NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL ATL: Week 12 recap

Episode Date: November 25, 2013

A room full of heroes, Gregg Rosenthal, Dan Hanzus and Marc Sessler recap all of the Week 12 action including the “Sunday Night Football” matchup between the Denver Broncos and the New England Patriots. Don’t miss the key takeaways and analysis from each game. The gang also gives fellow hero Chris Wesseling a surprise call. 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. Always gets the pick six. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the League podcast. My name is Dan Hansis, and I'm joined by two heroes, Mark Sessler, and Greg Rosenthal. What up, boys? How you doing?

Oh, man. Dan's excited. His big night. His new favorite team, the Patriots, what a classic. What a life. What a life for Greg Rosenthal. Think about it. If you are a New England sports fan, everything comes up roses. Well, they listed at some point during the game we're about to talk about all the championships that have been won in that Boston sports area in the last, what, 10 years. I don't think if you had a few drinks and you could even name all these.

Yeah. It's outrageous. You forgot my wife is a professionally trained chef, too. What a life. What a life for this guy. but does she love you? Well, it comes and goes. You know, I'm just happy Mark is here tonight. He's not always here on Sunday nights, and he's here for the latest, greatest, you know, biggest Sunday night of the year.

Yeah, we're all little time. Just powering through. So, yes, the game we're obviously talking about is the Sunday night classic, the New England Patriots, a 3431 win in overtime, a game in which the Denver Broncos were up 24-0 at the end of the midway through the second quarter things spiraled out of control all of a sudden it was the patriots up 31 24 to the bronco's credit and Peyton manning's credit even though he had a subpar game they they managed to you know some testicular fortitude tie the game up at 31 late go to overtime and then tony carter

plays the role of Rahim more punt hits him wrong place wrong time field goal Patriots win and the Broncos, same old questions about the Broncos. Can they win in a big spot? Again, they prove they cannot, and now we must wait until January. I'm so angry. What an insane game that the greatest comeback in Patriots franchise history, which is also, of course, Tom Brady's biggest comic, almost felt like an afterthought by the end because the Patriots took the lead with 740 left in the game, and it just felt like

our minds had been blown 31 points in the first 22 minutes of that second. half out of nowhere. But then there was a whole other game that happened after that. There was a lot to talk about. Manning looked great. Belichick decides to kick the ball and take the wind in overtime. It goes back and forth. There's penalties.

And then the fluke play ends it. I don't know. I don't know what to say. Well, that's a good way to put it because, you know, as the game is evolving, we're like, what should we write about? What are we going to focus on the three of us? How do we cut this up? And a couple times we had latched on to, this is our,

storyline. And it kept changing and it kept becoming more and different as the moments went on. It was a very bizarre game. Just imagine if when the Belichick tells the Patriots to defer on the overtime kickoff, imagine it the Broncos go down the field, put six on the board and end the game. Literally every piece of content would be lined up for NFL.com and NFL network for a week straight. It would have been an in-game version of Bountygate. I mean, it would have been outrageous. That's why I love this game, not just because the Patriots won. but that helps. The narrative-busting moment to the game,

because everyone was ready to talk about how Manning can't play in the cold at all. And he did only end up with 4.2 yards per attempt, and he was 11 for 23 for 93 yards when they were going into the wind. So there was something to it. But everyone is going to talk about how he couldn't play in the cold weather. Anyone that talks about that tomorrow did not watch that drive, because that was one of the drives of the year that he put together at the end of regulation to force over. I don't think there's – well, Brady badly outplayed Manning in this case.

game. But I do think there is something to that, at least, that at this stage of his career, while Manning remains one of the elite passers in the league, his arm isn't built for these type of conditions. So I think especially when you have the situations where he's going into the win, it really cuts down on a lot of what they're able to do. I think there is something to that. Yeah, but I mean, let's look at this game, how it started where this was Von Miller's night out of the gate. He had a 60-yard fumble recovery, took it into the house, strip sack on Brady on the next drive. Took it to the house, into the house.

