NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL ATL: Week 11 recap

Episode Date: November 18, 2013

A room full of heroes, Gregg Rosenthal, Dan Hanzus and Chris Wesseling recap all of the Week 11 action including the “Sunday Night Football” matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Denver Broncos. 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 will never die. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the League podcast. My name is Dan Hansis, and I'm joined by some heroes, Chris Wessling and Greg Rosenthal. What up, boys? Hey, Dan. What up? Sunday, Sunday, Sunday.

No Sessler today. But that is something we will over. come we have a lot of great games to get to in week 11 uh Greg how would you define week 11 good football bad football medium football uh it was good not a lot of injuries so that's good i think a lot of the quarterbacks that have been kind of coming up kind of fell back to the pack of these replacement quarterbacks that was certainly a theme this week we'll start with the sunday night game it was the game of the week the kansas city chiefs become the final team to go for their first loss of the season.

The Broncos took care of business at home. We all saw this coming, the ATL crew, but the Chiefs did put up a fight, right, Wes? They did. I think our question was, do the Chiefs have the offense to hang with the Broncos? They put up a fight, but I don't think we can say that their offense can hang.

Right. I feel like there's a feeling around this game just watching the broadcast that, oh, the Chiefs kind of hung in there. Like, they did a good job, but... I just said that, too. I mean, give me a break. It was a three-score game with nine minutes to go.

That's pretty much every Broncos game. It feels like Alex Smith played a fairly good game, and the defense played a fairly good game, and yet it really wasn't that competitive. Isn't that a bad sign? Well, I think you can tell. Alex Smith put okay. He missed some throws.

He still doesn't seem to trust his arm. DeMal Charles has a higher yards per carry average than Alex Smith. those net yards per passing attempt. Is that bad? Which that's not a... That's not all that outlandish for the Chiefs. It happens once in a while. They tried to go deep and it just didn't work.

Well, you have to... Alex Smith is throwing to Donnie Avery and Dexter McCluster. Peyton Manning's throwing to Demarius Thomas. Eric Decker, Wes Welker, Julius Thomas. I think maybe part of what it is, Greg, too, is... I think so many people had... Even though they kept winning, almost there was a frustration setting in that, how does this team keep winning?

They're not beating any good teams. They're not playing well. And maybe there was some... thought that they would go into Denver and get the doors blown off by the end of the first half, but it wasn't quite like that. But at the same time, this was a Broncos team that weren't running on all cylinders in this game and still won with relative ease, which tells us that, yes, the Broncos are the best team in that division, and now the Broncos are in position to be where everyone kind of expects them to be at the top of this conference

and not being locked into that fifth seed, although they're now both tied at 9 and 1. Well, you could argue, I think, easily this was their easiest game. in a month in the last four or five games this actually was the easiest and their season really comes down in the next two weeks if you think about it i mean they go to new england and then they go to kansas city and that's pretty much the rest of their season because after that it's cake it's kake city they're going to win down the stretch so they need if they win those two games they get the one seat if they split we'll see i think they have to be encouraged by how their defense is playing too we talked about this in the newsroom with von miller back who has faster linebackers than trevathan woodyard and von miller they basically shut down McCluster and Charles out of the backfield. And, you know, one thing about the game and in the fourth quarter, Andy Reid, maybe in the future in a game like this, needs to bring his testicular fortitude, not going for it on fourth and seven in the fourth quarter. We don't know if they would have got back in the game if he would have went for it and gotten it,

but the decision to punt it, and then the punt goes in the end zone. And of course, because everyone predicted it, took the Broncos one play to get back to the spot where they punted from. It just showed that the Chiefs were really not to be taken seriously in this game. It was on the Broncos 40-yard line with about 10 minutes left in a two-touchdown game, and they punt it. That said a lot to me about the Alex Smith, Andy Reid, Kansas City Chiefs. Okay, and then our second big game of the week, Marquis Colston,

capped a record-setting day with a 20-yard reception to get the Saints into field goal range, and Garrett Hartley kicked a 31-yarder as time expired, lifting the Saints to a 23-20 victory over the Niners on Sunday. Wes, you watch this game. I get a feeling that although the game itself was great, the big buzz after the game is going to be about that penalty called on the hit on Drew Brees that gave the Saints new life. In real time, I'm sure it looked to the official like a clothesline across the neck.

