lineups, those critical comments don't happen.

Right. And I think if this is it, Fred Reed, and we all agree he's a Hall of Famer, right? First ballot. You thought first ballot, and I tend to agree. This is such a fitting way for him to go out, because who have we written and talked about more making comments and people interpreting comments in radio shows or whatever over the years more than Ed Reed? I mean, his entire career he's said things that have gotten him in trouble and then people are arguing about it. And, like, his mouth has gotten him in trouble a lot. That's kind of part of his charm, and it would be a fitting way to go out.

Anything else in the news, K. Rich. All right. Last up. Aaron Rogers hopes to play by Thanksgiving. And, man, do I hope so? He was my starter in fantasy. And Jermichael Finley undergoes next surgery. Finley was placed on injured reserve.

He released a statement with that surgery that they are hopeful that he's going to play football again. So we'll see. I mean, he's going to be a free agent. So there's questions about his future. We'll wait and see on that. Rogers, what do we take from that? Well, first, Finley has not had surgery yet. He's going to undergo a spinal fusion surgery

that I guess is his only chance of returning to the field. But with Rogers, by Thanksgiving, that would be, what, one week faster than what was anticipated? Probably. I mean, I think we were thinking that probably, because it was, you know, that compacted week, it was more like two and a half weeks or three and a half weeks away from when he got her.

hurt. So we were thinking the week after. He sounded hopeful of playing next week. I mean, he didn't even want to rule out this week, but that might just be a player being over-eager, but he sounded hopeful playing even the week before Thanksgiving, which would be a big surprise. I don't... Back to Finley for a second. I don't like the sound of

spinal fusion surgery. No. Isn't that what ended Sterling Sharp and Nick Collins' career? I don't think... To me, it almost certainly ends his Packers' career whether another team takes a chance on him or not is another question. But I I wouldn't expect to see him play again.

And I don't know Mark Chimura's medical credentials, but he came out. He accurately predicted yesterday that Finley would have surgery. He told the radio station and also said that Finley would never play again. I don't know where that comes from. He spoke with Finley. Oh, he spoke with Finley. Yeah, and that's where it came from. And he said, he mentioned Nick Collins by name saying that the situation was similar.

I think, okay, so I went back and watched the Packers this morning. I was not impressed by Scott Tolzine in the least. I thought he had an awful game. Made some horrible decisions. Why he was throwing the ball in these tight spaces when he did, I don't know. But two things I liked that even in a bad loss to the Eagles where their defense kind of packed it in at the end, Brandon Bostic looked good at tight end.

I think they're going to use him more than quarrels the rest of the way. He looks like they're receiving tight end now. And even when Randall Cobb gets back, they're going to have to run four wide sets with Jarrett Boykin because he's playing so well. to me, Boykin's the guy who's going to pick up the most slack from Finley the rest of the way. He made a great grab in that game, too. They're running wide receiver screens to him.

He's making plays in traffic. That catch on the sideline, yeah, he's playing well. You know, with Tolzeen real quick, because I think I'm going to go a little easier on him because the coordinator said this week that he was running plays in the game for the first time that he had never even run before in practice. I just want to give him another week to prepare and let's judge him this week. Well, and it's amazing, because I still think they could win the Super Bowl, but they're going to need Scott Tolzine to help them get there.

And that's by just being competent enough against the Giants and Vikings in the next couple weeks to keep them in the mix for when Rogers comes back. And I agree with that. Like when I saw Boykin and Bostic play, that was one of my takeaways. What they're going through now will make them stronger in January because you have to praise their development. The way they're developing these young guys to come in when players go down

and they're playing well, that will bode well in January. Well, not if they're five and six, though, when Rogers comes back, it could be tough. Well, we looked at this team a couple weeks ago and said when they hit this soft belly of the schedule here, these two games, two and oh, I don't think people feel that way right now. Okay, let's move on. So last week, as I said earlier, we broke down the NFC playoff picture. And now, as we head into the last two months of the season, let's look at how the

AFC is shaping up. It's a very different picture because you have in the NFC a bunch of really good teams trying to get into a limited number of spots. and the AFC, it's not quite the same thing. You have the Chiefs, Patriots, and Broncos as Locke's. Then you have the Colts at 6 and 3 having some problems, but you're still pretty confident of them in the division you think. The Bengals are, it's a little tricky.