That's a little different. He opened the door. He walked into the house, made himself a sandwich. Broncos up 7-0. But it's like they sat on the ball. It's like my grandmother trying to use a sports term or something. Rano ran for 200 plus. I mean, they didn't have to, they didn't more, you know,

Manning didn't have to go to the air early on. They were almost conservative with the way they approached the game from the beginning of that big lead they built. Oh, and by the way, Noshan Moreno ran for 224 yards on 37. carries he might not be able to take another carry the rest of the year they used them up so much in this game i mean that would be a big story he'll have the mobility of late period fdr after this but at the same time it was a great game buddy i you know i love all the narrative busting and dan and i had a conversation about and a good one whether it was a shame that the game ended on this fluke play after so much happened you know but the more i thought about it

That's what this game was. There was 10 fumbles. The Patriots had six fumbles in the first quarter and a half. I mean, that's football. Football is a fluke. A team won the Super Bowl last year, essentially because Colin Kaepernick and Jim Harbaugh couldn't get the play in on time. I mean, that's what happened sometimes.

Teams win because of fluke. So I think it was a totally fitting in. What a life for Greg. Oh, stop. All right, let's move on. Up next, it's time for our weekly call. to our Chicago correspondent. He's a legend.

They call him Kevin Patra. Kevin Patra, what is happening? How's it going today, fellas? It's going great. What happened to that little bit where you would tell us what Kevin was coming back from with some Chicago celebrity?

I like that. Remember that? That was pretty good. There was a level of preparation that I wasn't prepared to keep up on a weekly basis. You ran out of Chicago celebrities. Now, there are surprisingly a lot of them,

but I also didn't get a good crowd pop from within the studio, as often happens. You know, kind of got left hanging, so maybe it's not really working, but now I'm being told it works. Well, it's kind of like, you know, a lot of good TV shows that don't have a laugh track. You don't need that laughter.

You're at home watching it. You know. You know it's good. But I'm a professional podcaster, and I can feel it in the room. Didn't feel it. Just saying. All right, but that's good to know.

It's good to know. Kevin Patra, you watch two games and covered them very closely today, and we'll start with your boys. Matthew Stafford's fourth interception went in and out of Calvin Johnson's hands inside the Tampa Bay 5 in the final minute, allowing the Buccaneers to hold on for a 24-21 win over the lines on Sunday. The Bucks have now won three straight after losing their first eight games, joining the 1978 St. Louis Cardinals as the only team to do that. Kevin Patra, this is a bad loss for your lines, isn't it? terrible and the last play was pretty emblematic of the entire game

just bad turnovers and drop passes some good plays by the buck's secondary but really just poor decisions on half and stafford and he didn't get much help from his receivers the whole game either um the bucks didn't really do i mean on offense glennon only through 21 passes he looked really good in the first half completed at one point eight in a row um he had one big bomb in the second half and that was pretty much all its production in the second half and that was all the the bucks

forced the turnovers and the lions gave them right to them that's pretty much all that's pretty much the story of the game Kevin so Detroit sitting at 6 and 5 notch there with the Bears are you uh as a lion's fan are you concerned

I mean with two I guess so you haven't say yet because while nobody wants a division losing two winnable games especially one at home to a 2-and-8 team. I mean, you can't look at that situation and say that you have faith that you're going to beat Green Bay, even at home on Thanksgiving, even with the way their defense is

played. I mean, where does the confidence come with that? Doesn't this go back to what we were saying, though, on the last podcast where they're literally the team that can beat anybody and lose to anybody, and when you're dealing with that type of situation, you can't feel good at all about a team being a real power player in their conference. Correct. And it really has to do. I mean, if you look at their losses, it's when Matthew Stafford hasn't performed well

when he's turned the ball over. The Green Bay game is a good example without Calvin Johnson. He was completely lost. They didn't have any production. When he goes in the tank, the team goes in the tank, the defense played it well enough today. It's not a great deal with, but they played well enough today in the second half to win that game.

