NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL ATL: Week 10 recap

Episode Date: November 11, 2013

A room full of heroes, Gregg Rosenthal, Dan Hanzus and Chris Wesseling recap all of the Week 10 action including the “Sunday Night Football” matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints. Don’t miss the key takeaways and analysis from each game. 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 is allergic to cats. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the League podcast. My name is Dan Hansis, and I am joined by a room full of heroes. Chris Wessling and Greg Rosenthal. What up, boys. Hey, Dan. No Sessler.

Sessler couldn't make it, but we are, we're going to get by. You've gotten by before. We can do this. We can do it. It's been a great day. I mean, K. Rich's team won. The Around the League official team, Carolina Panthers won. What could be better?

The Browns are back in the mix. The only thing that bothers me is there's a giant lighting structure separating me and K. Rich from the glass. It's really, now Greg is getting up. He's moving it. This is very masculine by Greg. It's never been a productive thing for me to get up, but this is, I'm trying. here. Suddenly I could see you as a lumberjacker

in another life, Greg. There it is. Wow. Single applause. West doesn't care. All right, with that taking care of, yes, this is another big week, Week 10, a lot of good games. And I guess let's get right to it because the game of the week, we talked about it

on Friday. We were very excited about the game and Greg's already pumped up because he nailed it with a hero pick. The Carolina Panthers won their fifth straight game. Drayton Florence's interception and the final minute It sealed a 10-9 win for the Panthers, and they snapped the Niners' five-game winning streak, and more importantly, made a big statement in the NFL.

Greg. We've got a statement win. Huge statement. We said the Panthers were a top five NFL team going into the weekend, and they went out and proved it by beating a team that's their mirror image, but they're better at it. I mean, these two teams both want to play the same way on defense, getting after you, being a physical team, but the Panthers were better. better at it. Their linebacker duo that's so good,

Lou Kieckley and Thomas Davis, they were better than the 49ers duo today. Cam Newton made a few more plays than Colin Kaepernick when he needed to, and the pass rush was just awesome. I thought that was the difference in the game. They had 28 dropbacks for the 49ers, and in those 28 dropbacks, there were six sacks by the Panthers and seven quarterback hits. Kaepernick just did not have any time, and they only had 45 yards in the second half. Did the 49ers lose this game because Vernon Davis was concussed? That was a big factor.

He left in the first half. Mario Mannyhan led the team in receiving with 30 yards. And as we've said all year, they're struggling for receiving options. So when they lost Davis, it was a huge hit for them. And when you take that first read away from Kaepernick, he doesn't know what to do. So he's backing up. No one's getting open quickly. He kind of freaks out.

And then the pressure is on him. And he got sacked a lot and was always running for his life. Speaking of pressure, how much pressure is on? And I'm not going to get too worried about the Niners. I think they'll be okay. You know, the division's going to be very tough now with Seattle cruising the way they are. But how much pressure is on Michael Crabtree to lift this receiving corpse to a point where they don't have to be so dependent on Vernon Davis? Because you're right.

They didn't look close to able to sustain anything once Davis went out. Well, you said it with corpse. I mean, they're dead. They didn't have a throw over 14 yards in the entire game. that's hard to do. I mean, they dropped back 28 times and had 91 yards. It was a disastrous offensive performance. But I think you have to give credit to Charles Johnson,

who had a great game and the entire Panthers pass rush. And I wouldn't count on the 49ers doing anything necessarily. They have the Saints next week, and that's a tough game. And if you don't win that game, you could be six and four in a little bit of trouble. I think this game kind of gives – just noticing the conference, comments on Twitter after the game. It kind of gives an insight on to how player of the year awards are handed out. Luke Keekley wasn't mentioned by anybody all year until this game,

and now everybody watches a nationally televised game. Exactly. And he's on top of the – never mind the fact that Charles Johnson, Greg Hardy, Thomas Davis, Starletouet, have all played great this year. People just can't wrap their minds around all these names, so they just figure Keekly has to be playing out of his mind. And he has played great, but this is a team effort. They have rushed the passer in waves this year.

And those two linebackers, Keekley and Davis, can cover. One of the key plays of the game was Keekley running down the field in breaking up a pass. Davis had a big force fumble. Riverboat Ron was out in full force going for a fourth and one. Calling a pass at the end of the game when it was third and eight. Instead of running the ball and just trying to burn a 49ers set out, he called a pass.

And then there was one time he didn't go for it on fourth down. He called a punt in the 49ers territory under five minutes to go, and he knocks him back at the one. Everything Riverboat Ron does is just spitting into gold. This is what happens when you coach football the right way. Well, what's funny is, and I'm not one to point out our faults, but if you dial our podcast about back a month, I think all of us basically said he was a dead man walking. Well, hold on. What?

As soon as we figured out he had to. In the epiphany, we gave him new life. All right. Well, that's true. I feel like we were on board that before most of the country. Yeah, I want to point out, I had the Panthers in the playoffs before the season. And I got some heat from this crew that I'm jumping on on Wesleyan's Panthers bandwagon. But let the record said before the season in the playoffs.