When you slow it down, you can see Brooks' point that he hit him across the shoulder pads and bear hugged him. That was quite a vicious bear hug. but it was the key play in the game late in the fourth quarter 49ers had a three-point lead if they keep the ball to get it at midfield it turns out the Saints got the ball at the 49ers 30-yard line and went on for a field goal and then ended up winning the game

Greg and I both we were sitting next to each other we have differing viewpoints on this to me it this is a violent game this is what drives me crazy about this it was yes it was very close to his neck and Breeze's neck reacted violently but because it was a violent hit and I think it was Rich Eisen that said

that his theory is that we should have replays for exactly these type of plays no no we don't want to make the game even longer than it is we need them that swung this game but here's a thing a replay confirms it he hit him in the neck it was at the end of the hit and it's unfair and you don't like the rules but it doesn't matter

he hit him in the neck it's a black and white rule he hit him in the neck but it wasn't black and white that he hit him the neck. It was. If you if you follow him and the reason why I think it got called is because as Breeze is falling to the ground, the play ends with his arm basically, you know, draped around his neck. And, you know, I totally understand it's not fair, but it's an easy call to make. I don't want to be, you know, the guy that says, oh, you know, they're taking all the fun out of football. You love that. You do that on Twitter. I love, I love that, I like, I understand all

the efforts that are now being made to protect the players, but at the same time, it's a fine line because a play like this, to me, illustrates that in their effort to make the game safer, they're causing big issues, and this ended this game. It turned the game around. Maybe if the 49ers wanted to win the game, they shouldn't have started the game with 3-3-and-outs and ended it with 2-3-and-outs. Good call. So let's talk about the game itself, West.

What else happened besides that play? Well, like I said, they did start the game slow. They ended it slow. In between, they had three, they scored on three of four drives, and they were clock-killing drives, ball-control drives, they weren't making big plays. This is what the 49ers' offense is right now. Kaepernick has averaged four yards per throw

combined in his past two games. They need Crabtree back. Even when he comes back, he's not going to be 100%. This team is now in the pack in the NFC. There are three teams, six and four, one of which is tied for them, second place in the NFC West. They play the Cardinals in Week 17.

That could be for the final playoffs, but. Yeah, there's no rule. that you don't have to go win the game there once the defense stepped up and forced it to be a tie. The San Francisco defense held the Saints to two touchdowns in the Superdome. You should be able to win that game.

This is more on the often. And you got to give the Niners credit. These are two really tough losses against very good teams. So I'm not going to panic and say all of a sudden the Niners are in trouble. They just didn't close these two games. And to their credit,

the Saints coming off that historic performance against the Cowboys. they really got slowed down here and maybe this is a map that other teams could use to maybe try to slow down the Saints. But yeah, so that was a big game. That was a big game in the NFC.

And it also puts the Niners way behind the Seahawks now in the NFC West. That's three games out as the Seahawks hit their buy. The Saints, I mean the Seahawks are going to win that division and they're going to get a buy.

We already know this now. The real, the only thing we need to find out about the Seahawks is whether they're going to get the one seat or now. All right, moving on, Jiris Byrd had two interceptions leading the Buffalo Bill's defense that forced four turnovers in a 37-14 win over the Jets on Sunday. This is bad. This is bad news for my Jets. I'm telling you, I said it downstairs, and I'll say it on the podcast.

I don't think the Jets have their quarterback on their roster. I don't think they have it. I don't think Gino Smith is the guy. He's not progressing instead of, you know, you look at a real franchise quarterback. Quarterback, and you, listen, you look at a real franchise quarterback, like a Russell Wilson. He sees us laughing at him already. You saw, yeah, enjoy your Tom Brady, all right? You saw Russell Wilson, a guy like him progresses the season going, goes on.

It's going on the opposite direction with Gino. He's going to be the starter next week. Rex already announced it because, you know, who's Matt Sims? But he had, Gino was terrible today. Four turnovers, three interceptions. He threw another pick sixth. He has now 20 turnovers this season, including 16 picks. The Gino coaster is off the rails.

Didn't you give up on him a month ago, and then you're back on, and then you're back? I mean, we've gone through this before. Well, that's why it's called a Gino coaster, Greg. Well, but either. And you having Tom Brady since the turn of the millennium, you'll never understand what this is like. But when you have a rookie quarterback that's not the guy, and I don't think he is, you're dealing with this issue that he's not getting better and I think the Jets are going to take a hard look

at free agency and the draft if he does not put things back together in these last six games. I believe you and I were both proven right when we said earlier in the year that he just isn't ready for a team that is built to win now on defense

Gino Smith isn't ready and I've, Greg, I've been up and down on the Jets team all season Gino, you can go back in the archives. I got a little excited when he led them on that drive against the Falcons. But I don't think any jet fan has ever felt completely comfortable with Gino Smith. And when you have a game like this and you go back his last two or three games now, this is a guy that's going in the wrong direction when the team is supposed to be making a stretch run.

This is bad news. Let's hear about the other quarterback and act like the article I wrote on Saturday breaking this game does not exist. What did you say in it? You said Gino over Manuel, basically. I basically said the Jets have the edge at quarterback and then killed Manuel for his game last week. Yeah, I mean, in general, the bills are now four and seven. They're still in deep trouble, but this kept their season alive. And E.J. Manuel, he played well.

His first touchdown came on kind of a balloon he threw up in the air, and D. Milner misplayed it, which led to a touchdown. As D. Milner has wanted to do. As he has wanted to do. His second touchdown was legit. It was a beautiful 43-yard deep ball. that Antonio Cromartie got burnt on. He hit the receiver in stride, T.J. Graham, I believe.