And then you have the Jets right now as the 6th seed, but they're at 5 and 4. And behind them you have the Dolphins, Titans, Browns, Ravens, Chargers, all at 4 and 5. It's kind of a mess. So let me start with you, Greg. Where do you see this going? Do you see, first of all, do you imagine that the Broncos will be in one of those top two seeds by the end of the season?

Yeah, let's start with it. I think the Chiefs have a chance. Do we think the Chiefs have a chance to split these two games against the Broncos? Because if they do, then they have a real chance to win the tiebreaker from Denver and possibly hold on. Basically, the question is whether Kansas City has any chance of holding off. I tend to think they won't, but maybe I'm just the contrarian in me that wonders if they can somehow stay alive here. When you couch it in those terms, of course they have a chance, but I don't see it ending well for them. I think most likely they lose both of those games and they're not even really in the game.

I'd agree with Wes. I mean, they're going to have to do something different if they get into a situation where the Broncos are scoring in spurts like we've seen so often. But why do we think the Chiefs are so much worse than the Redskins or other teams that had leads over the, the Broncos in the third quarter, the fourth quarter, the Colts beat. I'm just saying if they could split, if you look at the rest of Kansas City's schedule, San Diego in Kansas City, Washington's terrible, Oakland's terrible, Indianapolis could be a tough game, San Diego again. I don't think the Chiefs are worse than the Redskins. I think the Broncos are a better team with Von Miller playing. I also think it's a, we're not alone in this, but everyone is very

disrespectful to the Chiefs. I know they're not a great 9-0 team. They could be the worst 9-0 team ever, but they are 9-0. So while it would seem everything's set up for the Broncos to finally hang a loss on them this week. There's no reason to think that they can't hang in their own building against the Broncos. Wow, there you go. Yeah. The crowd from that, I think that was very similar to the award show crowd. They're back.

Those poor people have not been allowed to leave. There's one port-a-potty and just box lunch being air-mailed in. But anyway, so, yeah, so I think the cheese have a shot. But I think ultimately you're going to have an interesting situation where you could actually have like a 13-3 team as a five-seed, is pretty unusual. Denver, New England, if Denver wins this week, then becomes a huge matchup for the potential number one seed. Now, I have a hard time seeing the Patriots avoiding losing, let's say, four games overall, but if they could somehow beat Denver, they would have a real chance at getting the one seed. I think things are turning around for

the Patriots. I think they've lost quite a bit on defense, but their offense looks much better at this point. I think they're a safe bet in their division, and to do what the Patriots do, which win 11, 12 games, that's what your boys do, Greg. So I feel like, although it's not very scientific, it just feels like this is what happens every year that they get to that spot. I'm more intrigued about the AFC South. Wes, I know you are in the camp

that the Colts have a real chance at completely cratering here. I don't see how anybody could watch their last two games against the Texans and Rams and say this is a good team because they're not a good team right now. could they turn it around? I don't know. Luck's record coming off of losses is unbelievable.

I think he's like... It's undefeated. Well, he has not lost two in a row since he was a freshman at Stanford. Yeah, I mean, and I have all the faith in the world in luck, but they're asking him to do it alone right now. If you have all the faith in the world in Andrew Luck, how do they not win this division easily?

Because all they have to do is win three or four more games. They don't need to be good. How do they not win it? Because look at their schedule. It's brutal. They go at Tennessee, So if they lose this week, and I'm not sure they're a better team than the Titans right now, from what I've seen out of the Colts last two weeks.

At Arizona, which we've already said, Arizona at home is one of the best teams in the league. They play Tennessee again. At Cincinnati, who is much better at home than they are on the road. They play the Texans who outplayed the Colts two weeks ago by quite a bit for three quarters. At Kansas City, those are their next six games. You forgot the Week 17 matchup against the Jaguars. Okay, so that's what they've got... Money in the bank.

That's seven wins right there. They've got a Jacksonville team, which is right now catching fire. And you can say, oh, Andrew Lug. Whoa, wait a second. West just like looked around the room. Wes was in the sun too long. We talked for this, O&8 to A88 8 in Jacksonville, but, you know, you can like luck all you want. We talked about this.