They just didn't force the turnovers. And Stafford gave away four picks. You can't throw pick six, and you can't miss Calvin Johnson multiple times wide open. down the field and expect to win the game. I was hoping Stafford had kind of taken that next step. It seems like he's a little more up and down than we'd like. They had five turnovers, and the Bucks didn't have any. It's almost impossible to win that.

Such a weird stat game. I mean, they only gave up 10 first down. They had 25. Mike Lennon threw for almost 12 yards. Mike Lennon and Greg Shiano are making a great case to be the guys there in Tampa next year. And if they keep winning, I don't think the ownership's going to have too much to say about it. They're going to have to keep them. Yeah, Kevin, are you seeing what a lot of people are seeing,

which is that Mike Lennon looks like he could play a little bit? Yeah, he definitely showed that, especially in the second half. I mean, he got, there were a certain point where he had all day, but he was just pinpoint passing in the first half. And like I said, the 85-year-upon was just a beautiful, perfect strike in stride. I mean, he couldn't throw a ball any better. I do think whether Shian is there or not, I think the next coach would have a really hard decision to make

whether he'd want to keep Glennon or not anyway. All right, so let's move on to your second game. Austin, 65-yard touchdown run, his fourth straight this season from beyond midfield. Jump-started a 21-point first quarter for the St. Louis Rams as they defeated the Chicago Bears 42 to 21 on Sunday. Kevin Patcher, we forked the St. Louis Rams. Is that something that we should really be starting to get nervous about? No.

Good. All right, thanks, Kevin. No. Go ahead. No, I mean, first of all, look at their division. This is a Rams team that does play well at home, and their strength running the ball is the bear's biggest weakness stopping the run. I mean, the Rams just run right down the throat.

Zach Stacey was just unstoppable in the first half. He went out with a head injury, and Benny Cunningham just continued to plow right through the Bears' defense. The Bears can't get stops on defense. They can't. So I don't think it was as much to do with the Rams moving forward and competing for a playoff spot as much as. it was the Bears' defense not being able to stop, but the Rams do well.

The Bears are better. I mean, the Rams are better than any AFC wildcard contender going for that six-spot. They're just stuck in the wrong conference. I could see them getting to nine wins easily. They've played really well. I mean, I watched this game. They were dominating the line of scrimmage up front. Cullen Clemens does enough each week.

They have an identity. I mean, Benny Cunningham is a factor. You've got to get excited about that. Yeah. As far as the Rams defense, I mean, They are ferocious up front, but McCown did actually play pretty well. I mean, that secondary is banged up for the Rams, and when McCown got outside of the pocket when he got any time,

he kind of picked him apart, too. So that would be a concern for me as well. One quick Rams question, almost for anyone. I just don't see a major drop-off from Sam Bradford to whoever the next guy is. They look just as active on offense as they ever did with him. Do you really want to latch your future to Sam Bradford at this point? Why, just because they're winning with Kellyn Clemens? No, not because of that, because nothing that Bradford ever did

was anything better than what they're doing with Kelly and Clemens, frankly. Do you re-up with this guy? Well, you're locked in with him right now, right? Yeah, I mean, it's, is contracts at a point you can keep, I think you can delay the decision another year? It's not something you have to worry about now or even really next year. Thank you, Kevin. I appreciate it, fellas. Have a good one.

So you're saying if you're the Rams, you just shouldn't look ahead at all? I don't even worry about this. It's not an issue. Do I think they should cut Sam Bradford? No, I don't think cut him. No. I guess I'm asking it. I just, it's been in my mind for a while.

I'm so unsold on Sam Bradford. But how does the recent play of the Rams have anything to do with Sam Bradford, whether he's the long-term answer? Well, I think they're a better team, whether with or without him, that they've found what their identity is to center their offense around the run game. What's your identity? That's a mystery. Yeah, we all need identities.

different podcast, Dan is... What's yours, Dan? The great rumfer Johnny. I call him rummy. He said that I'm Norm, from Cheers, and Cessler is Frazier. I think he labeled me Diane.