And when push games to shove in San Francisco, statement game possibility, who picked the Panthers? Well, and I've figured out this is why I'm a fan vagrant because the Panthers have been my team. and you guys can never pick against your team in a big game because it will kill you if they actually do win. And it doesn't really kill me to have the Panthers win. No, but I thought they would win. It wasn't a weird pick. And I was less inclined to hop aboard this Panthers bandwagon

until I saw them beat a team and win a close game. Both those things happened today. During their four-game winning streak before Sunday, the combined record of the teams they'd beaten was 8 and 33. This is a real win against a real team in a tough environment. The Panthers are really good. And one final thing, I would rather have the Panthers defense than the Chief's defense the rest of the way. I think the Panthers have the best defense in the NFL.

I agree. I think it's between them and the Seahawks, but I would take the Panthers as the best defense. All right. Moving on, we'll stay with the NFC West. Russell Wilson threw two touchdown passes. Marshawn Lynch ran for 145 yards. And the Seahawks routed the Falcons, the dead in the water Falcons, 3310 on Sunday.

You know, this was, of course, a rematch of last year's very entertaining. NFC Divisional Playoff game and back in August and I wrote about this in the recap today back in August you look at this, you circle this game as potentially one of the games of the regular season. As it turns out it was a game with no juice and the Falcons really

they came to play, they did not come to play and it was just a blowout I mean this was not an entertaining game to watch the thing that really jumped out to me was this was Seattle's most balanced game and an important game for them because even though they had won the previous two weeks they had not played very well. They played great

today. Their offense was awesome. They scored on seven of eight possessions to start the game and the defense was humming, you know, poor Tony Gonzalez. You know, the Falcons stink. And he might miss some time. He got injured in this game and said he wasn't sure how he was feeling afterwards. Can we refork the Falcons? Just fork them again and just. I feel like we've let him off the hook. I think I feel like I've been begging the newsroom to actually go over forking. the Falcons on the podcast since we only did it in print? Well, you know how they say when they

find like a murder scene and the wife has been stabbed like 40 times? It's like, oh, this is a sign of crime of passion. A double forking would be a forking of passion. Remember going into this game? We wondered which could be worse? The Falcons pass rush or the Seahawks offensive line? We got our answer.

Falcons pass rush. And one last point. That moves the Seahawks to Nine and one, and with the Niners lost, they're now six and three. So basically it puts the Niners. It's a must win. It really was before that. A must win when they face the Seahawks again, and there's almost no margin for victory,

or they're heading towards that wild card. And the Seahawks are headed towards that number one seed. I mean, they're now a couple games clear of that, and they're five and one on the road. They only have two more road games the rest of the time. So we talk about how they struggle on the road. They're not going to end up losing more than two road games this year. And they're only going to get stronger. offensive tackles are expected back to practice for the first time

and over a month. Percy Harvin's supposed to practice next week. This is the team to beat in the NFC, clearly. Well, he has been practicing. He's supposed to play, right? He didn't practice last week, I don't think. Yeah, some sort of setback, but I think he'll be out there. And Max Unger might be back. Seahawks. Justin Tucker kicked a 46-yard field goal with 527 to play in overtime, and the Ravens beat the Bengals, a game they needed.

A 2017 win. The Ravens were up 17, nothing in this game, and blew the lead on a Hail Mary on the final play of regulation, one of the crazier plays of the season, but they got it done in overtime, Wes. Are the Ravens alive and well in the AFC playoff race? They're alive, they're not well. They haven't been well all season.

They don't have a team identity right now. They have a good but not great defense, and their offense has, it's two highest-paid players, his two biggest-named players. Joe Flacco averaged less than four yards per attempt, and Ray Rice averaged less than two yards per carry. This was a... Man, more Ray Rice sadness.

This game was a battle of quarterback futility between two guys that did not play well. We did get a new nickname for Ray Rice, though, didn't we? Yes, we did. What was that? Snow suit. Explain it, please. Yes, please. Well, we were watching the game, and we've made the point that we haven't seen him

make a defender miss in space all year, and one of the Ravens beatwriters said, there goes Ray Rice out in space, and he moves like a little kid in a... A snowsuit. That's devastating. It's such a mean nickname. I don't know if it can stick, but I like that.

It's a perfect description of what you see when you watch and play, though. It is kind of like the still a sore spot on an important win for them, the fact that he's still not close to what he was. So it's, you start to think when the weather turns cold and you need him to be Ray Rice and he's just, unless something changes from now to then, he's just, you're not going to get that guy this year. And should we be patting ourselves on the back for not jumping on the Andy Dalton has turned the corner storyline a couple weeks ago or what? Andy Dalton is who we thought he was. Right. Well, the funny thing is that Wes, you had said he had played three great games,

four good to great games in a row. And the question was, oh, the AD scale, which I still don't really know what it is or how it works. But the point of the matter was what we needed to see was, yes, we've seen him play three or four good games in a row. was he going to then crater again for three or four weeks and now we're in week two of another crater fest so he is who we thought he was this is why the AD scale works so well he's back to we don't know if he's the answer for their franchise

but does it move up when he gets better sure it does okay but we still don't know if he's the answer move behind him that's where I get confused because then according to the AD scale no longer can those guys do it once they fall behind it's not but it's about his play that makes them fall No, it's about their own play It's all moving as one cohesive unit