I had a conversation with Wes about this in a private moment on Sunday. But Andrew Luck, look, you can love him all you want. He's not getting protected well at all. He's getting killed back there. Let's make the argument for. the Colts as a young team that's overachieved and is playing above their weight, so they're going to have some big ups and big downs, kind of like other teams led by young quarterbacks. I'm not, I don't think they're so good that they can't get blown out in any given game

if things go wrong, like against the Rams. But this is the same team that beat the Seahawks, the 49ers, and the Broncos. They are not the same team. They're not that much different. You watch their offense in seven of the eight quarters since Reggie Wayne went down. They can't move the ball, period. In seven of eight quarters. All right, well, let me...

Things go up and down in the season. There you go. I'm not saying somebody can't come along to save them. I mean, we've seen, like we said, with Richard Matthews on Monday night, this guy came out of nowhere to be the Dolphins' best receiver. Maybe Derek Rogers does that for the coolest. Who knows? But right now, they are not that team.

And Pep Hamilton is a guy that wants to beat teams on the ground and punish teams, and they cannot... But that's the thing. You know, last year, luck through 91-passed. passes of 20 or more yards. He's got 37 of them this year. They're not able to take shots down the field the same way, and they can't run the ball.

What about the Bengals? Do you guys think they will be able to hold on in the AFC North, grab a fourth seat? Unless the Steelers get hot, yes. You're still holding out hope. So you've got to be picking the Steelers this week then. I looked at the Raven schedule, and it's very tough, and I looked at the Brown schedule,

and they finish with two games on the road, which doesn't bode well for them. So I think, to me, the Steelers are the best chance to get hot in that division. I still think the Ravens could get back in it and they're going to be a bad offense I think throughout the whole season but I think having Flacco

and a good defense is enough to get back in the mix and you said their schedule's tough I mean it's not that tough they're at Chicago this week I think they can win that game not easy they have the Jets, the Steelers and the Vikings at home

all in a row and they're good home people look at their final three games then it gets tougher but I think they can get back in the mix what are the final three games at Detroit home to the first Patriots and at Cincinnati stuff I think that week 17 game Cincinnati Baltimore decides that

division I don't think the Bengals run away if I think you are crazy why go listen Baltimore is not winning this division mark wants to fork the Ravens I don't want to I almost be okay with that if I had seen any indication that they could run the ball better than Trent Richardson then maybe but I mean Ray Rice is worse than Trent Richardson they can't do anything on offense I love how we conveniently completely ignore Cleveland in this. It's a three-team division. We ignored Dan's question, too, about Cincinnati. Listen, to answer your question, Cincinnati wins this division, and then they lose their first

playoff game. I totally agree. I think, yeah, I think we all see that coming. All right, so then let's talk about that final season. I don't see that coming. You think the Bengals win their first playoff game? No, I don't think they make the playoffs. I'm sticking to my preseason.

Why not? You think the Ravens? I'm going with the Ravens. You pick the Steelers to win the division. Well, at this point, I'm giving up on them. All right, so then the sixth seed. It's really an anti-bedroom. Bengals pick.

This is where it gets wide open. So right now you have the Jets locked in in five and four, but as I said, you have five teams behind them within a game. Greg, Mark, I'll start with you. Who will be the sixth playoff team? Man, it's tough. And let's assume the first five spots hold, okay? So let's say, let's have the Bengals win their division.

We'll have the Colts hold on. So literally you'll have the Broncos or the Chiefs at five. Who is in six? Who comes in six? I'll give you the teams against. Jets, dolphins, Titans, Browns, Ravens, Chargers. Listen, in my heart of hearts, I'd love for it to be Cleveland. I can't go down that road because I see a team that in cold weather will not be able to run the football.

And I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop on Jason Campbell. I look at the Jets, and I think that, A, that defense is legitimate. What they did against the Saints impress me. Stuck with me. I'm going Jets. Wes. looking at football outsiders playoff odds for all these teams the Jets are at 48% do it 48%

every other team you mentioned is below 17% right the Jets and I was thinking this without even looking at the playoff odds after looking at the Jets remaining schedule I think we talked a month ago that they had a tough remaining schedule it looks pretty good to me right now a lot a big change too was if you buy into the fact that the dolphins might be going totally into the tank and disappearing into the ether, they have them

twice. And you think about that Jets D-line going against that Dolphins offensive line, things can get ugly. And they have a road game in Buffalo this week, which if they're a real team, they should be able to win that. So if you bank those three wins, they're in really good shape. They've got