So, you know, he played much better. He played turnover free. He was miles better than the first time the Jets saw him in the Meadowlands and also last week in his return from injury. So on balance, this was a very good day for the E.J. manual error. And he got me a hero pick. I mean, you guys just thought this one was going to be easy. Never said that?

You thought it was going to be easy for the Jets. this is not a good team. The Jets are 5 and 5, but I don't think they have a great chance to make the playoffs at all, because they're lucky to be 5 and 5. They have the worst score differential of any 5 and 5 team in NFL history.

You don't get blown out three different times in the season and be a quality team, so I think they're going to have a tough stretch run. Well, speaking to that point, they are, yeah, they set an NFL record now 10 straight games with win-loss, win-loss, and they have road losses of 25 points, 40 points, and now 23 points. So, yeah, the Jets aren't a good team, but the good news for them is that nobody else is

and that's fighting for that six seed. And we've got some Bills fans coming at us on Twitter saying we forked them too early. And I don't agree, they're four and seven heading into the bike. But you could make a case. The next three weeks, they're playing Atlanta, Tampa Bay, in Jacksonville. Those three teams have a combined five wins. If you can get that win in Tampa Bay, I think that. That's the tricky one.

Week 14. It wouldn't be shocking to see the bills back in the mix at 7 and 7. One last question on this game. Why is it that the around-the-league crew pronounces Jaris' bird name Jiris bird? What, it's Jaris? That's how I've heard every other person in America pronounce it. I don't know. I'd just like to think outside the box.

Oh, okay. It sounds like a, it sounds like somebody who works for Spacely's Sprockets. Jarus? Jiris. Dan also likes Marquis. Marquise Colston, like the Marquis de Saad or something like that. It's, you guys, it's culture. You wouldn't understand.

All right, let's move on. Robbie Gould, was that all right? There was a pronunciation okay there? Yes, yeah, very nice. Actually, I think it might be gold. No, come on, get out of it. G-O-U-L-D. We'll talk to Robbie about this.

Kick the 38-yard field goal to lift the Chicago Bears to a 23-20 win over the Ravens Sunday in a game that was delayed over two. two hours or about two hours by torrential downpour. Greg, you watch this game. A very strange game, I think it stretched over five hours, right? Yeah, it was a lot of fun to watch, actually. They couldn't run, they couldn't throw the ball at one point. In the third quarter, there was only three pass attempts, period.

The field was a complete mess. You couldn't score when you were going in one direction. You know, snowsuit, Ray Rice was back in the mix. Over 130 yards on the ground, mostly because the Ravens' offensive line played well. I didn't take a lot out of these games I thought it was very evenly played the Bears defense had a great goal line stand at the end of regulation that basically

saved it for them and the Bears have some magic because they keep winning these crazy games they've been very resourceful despite not really looking like a great team just looking at the box score it seems like Ray Rice is a mutter that's a fair point I mean he had the 47 yard game to start

the game a mudd a mutter your muddha's a mudder I still don't get it what does that mean It's what they call a racehorse who does well in mud and slop, a mudder. Gotcha. Go on. Ray Rice. You just said it.

How can I follow that up? Ray Rice is a mutter. Honestly, what I took from this game is it's one of those games you were going to look at the end of the season and maybe the Ravens will make it and the Bears will make it. And it's basically because Ray Rice couldn't get a good block on a screen pass early in the game and some defensive lineman that I don't think anyone knows David Bass. of the bears tips it up in the air and returns it for an interception. And to me, that was the key play of the game, because the Ravens had a chance early to put the bears away. Never heard of him.

Exactly. And this now puts the Ravens, what are they, at 4 and 7 now? 4 and 6. 4 and 6. This puts them almost in must-win territory hosting my Jets next week. So that will be a very important game for both those teams. This was such a Joe Flacco 2013 game to me, because I thought he looked pretty good for most of the game.

He made a lot of tough throws. I know the numbers don't look good, but even in his good games, he's making a couple big mistakes. He had a really costly interception that led to three points for the Bears. That was really his fault. The other one was a little fluky. Even in his good games, he can't get it done. Andy Dalton threw three touchdown passes,

and the Bengals returned to block punt and a fumble for touchdowns in a 31-second quarter that set a Bengals record. They roll to a 41-20 win over the Cleveland Browns. I watch this game across from Marks. Sessler. He got very excited. I think the Browns were up 13-0-0 in the first quarter. So just another really tough day for Browns fans, and the

Bengals have righted the ship, as you expected them to at home here. Andy Dalton finished with a total QBR of 3.7. That's awfully hard to do when you throw three touchdowns. I asked our research department to find out which quarterbacks in NFL

history have thrown for less than 100 yards in at least three touchdowns. Only eight other quarterbacks have done it. What is the difference between QBR and passer rating? All kinds of stuff. Yeah, QBR is basically an advanced metric ESPN came up with

that scores you on a 1 to 100. It is good. It's better than QB rating. Yeah, it factors in game situation a lot more. I am too. I think it's a much better indicator. Andy Dalton was so poor that we got multiple tweets throughout the afternoon asking

if the AD scale is broken or it can be abolished altogether because because Dalton just isn't the answer. At one point in the newsroom, I heard Mark Sessler say, I can fairly confidently say, Muhammad Sanoo is a better arm than Andy Dalton. 3.4 yards per attempt from Dalton, but they somehow get the win.