It's like poetry So we give the Ravens defense some credit The other day we were saying They needed to have a signature game And just carry this team and get a key win I think yeah I think the Ravens defense played great And you have to chalk the Hail Mary pass up to luck

That thing was hit off somebody's shoulder pad or helmet And then a head of bow tipped it And then it landed in AJ Green's hands It would have been 17 to 10 To end the game And the Ravens defense did play great. The Bengals had about 15 chances to win this game in the second half. It was amazing how many mistakes and turnovers and just poor offensive play there was. I vote for West to write

a 60,000-word post breaking down the AD scale and all its intricacies. Yeah. I'm up for it. I'm up for that in February. I believe what you're referring to is a manifesto. Manifesto. Yes. Yes. I love manifestos. All right, moving on, Nick Falls through three long touchdown passes and the Eagles pulled away for a 27-13 over the injury ravaged Green Bay Packers who lost another quarterback today. This time, Seneca Wallace, to a groin injury. Greg, are we ready to be really nervous about the Packers? No, because we talked about can they go two and two while Rogers is gone. And this was one of the tougher games, actually.

Now they have the Giants and the Vikings the next two weeks. Scott Tolzeen is already announced as the starter for next week. I thought he looked better than... I think Scott Tolzin was cleaning my gutters last month. Is that a bad sign? It's a little surprising that he is a big factor in the NFC. He did a good job. Playoff race, but he was okay.

I thought he was better than Seneca Wallace was for five quarters or four quarters in a drive. He did some good things. He moved the ball. They had over 250 yards of offense in the first half, but they missed two field goals, and Tolze had one really big, bad mistake. Give the Eagles some credit, though. You know, you said injury ravaged Packers. The Eagles lost three starters in this game early.

Earl Wolf, Michael Kendrix, Jason Peters, and they still won. They got a little lucky here with the injuries and some plays down the field, but they won. They're a great road team. Whoa. Oh. Cambridge of the headlines. K-rich.

Sneak attack. Sneak attack with the K-Ritch music. But I guess she wants to make a statement and give the woman the floor. So you guys. I have to jump in and say something about my Eagles, who everyone was against, totally against after they, you know, had a couple of mishaps early in the season. But look at Nick Foles, not too shabby, might I say, especially him and his connections with Riley Cooper. I'm loving that duo right there. That's true.

We buried Riley Cooper as a terrible starter, and he has been a big factor in them getting back to that. Only a terrible person, not a terrible starter, as it turns out. I can't disagree with that. By the way, it's 16 touchdowns and no IMPs now for Nick Foles. Only three quarterbacks in NFL history have done that. Peyton Manning, Milt Plum in 1960 and Nick Fulz. Hashtag Canton, Ohio. That might not even be the most impressive Ful's stat from this game.

Okay, let's hear it. Highest passer rating of any opposing quarterback in the history of Lambeau Field. Mailman. See, it just shows you why you have to watch the games, because Nick Foles did not play that well in this game. He was wildly lucky. He had three plays that should have been intercepted that turned into long plays, that were bad throws.

Two of those were touchdowns. Maybe the second play to Cooper was okay, but he really didn't play. I'm saying the second touchdown. That looked like a punt. He threw it up in the air. It was underthrown. Cooper somehow sidesteps the two defenders and gets it. It was a great play by Cooper.

And I've seen Mark Sanchez make the first pass that he made and it ended up being a touchdown. So, yeah, that stat, although very interesting, definitely isn't check out with how he played. But ultimately, at the end of the day, he's winning. They're winning. And, again, Michael Vick recedes further into the background. I would have to agree with you guys. I don't think watching the games, I don't think that he looks great the whole time.

But then, again, every now and then he makes these plays that puts us over the top. And the defense is growing despite a couple of injuries today, Michael Kendricks. But our team is getting there slowly and surely. And Wesleyan said, you know, the Ravens don't have any identity. The Eagles have an identity. They're a big play team, and that's why they won this game again. It was a little lucky, but they lead the league in big plays. They're a great road team.

They're five and one on the road. They are the first team in NFL history to be five and five or 500 or better after week 10 without a home win, which isn't that surprising because it's almost impossible to do. And the other thing they are is a defense that gives up a lot of yards, but seems to not give up many points. and they've been able to beat bad offenses. If I'm the Packers, I'm worried about things snowballing here. It kind of reminds me of those years where, or maybe just one year,

I'm thinking of Jay Cutler got hurt with the Bears. And it's like, I think we could be okay. And then one loss, then another loss, and then all of a sudden you're on a three-game of losing streak. This could slip away quickly. They're only five and four now. Right. And they have more injuries from this game.

Two of their starting offensive linemen, Casey Hayward, a starting cornerback, also got hurt in this game. so it just keeps piling up. Clay Matthews, coming back from his injury was not a factor at all. All right, let's move on. Tavon Austin. Tavon Austin's alive and well, folks. He had a 98-yard punt return for a touchdown. He caught two other touchdown passes, 138 yards receiving on those two catches. And he basically single-handedly ended the Rams' three-game losing streak and completely stunned everyone at Lucas Oil Stadium, a 38-8 victory over the Colts. Wes, how did this happen?