eight wins right there. The thing with the Jets though, because they're the one team that they're coming off a win and they have that game advantage over the rest of this slop-fest group of teams, right? And that's what it is. from now, we're going to all be singing a different tune about some other team. That's what's happening with this sixth seed. It changes

week and week. Out of all the teams you mentioned, I would have the Texans and Steelers over any of them but the Jets. I mean, the Texans are the best team out of that seven game losing stream. They are the best team out of all those teams. You're drinking that case kingdom juice and it's getting you inebriated. The end of the games count, though. A lot of times I think we

end up thinking just because they dominated the first two or three quarters, like they should have won the game, but they shouldn't have won the game because they don't play well. The Texans have played at Kansas City against the Colts and at Arizona and lost by a total of seven points. That's fair. All right, well, then they're going to need to gain three or four games on all the rest of these teams. Well, okay, now look at the rest of these teams.

The Chargers have the worst defense in the NFL, according to Greg Rosenthal and football outsiders. The Browns have a tough schedule. We went over that. I could see the Brown's doing some things. And you absolutely wouldn't give the Browns credit. if they were six and one right now actually the browns i would i would see the browns in the playoffs before the ravens okay uh the dolphins you can write them off they're out they're done you're ready to fork them yes they're done the dolphins are done Greg what is your uh pick for the

six seat man it's like i had to be prepared or something i well i think i would go with the two north teams it's not an exciting answer but the bengals and ravens both getting in it i think they both get in and if i had to choose another one it would be the charges because despite I mean, their schedule is tough, but they have something. The thing with the Jets, you know, you're trying to count wins. They're a team, I don't think you can count any win. Right, that's fair. The Jets are trying to win without a quarterback.

I mean, he was terrible two weeks ago in their game, and then they hit him in the win against the Saints. They somehow won that game with nothing from a quarterback, and that's tough to do. Well, and I would say that's an argument for the Chargers, because of all these teams hanging out there for that number six spot, Philip Rivers is playing extremely well, obviously, maybe second, third, best quarterback in the league right now,

and they're a little bit frisky when they want to be. You guys honestly don't believe that the Texans and Steelers have the potential to get hotter than any of these teams. I'm with you on the Steelers. You're going to have to convince me on the Texans. That's what I need to go. They need to go six in one down the stretch. I'm just saying, one of these teams is going to have to get really hot

to take care of the other teams, to get rid of all the other teams. I don't think any of them will. I think if you're looking for one or two teams to get hot, those are the two teams that have the best roster to do it. All right, speaking of the AFC playoff picture, this is a perfect time to bring in a friend of the podcast, a friend of the original ATL debate club. Now he's making its ATL podcast debut.

He's the Jets beat reporter for the New York Daily News. Friend of the podcast, maybe not so much a friend of the Jets. He's Manish Mehta. How are you guys? What's going on, Manish? How's everything going in Floor and Podcast? Park. Spirits are high.

They've got the last wildcard spot, so no complaints in Florin Park as of right now, though. You know, we spoke this summer, you and I, and, you know, we both didn't think very highly of them as a playoff team. How surprised are you that you're covering a legit postseason contender right now? Are you shocked? Yeah, I think shocked is probably a great word to describe it. I thought they were a four-to-six-win team closer to four if Gino-Smith was going to be the starter for the duration of this.

season, which it looks like he obviously is going to be. But you've got to give Rick Ryan and his staff, Marty Morning Wig, specifically, a lot of credit because they've got a rookie quarterback who's, you know, had his ups and down, 16 turnovers and nine games that typically, when you look at that stat line, you think the team that he plays for is probably not very good, but the way that Morning Wig has allowed Smith to take some strategic shots down field and be aggressive and also run the ball really more than he's probably run it at any point in his coaching career. you know, it's a testament to him, and obviously on the other side,

I think you've got one of the best defensive lines in the league, and the Moe Wilkerson-Therstantam is really kind of the anchor and the heartbeat of that defense. So you have to give credit where it's due, and Rex Ryan and his coaching staff have done a tremendous job at this point. The Sons of Anarchy, one of my favorite new nicknames for the Jets D line. I'm all in on that. You guys heard about the Sons of Anarch? We have now. You know, I'm old-fashioned that way.