The Brown's chances in the AFC North is basically over. And now the Bengals have seven wins. That's three more than any other team in the division. They're two and a half up, and it would be a surprise at this point if they blew it. I can't wait until their Saturday playoff loss. And the Bengals fan in our row of cubicles That was in Mark's words

Wicked casually dismissive of the Browns Turns out he was right Sorry Mark, wherever you are Hang in there 31 point second quarter You don't see that too often 31 to nothing in the second Rookie Matt McLean threw three touchdown passes

In his first NFL start And the Raiders extended the Texans' Wes's Texans Franchise records skid to eight games with a 2823 victory on Sunday in coach Gary Kubiak's return from a mini stroke Wes, you know, what do you have to say

for yourself? You've been defending this Texan's team for so long. I don't even know. You just got to take the floor. This was... Another big angle there. There's a lot to talk about in this game. The two big stories of the game, McLevin, played great for the Raiders. He's only

the fourth undrafted rookie starter in the past decade. Matt Matt Moore, Max Hall, and Jeff Tuller, the other three. McLevin is much better than the other three. He looks like a souped up Matmore, really. Good arm, throwing darts all over the field, good pocket poise, managed the game well. We heard NFL Media Insider say, Ian Rappaport say that McLevin can really put some heat on prior and maybe take the job if he plays well. He said that before the game.

He did exactly that. He played, to me, if that was a factor, it's got to be McLevin's job. jobs if that's what they were thinking. Interesting. So I almost feel like, you know, you've been dating Case Keenum a while. It's going well. You're, you know, defending them to all your friends that are making fun of him. But now here you see this other guy, Matt McLevin. And it's almost like you're changing gears here. Well, let me put it this way. I am a very faithful man. I am not one to go cheating around. And I am sticking with Case Keenum, even though Gary Kubi at is a philanderer.

What's up? Why did they take him out? Because Kubiak's a dope. So we're okay criticizing him right after the minister. I just want to get that. He's back on the sideline. He can be criticized. He should stay at home. He's technically just the sad guy in the booth.

In the booth upstairs. But I guess, you know, same thing. He should be a sad guy on his couch at home if he doesn't want to be criticized. I mean, but just think about this in terms of Chris Wesleyan. I mean, could it be a more painful loss after a week of defending the Texans up and down? Oh, you can't stick a fork in them. They're the greatest. seven straight lost team in NFL history.

They got a great quarterback. The Raiders, who, you know, you started to feel confident about your softball pants bet. Greg, twisting the knife as he wants to do. He's feeling so good. Wow, this is exciting. This is what Greg lives for, just twisting a knife on people. This is the most animated I'm speaking of the podcast in a while. You should have seen when I was watching my jets go down and play.

Oh, stop. That's not true. He lives for this. You know it's true. I mean, it's... Now, Wes deserves this because, Wes, you did. It was a little unreasonable. your love of the Texans, because a seven-game winning streak, a losing streak is a losing streak,

and they find ways to lose, and they did it again. It's Shakespearean, that the Raiders of all teams get their first away win in Houston? Wow. Okay, so then we should also talk about the fact that Matt Schaub had Andre Johnson so frustrated that the two of them had a shouting session. What was that about? Well, Johnson was miffed earlier in the quarter before. the end of the game. He was wide open down the sidelines and Shob didn't see him.

And this is because the Raiders basically played off and let Shob dink and dunk and take underneath routes. Right. Well, Keenham would see Andre Johnson going down the field because he looks down the field. Shob does not. And I'm sure after having 8.2% of his touchdowns in the last two games under Keenham, Johnson probably isn't thrilled to see the human pick six back behind center. And I will say understand the frustration has to be playing into effect there with Johnson.

and I know he's been a great guy his entire career, but that was wrong for him to walk off the field, and that makes Schaub look bad. It makes a bad situation worse. He should play that a lot better. Shob's done. He's done in Houston. He's in Cuviac.

He's in the Sanchez territory after the butt fumble. The fans will never accept him again. They were booing him and cat calling him during the game to the point where Shob couldn't make adjustments at the line of scrimm. They had to go to a silent count, right? Because the home fans were booing Shob that much. It's tough for, Kubiak, but these are the types of games that get you fired.

I don't think there's any coming back from this one. Totally agree. And Wes, here we go. Four and six now the Oakland Raiders are they need to get to six wins, and now it's looking pretty rough for you in the softball pants. It's almost to the point where we could start talking about what part of your softball pants are you going to eat. Do you understand that we need to start putting together some type of game plan?