The Colts aren't a very good team right now That's one of the first things They're not a good team They've lost too much We've seen them now Against two teams with a combined Six and 13 record They've been outscored 49 to 3

In the first halves of the past two weeks I think they've just lost too many players They're asking luck to be a miracle worker And as much as we like him Opposing defenses are going to take away Ty Hilton They don't run the ball The rest of the guys on offense

Fleener Hayward Bay Griff Whalen, these aren't guys that can beat man coverage. Luck just can't do it on his own. Let's talk about the AFC South, though. Everyone lost in that division today except for the Jaggars. Is there any way they could blow this division? I mean, are the Titans possibly going to come back with Ryan Fitzpatrick? Are the Texans going to come back?

No, I think the Colts have built up enough leeway there to the point that we can't wait to bet against them in the playoffs. We're not allowed to do that. Oh, sorry. We can pick against them. against them in the playoffs. So what about the Rams, though? Not bad.

Tavon Austin joins Steve Smith as the only two players in history with at least 140 yards from scrimmage and 140 punt return yards in the same game, which is a little odd. Tavon Austin, possibly the least physical wide receiver in the game. Steve Smith, arguably the most physical wide receiver in the game, and they're probably the same height. Yeah, that's fine.

That would be a good sitcom, just living together. And we got to give Austin a lot of credit, because we have been hyper-critical of him with good reason. I mean, he did nothing as a number eight overall pick for the first nine weeks of the season. But this was the game that justified maybe not the pick, but just the hype around him, that he could, he has the ability if he gets going to single-handedly wreck a game for another team. And that's why they won.

Tavon Austin just was brilliant, and the other team didn't know how to stop that. They were going to win, regardless of whether Tavon Austin was in this game or not. The Rams were the better team today, and it wasn't by a little bit. They're not going to be an easy out down the stretch. I mean, they're not going to make the playoffs, but they have not looked any worse with Kellyn Clemens at quarterback. I don't see them as a different team with Kellyn Clemens. They're actually better because they've adopted the Jeff Fisher defense running game style now, and they have a personality.

Zach Stacey has touched the ball on over 50% of their plays the past two weeks. That offense, he is the offense right now. And congrats to Kellan Clemens. I mean, the last time he was a starter was 2007. It's been a while since victories with Kelloggling. I remember that. Yeah, he's been better than you would expect, and I would think that the Rams are, you know, they got forked.

And when you get forked, we saw it last year with the Redskins of the Vikings. When you get fork, sometimes that kicks something into a team. And it looks like they're going to give us a little scare potentially. Let's see. Four and six. I'm not worried about that. Come on. Right.

They're not going anywhere near the playoffs. All right. Then let's move on. Terrell Thomas. He of the three ACL tears, had a big interception that he returned 65 yards, set up a go-ahead touchdown by Andre Brown, making his Giants debut. And New York won its third straight game, a 24-20 win over the fading Oakland Raiders. The Giants were 0 and 6. Now they're 3 in 6.

They got a match up next week against the guy that cleans by gutters, Scott Tolzeen and the Packers. And then they have a matchup against the Cowboys, then the Redskins. crazy for thinking that the Giants can exit November right in the middle of the NFC East Race? Floors open. I don't think it's crazy. I don't think they've played well in their three-game winning streak, so I think that's a mirage. And that's true. But anything can happen next week. And if they reel off four in a row and start to play well, then you have to consider that they're in it. They have a quarterback. Your big rule for forking teams is you don't want to fork the team of the quarterback. It has been one of the worst in the NFL this year. And he was bad again

today. He threw a terrible pick six to Tracy Porter who, you know, loves the Manning brothers more than anyone. He missed a wide open Victor Cruz. That would have been another touchdown. And Cruz, not that he showed up Manning, but twice after that interception in the misthrow, he kind of threw his hands up, as if to say, like, wait, what is going on here? Why is Eli not connecting with me? He's not playing well at all. Luckily for the Giants, You know, Andre Brown had 30 carries. That was a career high by nine carries. He went over 100 yards, 115 yards, and a touchdown.

If he can stay healthy, he'll be a big part of their offense. And we might have seen the last of Peyton Hillis in a Giants uniform. Andre Brown has played one game for the Giants and is within 40 yards of the team rushing league for the season. That's great. I'm not buying your Giants getting back into it. I know the NFCs is bad and maybe eight wins is going to do it, but I just think this is a bad team. That's a six-win team, and you're not going to get into the playoffs.

Well, let's revisit the quarterback theory. To me, I don't like to stick a fork in any team with a good quarterback. I'm not sticking a fork in it, but I don't think... Is Eli Manning a good quarterback? He has the capability to go on a run. Okay, I'll give you that. That's well said. He does have that.

All right, let's move on. Ben Ralthusberger passed for 204 yards in a touchdown. Levyon Bell had 52 yards and a score of his own, and the Steelers snapped a two-game. losing streak with a 2310 win over the bills on Sunday. West, we build this game as the fork off. The team that lost this game, we would bury them their hopes of the playoffs. So it's over for the bills, isn't it?