What was your Sack Exchange 2.0? Yeah. You might get sued by Gassano or something. You're going to be careful. Hey, you were in the room for Ed Reed today, right? Were Rex Ryan talking about Ed Reed? Yeah, look, we asked him about it, obviously. It makes a lot of sense on paper, at least,

because of the connection that the two of them had. And if you ever have been around Rex Ryan, you know that Ed Reed and Ray Lewis are two of his favorite players of all time, and, you know, that goes without saying probably. But I think it makes a lot of sense. He cleared waivers today, and my understanding is that, you know, The Jets had interest in him, and Rex even came out and said that he and John Innsic spoke about the possibility of adding Reed. Didn't really get any details beyond that.

But it's a good landing spot. I think for a lot of reasons, the Jets are in contention. I would think that Ed Reed would want to go to a place that has a chance of making the postseason. And when you look at the jet safeties, J-Quaharan, Antonio Allen, DeWan Landry, they've been okay, you know, solid at times. but surely not good enough to where you can cross off an Ed Reed, you know, if he's available. So I think they should go for it. Almanish, Mark Susser, how are you doing? Hey, Mark, how are you?

Good question. Let's say the Jets, you know, obviously we've just talked about an interesting season, surprising in many aspects. Let's say they finished this thing out at 8-8-8. What happens to Rex Ryan? Well, I think that Rex, who I said before the season, that Rex should be coached in the year if they're 9-and-7, I didn't, obviously. realized what was going to go on down in Kansas City. So I think Andy Reid's got that locked up.

But if they're 8-N-8 with the talent that they have, with the lack of talent, I should say, on offense that they have, I think Willie Johnson would be foolish not to bring back Rex. And remember, guys, Rex is signed through 2014. You don't want him to be a true lame duck entering next season. So if they are 8-8, what makes the most sense to me, what I think will play out is a one-year extension for Rex. I think that's the direction that Woody will go, because as you guys know,

Woody is a big fan of Rex, and he can get eight wins out of a team that has the lack of weapons that this team has on offense, coupled with a rookie quarterback. I think it would be an extreme misstep to start over and bring in a new guy, because let's be honest, if you're going to bring in a new head coach, it's probably going to be an offensive-minded head coach, so that would mean that Martin Morningwood wouldn't be back, and that would mean that Gino Smith, if he is going to be your future, we'll have to start over with a new offensive coordinator,

and then you're going to have to bring in a new defensive coordinator, and who you're going to find out there that's going to be a better defensive mind than Rex Ryan. So I think the team would take a step back if they decided to make a coaching change if they were to finish eight, Nate. Yeah, but is it Rex, is it Woody's decision, or is it Idick's decision? Because that comes back to this Ed Reed. Who's making the call? That should be Idick's decision.

And if they go eight and eight, I just wonder if he's still going to want to have his own guy there, whether Rex will ever be his guy. Well, I can tell you this for certain is Woody Johnson's decision. Now, that does not mean he's not going to get input from other people in the organization. He absolutely is. If you know Woody Johnson, you know that he likes, you know, to get in as many voices as possible, to collaborate, to listen to John Idick. He's got some personal advisors to listen to the team president, Neil Glad.

I'm sure all of those players will have voices in this decision. But ultimately, it will be Woody Johnson's decision. Woody Johnson is not going to allow John Idick to unilaterally make a call on the head coach. And you're right. If you're John Idick, sure, you know, you've waited your entire career to become a general manager. You want to hand-pick your guy because you want to succeed or fail with the guy that you chose. You want your fate to be determined by the guy that you hand-picked. And obviously, he had to inherit Rex to get the job.

That's one of the reasons he got the job. A lot of factors, of course, but he was on board with inheriting Rex, and that wasn't really an option that any of these GM candidates had from Woody Johnson, they had to keep Rex. But this is going to be a Woody Johnson decision. He is going to get input from other people, including the general manager. It's going to give him some thoughtful information,

and it will be considered carefully for sure, but ultimately the owner is going to make the call on the head coach. All right, Mnich, before we let you go, I have two more things. First of all, I know you've found yourself, maybe in the headline sometimes with some of the things you've sent you've been outspoken about certain things. things, for instance, with the Mark Sanchez injury in the preseason and even going back before that, is it made your job harder at all to be in that building, dealing with some of the

things that you said, been written about? Well, all I can tell you is that, you know, I report what I see, and I do have opinions that sometimes rub people in the organization the wrong way. He's fearless! I do stand behind my belief that he was. a wrong decision by Rex to put in Mark Sanchez in that third preseason game after Gino had struggled so much in the first half against the Giants. Now, that being said, again, you have to praise.