Well, I always thought if I was a cannibal, I would go for the calf. That seems to be the juicy part. Maybe I would take that part of the softball pants. But if you go, because you don't ultimately get to choose, we'll take it into effect. If you choose calf, I'm going to make you eat the elastic at the bottom of the pants. It would be like eating calamori. Yes. And I actually, I reached out to Greg on this.

I said, can you get your wife who is a chef involved and maybe we could get her on the phone? We could talk to her. She doesn't know about this yet, does she. She doesn't. But she'll be on board. I mean, who wouldn't want to see Chris Wesley need a softball pants? I think she'd probably be up for a challenge. What about a lawsuit, though?

What if Chris dies? I'm cool with that. This is a tough. You guys are forgetting about Chef K. Ridge. We're about to have Thanksgiving here. Oh, wow. I like this. Throwing her hat in the right.

Well, you can make, like, the dessert or you guys, we'll figure it out. What's your specialty, K. Rich? My specialty is anything. Wow. I can literally cook almost anything. K. Rich, a woman that is to be reckoned with in society. Yes. I may need to get my big green egg.

involved in this. It's been out of commission since I moved to my apartment. They won't let me use a smoker. Wait. I don't understand any of the last three sentences. Big green egg is a ceramic smoker grill that I can't use. This sounds like Cincinnati talk right now. It was Georgia talk. Georgia talk. Tybee Island. Carson Palmer threw for 419 yards and two touchdowns. Wait, what? Carson Palmer threw for 419 yards. What year is this? He did not throw an interception for the first time all year, leading the Cardinals to a 27-14 win over the Jaguars on Sunday. We talked about it on Friday that the Cardinals were well set up here. They were five and four and they had the Jaguars coming up. They took care of business as they needed to do. And now, Greg, the Arizona Cardinals are six and four right in the mix in the

NFC playoff race. Did anyone see it coming? No. Well, we did a couple weeks ago and we envisioned this scenario. Besides us, but we're the best. Yeah. We're awesome. And they play the Colts next week in Arizona. I think that's a winnable game for them. I think they'll stay in the mix. But when you look at the NFC, there's eight teams with at least six wins. So it's not like they're in great position. And that doesn't even include the Packers who I expect to come on late in the season.

So even though they've been a good story, you're going to need 10 or 11 wins to make the playoffs in the NFC. And I still don't think Arizona is going to get there. We've killed Carson Palmer, or I personally have on this podcast several times, but we should give him credit. One of my takeaways when I watched this game on the Cardinals on Game Rewind last week was that Palmer had as either first or second best game of the year last week. Now this is his best game of the year. So back-to-back, two very good games. It looks like their passing game is starting to click. I didn't see this game today, but I'm guessing he's starting to get better pass protection.

It's the Jaguars who don't have a pass for us, so that probably has a lot to do with it. And Michael Floyd with 193 yards, the receiving court. I mean, it's an interesting team. Fitzgerald should finally be getting back to full speed. Jason Pierre Paul scored on a leaping 24-yard fourth-quarter interception return, and the resurgent New York Giants won their first. fourth straight game, a 27-13 win over the slumping and injury-riddled Packers on Sunday. I watch this game.

The Giants have, yes, they've won four in a row. They did not play well in the first three wins. They played pretty well today. And yes, Scott Tolzean was prominently involved, so you have to factor that in. But the Giants, they have a shot here. And if you look at their upcoming schedule, they have the Cowboys at Home next week, which is going to be a close game, but a win. game and then on the road in Washington again a game there's no reason why they shouldn't win

that game they could very easily get back to six and six what does it say about the state of jason pierre paul's career that when you said that i immediately pictured an old lady in a wheelchair leaping out and into the end zone well i'm feared for his health when you said he leaped he leapt into the end zone in his defense he looked like jason pierre paul that we remember it It wasn't an old guy reaching back into the time machine. Like, this was legitimately an athletic play, great catch, and then the runback. It was something that the Giants need to actually be a team this year. I mean, they're in it, but I don't know.

I'm still, they got out gained by the Packers and Tolzeen by 60 yards in this game. That's worth... A lot of garbage yardage by Tolzine. That's worth pointing out that they move the ball fairly well on them. It really comes down to next week's game. For all this, you know, momentum and the four-game winning streak, their season is over. if they don't be the Cowboys, but if you win that game, they're right in it. Right.

And, yeah, Greg, you said earlier that you might need 10 or 11 wins in the NFC. Now the Packers are sitting at 5 and 5, and it makes you wonder, not that the Packers would do anything to risk Rogers' long-term health, but they have their next game coming up. Is it possible he comes back early to try to write things? They're on a three-game losing streak now. They have to get that game. I mean, that's, to me, the key game right now is the home game against the Viking.