Let's go right back to the point we were just making. Well, forked teams that have a quarterback problem. The bills have one of the biggest quarterback problems in the NFL. E.J. E. E.J. E. E.J. E. Manuel has not played as well as Thad Lewis. I mean, first game back, it's hard to really get pile on the guy, but he didn't show anything, did he today? He showed nothing, and he was a little bit, people gave him a little bit too much credit for the bills playing close games earlier in the year before his injury. I just haven't seen anything that would make me think that E.J. Manuel is a guy that you can be even a 500 team with right now. It was early in the game, but he had one of those plays that he throws up some Freeman's.

I mean, he'll miss a guy for no reason by 10 yards. And he had a throw like that on the goal line early in the game where, I mean, it wasn't within 10 yards of him. And the guy was open, and that happens too much. And I thought the bills would have a much better effort. Obviously, I picked them to win. This was a disastrous. And I think you could see the Steelers clamped down on their running game

because they didn't respect manual. This was a running game that put up, what, 250 yards on the Chiefs last week? I got shut down today. I think it's kind of interesting. we have a colleague in the office, Patrick Crawley, who's a big Bill's fan, and he was all up and excited about Manuel's return. It kind of reminds me of the Jets fans once upon a time trying to talk ourselves into Mark Sanchez. It's like Bill's fans are trying to will Manuel to be the future of the team, but we haven't seen a lot of evidence that he's that guy. So, you know, he was a first round pick, so he's going to get another year after this, but so far it's been highly inconclusive.

I don't think we can blame Bill's fans for that one the last time they had a franchise quarterback. I mean, of course they're going to, of course they're going to hope he's the answer. And I think he was billed as a guy coming into the league who had to develop more than most first-round quarterbacks. I'm not willing to write him off. I'm just saying, from what we've seen so far, he's not a guy you can win with right now. But he started six games. Right. Who knows what he'll do in the future.

I just don't think he's the guy for right now that can win games for you. And Steelers fans have to feel like they still have a chance here in the AFC North because the Bengals lost another game and there were only two losses back in the AFC North. If we're saying the Giants are alive, the Steelers are certainly alive. And as we pointed out, if it wasn't for Sean Sweeam missing chip shots in Oakland, they'd be one back of the Bengals. Yeah, that's true. And, yeah, it's actually a good comparison because the Bengals and, you know,

the Cowboys or Eagles or whoever's going to be the Giants' main competition at the top of that division, you could make a case for all those teams to fall back. So very interesting, both those divisions to watch. All right, moving forward, the Jacksonville. Jaguars are on the board, ladies and gentlemen. Maurice Jones Drew and Jordan Todman. Jordan Todman each ran for a touchdown. Jaguars get their first one of the season and beat the Tennessee Titans 29-27.

It was the Jags' first one of the year, but the biggest story to come out of this, of course, was the foot injury suffered by Titans quarterback Jake Locker. Reports are, or our own Albert Breer is reporting that the team fears that this is a season-ending, Liz Frank injury. Liz Frank is the worst, man. She is a terrible woman. I'm sick of her. I mean, Locker only played 11 games last year.

He's only played seven this year, and it looks like he's out for the season, and they're stuck in a tough spot where I think he showed enough this year to make them believe in him, but you're coming back with a quarterback that just hasn't been on the field that much, and who knows if the coaching staff's going to be there,

they're four and five, and it's a crushing. crushing loss because they could have maybe gotten back into the AFC South race. If they won this game, they're only one back and they're playing the Colts on Thursday night. Unforgivable loss. If I'm the Titans General Manager, this is the game that makes me say, I can't bank on Jake Locker as my franchise quarterback. I can't bank on him to ever play 16 games in a season. Couldn't it just be fluky like Matthew Stafford was injured his first couple years?

It could be, but I think with Stafford, you had the utmost confidence. confidence that he was going to be, if healthy, he's going to be your guy. He had proven that he can move the offense. He can probably throw for 4,000, 5,000 yards in a season. Locker hasn't proven that yet. Not to sound like a bad Jerry Seinfeld bit on sports injuries, but what's to deal with Liz Frank's injuries? I never heard about them ever my whole life for like 30 straight years. It's like in baseball where all of a sudden, out of nowhere, like seven guys a week were getting oblique strains. It's like I'd never heard of an oblique injury. And now, Ms. Frank, it's taking down big names every year.

What's the deal with Liz Frank? Well, do you think that maybe like a decade ago it was just called a foot sprain or a foot fracture? I miss those days. And then now they have to be really specific about the name of it, I guess. But I think for me, this was the Titans make me feel like a fool. I point out on Friday that they have the tiebreaker edge over the jets and chargers. Like they were the team and controlled their destiny for the wild card. And then they go loose to their Jaguars.

Locker gets hurt. Chris Johnson, who looked like a different guy last week, rushes for 30 yards with a long of six and fumbles twice. Lost them both, too. And they lose on a day where Chad Henney throws no touchdowns and two interceptions. I could have not guessed that Jaguars would win on a day like that. What a nightmare. All right, moving on, Carson Palmer threw two touchdown passes,

and the Cardinals held on to send the Houston Texans to a franchise record. record. Seventh consecutive loss, 27-24 loss to the cards in Phoenix. You know, the biggest thing I take from this game is I guess the Cardinals are going to be a team potentially that is in the mix here in the NFC. They're five and four. They get the Jaguars, win or not, the Jaguars are still a bad team. They get the Jaguars next week, so they have a very good chance of being six and four going to week 11. And as for the Texans, you know, it is what it is. This is not a very good team. They don't know how to close out games.