If you're going to be critical of the head coach for a decision like that, you really do have to be honest and fair and say that he's done a great job to this point to get this team to five and four. You know, the job of John, it gets up to this point. I think, look, the draft picks, you know, you can't make a definitive decision. on how this first draft has gone. Now, what you can do is analyze in the moment, and in the moment, Sheldon Richardson looks like an unbelievable pick,

and D. Milner looks like an unbelievably bad pick. Now, that doesn't mean that D. Milner can't become a quality player moving forward, but to this point, that hasn't been a good pick. I haven't really been, you know, bowled over by anything that John Hick has done in free agency. Mike Goodson obviously didn't work out. David Garard didn't work out. A slew of other guys were cut before the season started. Some guys who showed some promise earlier.

like in Antoine Barnes landed on the IR. So when you look at its free agency grade, I don't think it's been very good. You clearly give the draft an incomplete. And then, at least from my vantage point, I think it still was a really bad decision to trade away to Rale Revis. I know

a lot of people disagree with me about that, but I think you could have afforded to pay him $16 million a year when you knew that you weren't going to pay the quarterback position, which is typically the high paid position on a team, really anything of consequence for the next you know, three or four years, whether he had Gino Smith as the quarterback or a new quarterback

that you were going to draft next year. So I think that was a big misstep. I think that's a weighted misstep. I don't think all decisions should be judged equally. You traded away one of the best defensive players in the league in his prime, obviously coming off in the injury. But that was a decision that I strongly disagree with then, and I strongly disagree with that right now. All good insight, and thank you for coming on. Before you go, Manish, we need your country music recommendations. You are my only tie to the country world. You are the biggest country music fan

on the Jets Beat and maybe the universe. Give me some country music recommendations. Well, you know, you know, I'm a big fan of Tim McGraw on. Yeah, you are. But I won't go there. I think if you want to be a little bit more Nouveau, you've got to go Florida, Georgia Line. They're kind of crossing over into the mainstream, so, you know, it probably

won't be as painful for you guys. Yeah, slow down. Wes is taking notes. He's going to go straight to iTunes after this. Florida Georgia Line. Florida, Georgia Line. All right. Very good. Manish, thank you very much.

Thanks, guys. Anytime. All right. Stick a fork in them. All right, it's that time of the week. The time where the ATL group, the Roomful of Heroes, decides what team no longer has any tangible chance of making the postseason. Their season is over, and you have to just stick the fork in them and move on. here lies the Buffalo Bills

who yet again successfully worked their fan base into a September lather only to bring their dreams crashing to the icy upstate tundra by Thanksgiving in lieu of flowers please send hope to the E.J. Manuel era. I think that's well said.

Hope for the E.J. Manuel era. He's got an error already. This team deserves better. They've played hard, they've remained competitive, I like their coaching staff, they have something to build on. Let's just hope E.J. E. E.J. E. E. Manuel's the answer for next year. Let me ask you this. Did you watch the Steelers' Bills game? I did not watch that one. I took that in on Sunday, and I have some real questions about E.J. I drank it in as part of my job here. And actually, we were about to fork the Steelers that they lost the game.

That was our fork off. And Pittsburgh took care of business. E.J. Manuel, probably his worst game of the year. definitely really really ugly which is saying something what a bummer by the way that that thursday night game where both manual and hoyer got hurt uh in Cleveland manual that messed up their entire season not only in the sense that because you know they got some actually decent backup play once he went down but still it messed them up from the standpoint of getting a real look at him manual's first season and instead they had they had to go into this hibernation period now he's thrown back in and he was obviously rusty so kind of it makes it harder to to get an idea of what you have.

They still have enough time this season to get a good look at it, but unfortunately it won't be a situation when they're playing for January football. Sometimes you see an awful box score and you think, well, maybe it's better than the numbers indicate. His performance was somehow worse than the numbers indicated and the numbers were awful.

I mean, they had two plays over 10 yards. He just missed flat throws the whole game. I mean, it was like watching, I'm trying to think of another off, kind of like the Jaguars in their very worst games, where they basically could not operate with manual buying center. I don't know if it was what Dick Leboe was showing them or what, but it makes you wonder about him.