You can't lose that game at this point. So I'm sure they'll do everything possible, but who knows? Nick Falls threw for 298 yards and ran for a touchdown. LaShawn McCoy had two touchdowns rushing, and the Eagles snapped a 10-game home losing streak with a 24-16 win over those slumping redskins. The Eagles are now in pretty good shape. They're now in six and four. They're in total control.

Wes, what did you take out of this one? Oh, wait a second. That's Kay Rich's music. Kay Rich on the headline. Wow. Another sneak attack by Kierich, but give her the floor because she deserves it. Guys, what can I say? I'm all smiles today.

You see me, I came in with the green pans, the Eagles hat on. He looked like an eagle cheerleader with some kind of high-heeled boots on. Yeah. Good description, Wes. I have to run down a couple points if you guys don't mind. Please. You're in the stage. First, in the NFC East, first, first time all.

season that we've been first in our division with our first win at home all season that was hard to endure as the eagles fan knowing that you can't win at home with crazy fans foals through for 298 yards and he looked really good i had that bit first i said that to the people before you said that you did yeah yeah well he he looked great he never listened to dan anyways he had a rushing touchdown where he looked like a really good almost mobile quarterback you know he's a traditional pocket passer, but he stretched out his body to break the plane, and he looked great, shady, two rushing TVs. And what I was most impressed with was the defense, a little worried into the third,

fourth quarter, but we looked really good. Yeah, see, that's a good point. Greg, this defense is getting better, isn't it? It's maybe not such a liability anymore. They give up a lot of yards, but they've been good in the red zone. They've been good in the key spots. They've been much better since the first month of the season. They haven't allowed more than 21 points in their last seven games.

Dang. The Chiefs are the only other team in the NFL to have a stretch like that this year. This defense is better than you think. The defensive front seven owned the line of scrimmage, pressured RG3 throughout the game. Connor Barwin had an excellent game. Fletcher Cox and Cedric Thornton are great defensive ends. This team looks, I mean, the last three weeks they've been so impressive. I think they've overtaken the Cowboys as a team to beat in this division,

and I don't know if it's even close. Can you give us the RG3 weekly update? Are we done? I think this is it. At this point, after this week, we don't need the RG3 weekly update. Four committees getting together, I can tell you that. Held the ball too long, missed wide open receivers, took too many hits again.

Didn't move the ball until the Eagles took their foot off the gas pedal in the third quarter. He had eight pass attempts at halftime. Yeah, this is it for the Redskins. We were a little hesitant because they were three and six at this point last season. They could have been in the mix. But we don't need to build any drop. This team is done. Well, yes, but the committee, it's formally we must get together and decide that.

And Fools, we should say, you know, since his concussion and if you've ever read anything about religious gurus. Uh-huh. Of course. Yeah. Well, they usually get enlightenment by some kind of physical malady or illness. It sends them to the bed for a period of time. They have to come to grips with something and this maybe jogs something in them. I think maybe there was some enlightenment with Nick Fool.

He's going through his progressions, which is basically the difference between him and Michael Vick in that offense. Fools has seen his progressions in finding the mismatch on most plays. If you're hinting that concussions are good, there is a 17-foot-tall shadowy league figure behind you, ready to strike you down. The concussions are not good, but in Ful's case, it's undeniable that he's averaging 13 yards per attempt since then. I would an apology to Chip Kelly because I was starting to really enjoy the slump that the offense was in about a month ago. I was really getting into that. idea that this guy could come into the NFL and revolutionize things.

And I don't think he's revolutionizing the game, but they are a really good offense, and it's because of what he's installed there. How about, I mean, Nick Foles is still another week where now he has 16 touchdowns, and no interceptions. You know, all we talked about was rookie quarterbacks last year. If you're doing the second year quarterback rankings right now, you got Luckin' Russell Wilson still at the top, but then you got Foles, ahead of RG3 and ahead of Ryan Tanniel. Just on this season, you know, that's it.

I'm not saying long term, but I'm just saying this season he's playing that well. Yes. Now we're getting into AD territory. Would you take Nick Fools over Andy Dalton? Yes. Yeah. So would I. Ben Rathesberger passed for 367 yards and four touchdowns, including two in the final five minutes.

And the Steelers rallied Sunday. Trade him. And the Steelers rallied Sunday to beat the lines, 37, 27. Greg, again, is a fan that's rooting for a team in the back end of that. AFC playoff pile up. I'm a little nervous that the Steelers are going to make a play here. What do you think? You watch this game.

This is a team you don't know. You still don't know watching them week to week. I think the thing we can say about the Steelers at their offense has definitely gotten better as the season has gone along. I think Ben Rothsberger's played pretty well all season, but he's playing better now. And they're able to throw the ball. They're able to give up some points and still come back and win the game. Then again, they give up 27 points in the second quarter. At halftime, it looked like Calvin Johnson and Matthew Stafford were going to break every record in the book, but they held Matthew Stafford to only 45 yards in the second half.