They have breakdowns all over the field, and that's how you lose seven in a row, two and seven after a two and a start. And they're unlucky. I mean, they're really unlucky. We never talk about luck, but you don't lose all these games by three points, one point, three points without just a whole lot of bad luck.

Well, they did. Case Keenham has now started three games, and in those three games, the team has lost by a combined seven points. points. The last two games, overweight Randy, his miss four kicks. He had a miss today on a block, but it wasn't his fault, actually. The line broke down on the play.

But, yeah, I mean, they very easily could have been in the mix, but, yeah, it's bad luck and it's bad play. Unable to seal the deal when it counts, and that's the way it is. Keenham now has, I think, seven touchdowns without an interception, has a passer rating over 100 and his three starts. and yet he's been a tail of two halves. And the first half, he comes out screaming. They put up 20 points or whatever. And then the second half, they just crater, and he can't move the offense. It seems for a quarter and a half.

And they moved it a little bit at the end of the game for the second straight week. But they fell flat. And as much as I like Keenum, you have to wonder what's happening for them to face playing in the second half of games. In his defense, the offensive line had a really bad day for Houston. He very rarely had a clean pocket to work with. He's getting hit a lot. you know this this is a perfect example it's it's murphy's law down there everything's going wrong not a good last drive though i mean no through two passes that were 10 yards out of bounds

you know that's that's that's almost unforgivable in that spot you don't worry about the interception that much if you're going to call what manual was doing freemans we're going to call those dalton's he had a couple dalton's a couple freemans you got me thinking about the cardinals by the way. So let's look at this schedule here. Five and four, arguably, one of the better defense in the league. They go to Jacksonville next week. Let's just count that as a win, six and four.

That means they're in the playoff next. Versus in Arizona. They've played really well in Arizona. They've played great in Arizona. I think they can win that game. At Philly versus St. Louis, at Tennessee. These are a lot of winnable games. I mean, I could see them winning three or four of these

and being right there until week 15, week 16. And Sam Fram plays New Orleans next week. We could have the Cardinals with a better record than the 49ers pretty soon. Well, that's where it comes crashing down. Week 16 and 17, then they have the Seahawks and 49ers to close out the year. There go. There it goes. But I think they're going to be in a position in those games to matter.

And I wrote about this last week, but there are a lot of pretty good teams in the NFC and not enough spots. So you have Seahawks, Niners, Saints, Bears, Lions, Packers, Panthers. You know, three of those teams would have to fall out of it for the Cardinals to jump into an actual playoff spot. You know, you can make a case for the Packers. If you want to get crazy about a Bears going down or the lions coming down to Earth a little bit. But, you know, I don't see it happening. I almost went through this whole thing without a gratuitous shot at Carson Palmer. Do it.

But of all those teams, I can't see the team with Carson Palmer making it through. I'm with you. I agree. I was just playing devil's advocate. Carson Palmer is the devil. Or devil's damage. All right, we'll move on. Peyton Manning threw for 330 yards and four touchdowns.

Three to Demarius Thomas and the Broncos had a 2820 win over the Chargers on Sunday in Denver's first game since John Fox had his heart surgery. I guess the biggest story that came out of the game, out of the post game portion of the day was Peyton Manning's going to get an MRI, isn't he was? He'll be fine. I mean, I would be surprised if this turns up anything. He finished the game. What was the injury? He got hit in the lower leg, very late in the game. It was arguing with the refs for a few minutes afterwards,

trying to figure out why there wasn't a flyer or why they got charged with a timeout or something like that. But he was fine. He finished the rest of the game. I don't think this is serious. I guess we'll see if the MRI turns up anything, but I would be surprised. I'm liking this week. The Jets on a buy, you know, big losses for the Chargers, a big loss. The Titans, the Bengals going down.

Yes. It was a great week for the Patriots, too. It's always a great week for the Patriots. I'm just saying if you're thinking about the number two seed in the AFC, it doesn't look like the Bengals or Colts are the types of teams that are going to put up a really good record and get a by. Do you want to know anything about this game? Yeah.

Give us a thing. Come on. Philip Rivers, Manning? The game wasn't as close as the final score. The Broncos coasted out to like a 28 to 6 league. lead. Peyton Manning checked into a bunch of runs after that because they had the lead. They had favorable fronts to run, so he checked into a lot of runs, and then kind of took the foot off the gas pedal. He and Demarius Thomas were kind of unstoppable.

Thomas now has the most yards after catching the league. Nobody runs that bubble screen better than they do, and the Chargers actually ran the ball well. Ryan Matthews' numbers are a little misleading. He had a 39-yard run called back on a holding penalty, and Woodhead looks good in the passing game again, but they didn't have enough firepower today. How'd my boy Philip Rivers look? I feel like his unreal season is slowing down a little bit. I would say he got pressured a little bit more than normal today. King Dunlap had another concussion, which is an issue.

I know he missed quite a bit of time early in the season with a concussion. I think one of their guards left too, maybe right tackle Clary left. So they had some injury issues, couldn't protect Rivers as much. He still looks like he's running the offense. showing touch, and basically reading defense as well as any quarterback not named Peyton Manning. What was your stat that was insane? You said that you came up with all by yourself about the Broncos. There are only five players with at least nine receiving TDs in the NFL.