And it makes you wonder who's going to throw the ball this weekend in Buffalo between the Jets and the Bills, because I don't know if either of them can. I agree with Westl. This is a well-coached team, and I do think there is hope for the basic decision-making and game plan there as they move forward. I think when you have C.J. Spiller playing the way he has all season, you're shot in the foot to begin with.

they haven't gotten from him, you know, what they thought they would at all. Well, I don't think you can put that on him. No, I'm not putting it on him. No, it's not on him, but it's more that, listen, if he had done what he did last year this year, they wouldn't be in the same situation. And some good moves. Jerry Hughes working out for them.

Marcel Darius, I think's been better this year. He's been great the last month. Mario Williams. Kyle Williams is still very good. There's a lot to like, especially about this defense. I think Moron's a good coach. And we'll have plenty of time to get into after this season about what teams need and what should be targeted in free agency and the draft.

But I'll throw it to you guys. What do you think is the biggest missing piece for the bills right now? Manual being manual and it's being a guy that you can trust because it's like if you're stuck with him for two or three years and he just turned into the next J.P. Lossman, it's like that's another waste of a couple seasons. From what I'm hearing from you, we won't have Blaine Gabbard to kick around next year so we might have to change this to the manual zone. No, I have hope for E.J. Manuel. I don't think he's as bad as you think. I don't think he's terrible.

I'm just going by what you were saying. He had a bad game. He used in his offense to resemble the worst Jaguar's games. I feel like we got a manual zone coming up for 2014. I don't think he was fully ready to come in and play last week, and I think that's part of what we saw. All right, so the bills are done. But what about the Houston Texans?

This is, to me, it's crazy that we haven't officially decided to fork them yet. They've lost seven in a row. There is one holdout in this room. his name is Chris Wessling does not want a fork a two and seven Texans team Wes maybe you don't have to win us over because the fork has to be unanimous decision but maybe you could explain your reasoning there are a much better team than the Redskins and Giants who we are also not for you but it's not about the best team it's about who's going to

who has that chance to make the playoffs well we've already gone over the cult schedule which I believe is very tough down the stretch and I think the Colts are a bad team I don't think the Colts are a lock to win that division yet you think that Texans could catch the Colts? That's what you're saying. They have four games on them with seven to go. Just do the math.

Tomorrow's game, Titans and Colts, determines the Texans' fate, which to me makes it a next week decision, not a this week decision. For the Texans to have any chance at all, they would need to win every single game left on their schedule, which includes games against the Broncos and the Patriots. Or you're saying that the Colts are going to lose almost every game left on their schedule. The Colts It's insane I like it

It's bold Well hey look It's bold All right We are charged with not Making the same mistake As last year Correct

True To me the two teams That are most likely To pull a Redskins Are the Steelers and Texans That's why I have not forked them They both have good quarterbacks Big Ben to me

Is one of the top six quarterbacks in the NFL Keenham has a 105 Passer rating You don't like passer rating But I know you like yards per attempt Eight yards per attempt 275 yards per a game,

seven touchdowns without an interception. He's one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. Is Keenham single? Maybe we could set Wes and keen him up. Well, listen, you know, he's going to the Hall of Fame. The only question is if whether they do it after this season or they, you know, wait until his career is over.

Give West credit. I will listen to you more on the Texans than the Steelers because the Steelers with the same personnel have done what they've done, and you're saying with the same group of guys, they're going to turn it all around right now. With Texans, they went from having Matt Schaub an interception machine to Keenham, who is fun to watch, and he has changed the way that

offense moves the ball. So, yeah, it's like you don't want to fork him, but I just think there's not enough time. Seven loss. The numbers. I guess my, Greg has been voting to fork the Giants for weeks now and has said many times they are a bad football team. Yeah. I don't think any of us thinks the tech, even with a seven-game losing streak, the Texans

are playing even with tough teams that they're playing against. They are not a bad football team. And they don't need to beat the, they don't need to win the division. They just need to catch up with one of these other crappy AFC teams in contention for the sixth spot. I think they have a better chance at winning the division even. I think that the Texans have a better chance of either winning the division or getting a sixth spot than the Giants or Redskins do of winning the NFC East. By the football outsiders numbers, they would have a 0.7 chance of winning the division.

You know, sometimes life doesn't happen the way that football outsiders, tells us. Can I... Let's tabulate. Can I remind you guys that the Redskins just lost to the Vikings? Yeah? The Texans are losing to good teams. Well, they need to start winning against someone.