He had over, I think it was 320 yards in the first half, and they just shut him down in the second. But it's such an up-and-down team from game to game, week to week. I don't quite trust them, but they're dangerous. Wait, they scored 27 points in the second quarter and were shut out the other three-quarters? Yes, that's the first time in NFL hit three that's ever happened. We were sitting there in the second quarter discussing this and basically saying that Lebo, Palomalu, Ryan Clark, and Brett Kiesel would all be gone after the season, and then they hold Stafford to 45 second half yards. Did you see this as Leboe making some kind of critical adjustment at halftime? Stafford missed some throws for sure.

But no, the Steelers defense played well overall. It wasn't all mistakes by Detroit. I mean, they didn't just shut him down. They didn't do anything. I mean, they had over 400 yards in the first half, and they wound up with 450 total yards. Wow. So it was a total shutdown. I mean, here are the drives for Detroit in the second half.

Two yards punt, negative 10 yards punt, fumble, interception, two yards on downs. I mean, it's about as dominant as you can. They had one decent drive, and they fumbled it. Yeah, it just makes you think if the Steelers can do that some of the time. Why is it that they hemorrhage points other times? And also, this feeds into my feeling about the lines, which is if they're at a lot of, home. I feel like they could probably beat anybody, but on the road, I feel like they can lose to anybody. So I'm not really that excited about this Lions team.

I think that's true that they can play or beat anyone in the entire league. Nothing surprises me with them. I think they're a year away. They need some receivers to compliment Calvin Johnson, and they need help in the secondary. That Thanksgiving game against the Packers is going to be big. I mean, they're still tied for first place with the Bears, who I like Detroit a little bit better than Chicago. Bobby Rainey rushed for 163 yards and scored three touchdowns. That's Bobby Rainey, the third running back up for the Bucks now. And the Bucks had a 41-28 win over the free-falling Atlanta Falcons.

I watch this game. This is one that is not much to take out of it. The Falcons are in the tank. They've been that way for weeks. On the Bucks end, this is the only interesting thing I really took out of this. Greg Chiano, with a strong finish, he can make a real case to keep his job. They are playing very hard. Even in these losses, they've played hard.

Now they're starting to get some results. That's back-to-back wins. Greg, I ask you, if they get to five wins. Oh, I think he's safe. Is Greg Chiano? Yeah, I think it's safe. I think they'll look for an excuse to keep them. They sign them to a big five-year contract.

And if they end with a five-and-three second-half run, and the way they're playing now, they could pull it off, but the schedule is tough for them coming up. This game, though, made me start thinking, could the Falcons wind up with the number one overall draft pick? They still won ahead of the Jaguars, but I don't know if they're winning another game. I would like to see Jadavian Clowney on that team. Right, exactly. Yeah. They desperately need a guy like that too.

Did you watch this game, Dan? Yes. Can we get a little credit for predicting that he would fall flat on his face after they lost to Leo Jones? Because that's exactly what's happened. You do deserve credit for that. Matt Ryan, you know, this has been obviously a loss. season for Atlanta, but Matt Ryan's stock

is taking a hit this year. He's been a terrible quarterback on the road. He has now nine interceptions in the past four games. Obviously all Atlanta losses. I think that Ryan is still a very good quarterback, but losing Julio Jones kind of

it showed that maybe he's not at the level of these higher echelon quarterbacks. I think this is what Matt Ryan is. If you surround him with good talent, you're going to have a winning team. But he's not like Aaron Rogers, where he can take whatever you throw out there and make it good. Right.

I think we're seeing that for sure. But, yeah, I think many franchises would die to have Matt Ryan. Absolutely. He's a top 10 quarterback, no doubt. 38 to 6 this score was late in the 3rd, a one-win team over to the Falcons. That is some low, low moments for Atlanta. Who, by the way, is going to be on NFL Network Thursday night. Tune in.

And for those who are curious, Mike Smith's job is safe. He's not going anywhere. that's not a surprise isn't it no not at all but I keep hearing speculation that he should have to answer for this and I don't you know I think when you have a depleted roster like that you know shut up Twitter

yeah thank you Miami the Miami Dolphins held San Diego without a touchdown over the final three quarters and Brent Grimes broke up a Philip Rivers final pass in the end zone is time expired giving the Dolphins a 2016 win on Sunday

the Dolphins you know it's funny because you had all this stuff obviously going on with Incognito and Jonathan Martin then you had a bad loss to a winless team and everyone, you know, there was Fireland committees getting together but all it took was one win and it reminds everyone that they're right in the middle

of this mix for the playoffs. They're tied for the number six spot. So just everyone that said the locker room thing was too much to overcome. But now that they won, they've overcome diversity and why can't we all just agree that maybe

we don't know how off-the-field stuff affects on the field, because they look like the same team to me. They lost a couple offensive linemen, but they were mediocre before, and they're mediocre now. And every game they play comes down to the last possession, and they win one, and then they lose one. And all that stuff that we've talked about off the field, I don't think really makes any difference. They're an eight-and-eight type of team in the AFC this year. That might be good enough.