Calvin Johnson, Jimmy Graham, and three Denver Broncos. That's crazy. Wes Welker, Demerius Thomas, and Julius Thomas. What's Decker? Decker's got to be pissed. He has seven. He's got a reality show. He's got that wife, too. Yeah.

That sounds like a guy in bowling night or something. He's got that wife, too. She's something else. All right. Up next, we will dial up our Chicago correspondent for Around the League, the great Kevin Patra. K. Rich, is Patra on the line? Patra, are you there?

Yes, ma'am. Welcome. Kevin, big day for you. In Detroit, you got your hero pick. What's up? Yes. Oh, I got a train coming around behind me Wait, are you on the tracks?

No, no, no, no. I was going to say, this is not the time for that type of business. There's never a time for that business, but certainly not in this case. What's going on? You've got to be feeling pretty good. Yep, the big day for the Lions. They took a step toward, you know, sole possession in the division. And first sweep of the bear since 2007, so you've got to like that.

They usually choke like I thought they might halfway through the, the fourth quarter in at Holder Field. Yeah, so you had two touchdown receptions for Calvin Johnson, Reggie Bush went over 100 yards, and it was a 21-19 win over the Bears. Now, Cutler started the game, and we know he came out of the game. Can you tell me what he looked like during the game and then ultimately until he exited? You know, he had his first pass. It looked like things are going to go bad at which hit the ground after four yards.

And then he completed his next three, boom, boom, boom to Brandon Marshall. were in the end zone. It looked like, you know, I guess I understand why he's playing. And most of the first half, he really moved pretty well. He got hit a bunch. He had his swollen left hand, his non-throwing hand, looked like a golf ball-sized swelling. But he actually moved pretty well. And then he came out at halftime, and, you know, the break, it looked like he must have got tightened in the groin or something because he just didn't look the same. Couldn't move in the pocket. He was just getting blasted. And you could tell any time he had to dodge, his throws were just off, a couple-yard short.

short, and I'm not talking just at the guy's feet. I'm talking a couple yards short. So the second half, he was not the same quarterback, and it really showed. Hey, Patrick, as a Lions fan, can you tell me, do you have any theories on why some weeks their defensive line looks like the best in the NFL, and other weeks they get run on? I think if anybody had a theory, I think it's, I couldn't tell you. I honestly don't.

I think the same thing every time they shut down Math Cortez, 33 yards on 17 carries, and this week, I couldn't tell you why. I really couldn't. I feel like they're not a consistent defense. They'll be very good for three quarters, but then they'll give up a couple big plays. It seems like they give up a lot of big plays. Well, if they don't get a pass-harsh, they can't stop the quarterback.

That's just the fact that's how they've been all year. That's how they will be the rest of the year and for the foreseeable future. But as far as the run defense, it really, they've been up and down all all season. The thing that jumped out to me, you had, you know, the bears got it within two points, and then they have to go for two, and this decided the game. What was with a play calling there? I mean, they run, they go out of shotgun and run a draw that never has a chance.

You have Marshall, what looked to be one-on-one on the outside. I'll send it to both you guys. I mean, what happened there? That's terrible play calling, right? Well, they got two tries at it, right? There was a penalty on the first one, and then they got a second chance. I mean, I can't kill it. The defense is better.

The penalty moves it to the one-yard line, right? Yeah, I don't have a problem with a run. I just wonder why they're going out of the shotgun with a play at the one-yard line. It reminded me the Chargers Redskins game last week. Why not power that in with Michael Bush or Forte? I don't know. I think they tried to surprise him. Michael Bush already got stopped on a fourth and one early in the game,

so I don't think they were going to bring him. And I do think that play, when they got pushed back on the fourth and one early game, did expect the play calling at the goal line. And Patrick, before I let you go, do you feel confident about the Lions taking this division now? As a Lions fan, you're never confident about anything. I've learned that much. I feel like – I've learned that much.

But I do like – it sets up. It sets up – I mean, if there was ever a season for it with Roger's injury and the easiest – the Lions have the easiest division, if there was ever a year. All the bad luck they had last year, and they had a ton of it because they were in almost every one of those games, has turned around and they're just getting good luck this year because it's not like they're blowing these teams out they're winning at the very end of each one of these games before we let you go Kevin I want to ask the group everyone

do we have a quarterback controversy in Chicago no is that a thought Josh McCown comes in and he leaves a touchdown drive right at the end of the game I think depending on Cutler's health there's a controversy I think if Cutler's fully healthy Tressman will kind of nip it in the bud but I think if the media wanted to run with this And if fans wanted to run with this, you could certainly say that McCown has outplayed him for three games.

I think that the Bears' locker room would revolt if something like that happened. They seemed to really like him. Brandon Marshall, after the game, spoke very highly of Cutler and made it very clear that he personally was all behind Cutler as the number one. And he likes McCown. He thinks he's the best backup there is. But this is Culler's team. I'd be shocked if he actually lost his job, or even if it was seriously speculated. All right.