It's just a numbers game. What I'm telling you is... I think Mark hit the nail on the head. Yes, they're losing to good teams. They're losing to bad teams. They're losing to everybody. You've got to win. Obviously, I've got to win.

Obviously, I think they're about to go on a winning street. Girls, I wouldn't be having this discussion. That's fair. The Colts win Thursday night, do you fork the Texans? Okay, fair enough. That's why I think it's a next week discussion. This is the beauty. though of sticking a fork in them.

We have to be unanimous, and we might not all disagree or respect each other or hang out anymore after work, but we all have to agree. I've been ostracized. I was about to say I respect the hell out of West's thinking, but Greg kind of nailed it. No, there's been a lot of, this has led to some really legitimate

bad blood into the group. All right, we'll move on. I'm going to Damashik's podcast. He's defecting. All right, let's move on to Thursday night football. Week 11, the train rolls on, and a perfect segue because the Indianapolis Colts, the six and three Colts, now face a Tennessee Titans team that's reeling Jake Locker out for the year, Liz Frank injury, that Harlet Liz Frank has struck again.

He is undergoing surgery. He won't be back until next year. Ryan Fitzpatrick steps in. I'll throw it to you, Greg, to start. How do you see this game playing out? I'm taking the Colts. to win because of what I said before to Chris that I think they're a young team that plays a little better as a team than they are if you just look at all the individual parts and they'll figure

out a way to win a tough game. Luck like Mark mentioned has never lost back-to-back games. If I was a Titans fan, though, I would take a little solace in Ryan Fitzpatrick's performance last week, down 13-0 with about two minutes left in the second quarter and he put up 27 points on them. You know, Chris Johnson averages on the road 87.3 yards per game this season, and at home, 39.4, which is the second worst in the league among running backs with 50 attempts. Don't you think that's one of those stats that has to turn around because there's no reason for it? I think it does, but if Chris Johnson is bad, he's not a good player right now. I don't disagree. He is a below average player. I think he's hot and cold as one is. He was really good two weeks ago, and last week he wasn't.

but did he try last week it didn't look like it two fumbles last week Tennessee had a total team breakdown the final score yeah they crawled back into that thing that was a home game

against the Jaguars to be what the jets are which would have been five and four right and they absolutely if it's not an effort thing with Chris Johnson how come he looked like

Jamal Charles two weeks ago and he looked like Chris Johnson every other game of the year what are the Titans have going for them. I'm going to take the Colts in this game, but from my perspective, I am as a Jets fan, the number 6th Cedar. Ryan Fitzpatrick, a little sneaky

scary to me, because he has done it before in Buffalo where he's gotten hot for a few weeks, even got a $62 million contract over some handful of good games once upon a time. There's enough talent with the rest of the team, and if Chris Johnson puts together any type

of consistency, that fills a major gap there. I wouldn't write them off as an AFC contender just because Locker's gone, but I still think the Colts are a better team, and I believe in Andrew Luck, and I believe he'll get it done. I'm going Titans in this game, because as I was mentioning to you guys in the newsroom, Thursday night football, week after week, the home team and a home team that can run the ball has won these games time after time.

We saw it last week, it's not the only factor in this game, but I think that Chris Johnson is going to turn it around this week. They are going to win. You got guts, man. I think put some deep balls up to Justin Hunter, who was playing more last week, and Kendall Wright, who I like a lot, and Vante Davis looked like something was wrong with him last week. He looked like he was running in slow motion. He was not healthy.

Yeah, I mean, if you're saying this comes down to who can run the ball, we know that won't be the Colt. It won't be. There you go. Probably won't be either team. I thought the Titans, we've been talking about the Titans is potentially frisky, but they're not really good at much of anything right now, including their defense is average. It's okay. But they're not really terrible at anything.

What are the cults good at right now? They have Andrew Luck, and I think the team... But what are they good at? Because Andrew Luck isn't playing well. I think that he didn't have a good week last week. I think he's played well this season. I think the team defense is good. It's not, it doesn't blow you away with their talent, but they're effective.

I don't know how exactly. All right, so we will be back on Friday. We will discuss that Thursday night game. We'll talk about all the other week 11 games on the schedule. But until then, this is Dan Hansis, signing off for the mailman. The Boss, K. Rich behind the glass, and of course, Lyle, the ATL intern. Until Friday. Thank you.