What about the deep love affair that Greg and Wes have for Philip Rivers? There's not a lot different between this team and the past teams. Despite, you know, both you guys love them. Maybe I'm wrong about West. MVP talk about Phillip Rivers. The Chargers, there's still a mediocre team. Yeah, I don't have any love for Philip Rivers. They're not playing great on offense.

They have such a small margin for error. But, I mean, he had 8.8 yards per pass. They ran the ball well. They couldn't win this game. You have to give the Dolphins defense credit because San Diego had some chances to win it late. Tannahill actually I didn't think played a great game I mean he missed some throws

It didn't really show up in the box score But I don't think he played that well The offensive line from Miami Played well San Diego to me still has one of the worst defense in the league They get no pass rush Let me ask you Greg Because I know you've watched Tannahill very closely

And you like him a lot Through now 10 games of his second season Where would you put him right now What do you think about it? He stagnated a little bit in the second year I think he's had moments where You were excited especially early I think it's been a little frustrating that he hasn't developed more.

That's what I'd say. But it doesn't really change my long-term belief in him. Percy Harvin made an impact in his season debut, returning a kickoff 58 yards late in the first half to set up a Russell Wilson, 19-yard touchdown past the Doug Baldwin, and the Seahawks rolled to a franchise record 13th straight home win with a 41-28 victory over the Vikings. I watched this game.

Percy Harvin, he got some good on field time. They only targeted him once. He had a great kind of circus catch that kept a touchdown drive alive. And then he had that great run back. It only happened because Jermaine Kerr suffered a concussion, which pressed Harvin into kickoff duties. But he looked good. He looked fast.

So that's a really good sign. The Seahawks now go into their buy at 10-1 and complete control in the NFC West three-game. lead. And then we talked about that number one seed, whether they were going to get it. The real test is going to come out of that buy week because they come out of the buy and they have the Saints. They have a home game against the New Orleans Saints, which is going to obviously be a tough one.

And then they go to San Francisco and play the Niners at the stick. If they come out of those two games with wins, they're going to probably roll to that number one seed, but that will be the big test. Ooh, that Saints game is good That's Monday night football game And all the Saints have to do is win on Thursday Here against Atlanta And that matchup will basically be for who's got the number one seed in the NFC

Everything's on the line And on the Viking side, Christian Ponder got benched He was okay in the first half And then the wheels kind of came off in the second half Through two picks Including a ugly pick six That probably is on the short list of his worst passes ever

Matt Castle finished of the game after the game, Leslie Frazier would not comment on who would be the starter at Lambo. But you have to wonder, this might be the end of the road for Ponder as the man in Minnesota. This coaching staff has no idea what to do at quarterback. At quarterback, they're like a Lovie Smith team. They have no idea what they're doing from week to week. How does it make any sense to go to Matt Castle, 25 points down in the fourth quarter? What does that do for your team?

Why not put in Josh Freeman and see what he has? They don't know how to coach defense either, worth pointing out. That's a problem. He's gone. Yeah, I mean, and that's the other problem. Like, they don't even really know who their backup is. They have these two guys that they seem to be kind of the number two. They have no idea who their backup is.

And a week ago, they were saying this is Ponder's job to lose, and we hope he takes it for the rest of the season, and then they pull him in the fourth quarter. It's tricky rushing Rogers back for this week, because if you're Mike McCarthy, you have to feel pretty confident you can beat the Vikings. that if we can't beat the Vikings, even with Tolzine, we've got problems. I wish this would be one of those things like a common sense thing. It never works out this way.

But why wouldn't you start Tolzine, see how the game's going? And then if you get in trouble, get Rogers in there. Like, why wouldn't that be something that could be done? Why don't they have coaches? I think if you were to do that, you would have to, like, Rogers could be the only one in on that game plan. You couldn't let the rest of the team know that he was available. Right. Right.

And I don't even have them on the sidelines during the game. Oh, I have him in the locker room and then play his entrance music? Exactly. Like Willis Rigg coming out of the tunnel? Or what if they built one of those underground platforms from the Def Leppard? And then you had it like spring up and he comes out and the smoke comes up. Maybe it was Bon Jovi and have one of those effects. Gladiator type of deal?

They need something. They need a spark. I would be on board with that. Now we're starting to go into Damash X Vision for the NFL. WWE style. How do you want, fella? Absolutely. This is all good stuff that will never happen, sadly.

All right, that is it. That is all the week 11 games. There is one more game Monday night, and it's a great one. It is the Patriots going to Carolina to face the Panthers, five game winning streak Panthers. That will be one. We don't always talk about the Monday Night game on the Wednesday pod, but we might have to talk about that one when it comes.

I think we will. We can't predict the future, though, either. You know, who knows? Maybe we won't talk about it. It's the ATL's team, the official team, Carolina Panthers. It's fair. yeah so we will be back on wednesday until then this is dan hansis signing off for the mailman the boss k rich behind the glass and lyell the at all interl until wednesday

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