I'm going to point out one thing. I agree with everything you said. I think the team is with Cutler. The fans here, I just stepped out of a bar. Everyone's done with Cutler. I think they've come to a realization that he is what he is. That's a sense I got that if they decided to go with McCown, everyone would be behind it,

and they don't see Cutler as the future here. That's speaking as the fans, I think the team has a completely different view of it. From what Mike Silver has been speculating and reporting on the past few weeks, it sounds like Tressman isn't sure Cutler's the future either. And it's an interesting spot Tressman's in this week because, you know, Cutler told our Stacey Dales that he's fine and the ankle wasn't a huge problem after the game. And that's what he got pulled out with.

So it might be something where they have an excuse to take him out. Thank you, Kevin. Thanks a lot. I like that Pachra just stepped out of the bar. It means he was in there for like eight hours. That might have been our first inebriated. correspondence with Patrick, but he sounded sober. Maybe he's one of those guys that even with a bunch of drinks is still completely in control.

I imagine him just sitting at the train tracks drinking beers and throwing the empties like at the train. Like a bad 80s movie? He's down on the tracks. Starring Dennis Hopper? Exactly. He actually has some hopper-like qualities like Patrick. And that takes us to the Sunday night game. This was a game that, you know, you could get excited about as a potential shootout in the dome in New Orleans.

But it didn't work out that way. After a pretty tightly contested first quarter, things kind of spun away and the Saints pulled away from the Cowboys. Rob Ryan's got to be feeling good. But the biggest problem for me, the biggest problem I think the Cowboys have coming out of this game is

they lost Sean Lee to a hamstring injury, couldn't put any weight on it, and if you take him out of the mix, and let's say it's a month injury, you know, it could be. Who knows, if it's something like that, is this defense going to spiral the way it did without him last year? They had already given up the second most passing yards

in the NFL, and I believe we're the only team in NFL history to give up four 400-yard passing games in a season. So, yeah, this team definitely has potential to spiral out of control without Sean Lee, who is we like Jason Hatcher for a defensive player of the year, but I don't think we would

argue if anybody said Sean Lee is the heartbeat of that defense. And Jason Hatcher missed this game. DeMarcus Ware was shaken up in this game, and they 've just reached a point on the defensive line in their entire defense, and you have to wonder, is Tony Romo and this offense good enough to carry them.

It started well for them, too, and they were moving. They didn't run the ball at all last week, obviously. Early on in the game, DeMarco Murray was getting the ball a lot. They were moving the ball. But the game just kind of got away from him because the defense couldn't make a stop. And Des Bryant was completely invisible, especially when the game was in contention. And I just worry how much is that back play a factor and what's going on with him.

Did we hear that he had an epidural in his back before the game? I heard that. That is not a good sign. Right. You never want to have something that, you know, women in labor are getting to reduce the most pain you could possibly feel. Right. That's my analysis. Hashtag analysis.

That was good. We don't even need, like, one of those doctors you call in to give insight on things. So just talk to Greg about things. Bryant was not the only disappearing act. Dr. Rosen, Rosen. Midway through the third quarter, Tony Romo had 39 yards passing. Yeah, you're right. I mean, this was just not a good night for the team.

and it just goes to show you again. We were talking about the Giants earlier and, you know, the Eagles. This NFC East is a mess, and it's really hard to tell. We're getting close to Thanksgiving now, and there's no more clarity about where this division is headed by the end of the year. I assume as it seems to do every year, it's going to come down to the last game of the year. Alan Chris will probably be calling it on NBC. Right.

For the team to go 8 and 8 and win the NFC East. But the idea that maybe this would be the year the Cowboys would take advantage of the talent and the weak division and maybe cruise to a division title just doesn't look like it's going to happen. They've been the strongest team overall, but now they're moving in one way with all the defensive injuries

and the Eagles are playing well. To me, I think the Eagles are becoming the favorite in this division. I disagree because I think the Cowboys have a bye week at the right time and their schedule is pretty favorable. They have the Giants, who knows, I don't know if that's an easy game or not.

They have the Giants and the Raiders and I still think the Cowboys are better. But let's give some love to bad Santa, coordinator of the year. And he's going to have some bad weeks where all those blitzes he calls up or whatever he does, you know, doesn't work out so well. But he's going to have some weeks like this where he shoves it up Jerry Joneses. You know what? I mean, he's got to be loving this moment.

Monte Kiffin looks, you know, as old as he is. What do you think? What do you think, Rob Ryan is saying as he's walking off the field in Monte Kiffin's defense had given up 28 points in the first half? I mean, if he looked up at Jerry Jones's box and gave him an eyebrow arch, I don't think he would have been out of line. Yeah, probably telling Kevin, now you know how it feels to coach without Sean Lee. Exactly.

All right, that is Sunday's schedule. We went through all the games. There's one more game, the Depression Bowl on Monday between the Miami Incognitos and Tampa Bay Shianos. Luckily, we don't have to talk about that tonight, but we'll be back on Wednesday. We've got a big show on Wednesday. Looking forward to that. Until then, this is Dan Hansa signing off for the mailman, the boss. K. Rich behind the glass.

And, of course, Lyle, the ATL Enter. Until Wednesday. What a man, what a man, what a man, what a mighty fine man. Kevin Patra. There you go. I like my intro. Salt and pepper. Thank you.