Oh, you're Diane. I think I was Frazier. Greg is Frasier, and of course, Wes is Cliff. Yeah. And I guess that would probably make K. Rich, I don't know, maybe Kirstie Alley.

Yeah. I like that. She's Woody. I'll take that. Wait, Woody. Oh, that's an insult. Woody was the breakout star, though. You have to give him credit for that. I'll take Chris 14.

Woody is still working. The rest of them are not? I like her attitude. I'll take Christy All right. Good. All right. So let's call Chris Wessling. We've got to get Wes on the line.

I figure it only makes sense to call Wes. Mark, where would West be right now? Well, we knew. We knew that he'd be at Huckapoo's because I believe he's sleeping there at nights. Huckapoo's, which is the, Wes is back home at Tybee Island. Uh, how Capoos is the local... It's the watering hole. Watering hole of record.

Uh, we figured he's there. Maybe he's not. He probably is, though, so let's give him a call. Kay Rich, can you call the bar itself? Sure thing, guys. You know, I can make anything happen. I know you can. All right, so while Kay Rich gets Wes on the cell phone, you know, this could be interesting.

I'm looking forward to some, some penetrating analysis from a sober-minded Chris Wesley. In Wes's defense, he was up at 9 in the morning in Georgia. He's put in a full day's work. He's earned those drinks. Absolutely. In no way are we questioning Wes's professionalism. Maybe a little. Yeah, a touch.

How's peace? How you doing? This is Dan Hansis with the Around the League podcast. Is Chris Wessling available? He is. He's kind of drunk. You sure you want him? Yeah.

Absolutely. That's even better. Put him on. Hey, Wes. Hello? Chris Wessling, what's up? It's Dan Hansis with Mark Sessler and Greg Rosenthal, the Iran League podcast. How are you, buddy?

Why are you calling the bar? Well, we figured that's where we could find you. We're going to do a PoozCast? Poozcats. So, yeah, you're at Huckapooze. We figured there's literally nowhere else in the planet you'd be. We've hit the nail on the head here. Are you available to talk about the games that you supposedly were plugged into today?

I was actually plugged into it Oh good, good So let's do it Well, I can barely hear you guys Do you want to call me on my cell Yeah, let's get you on the cell Let's get you on the cell All right

Okay Rich, do we have Wes Chris Westling is on the line Wes, what's up? You there? Hey, boys! All right, that sounds a lot better Apparently using the old rotary phone behind the Huckapoo's Bar

and Grill is not as good as the cell phone from modern times. Wes, how's everything going? How are you enjoying your stay out back east? Wonderful. I'm having a great time. All right, good. Sounds like it. Well, we're not going to keep you too long, because I know you have a lot of catching up to do with women mostly, but let's get right to your games, and we'll start with the one everyone's talking about. Maurice Jones drew ran for a season high, 84 yards, and a touchdown in the Jaguars extended the Houston Texans' losing streak to a franchise

record. Nine games of 13-6 victory. Wes, you were driving the Texans bandwagon. I know you've been off for a while, but I feel like you probably still have some type of loyalties. Pretty hard to have any loyalties with this team at this point, right? I feel like the biggest takeaway from this

game, don't you think that John McLean is the coolest beatwriter out there. He's like your contanker's uncle. Yeah, Houston Chronicle. Yes, he's a good man. He's so bitter, and he's like, okay, so this is Thanksgiving week. We can be thankful but the Texans only have five more games left. We only have to see them get beat down like this five more time.

Let's be fair, by the way, Wes. You were really big on Case Keenham. That's kind of come down to Earth a little bit too, right? A little Keenum buzz? He's face-planned it. He did not play well today. The Texan's offense was invisible. They had so many three-in-outs.

It looked like Jason Campbell was quarterbacking. Oh, just couldn't help himself. Wait. Even in a game like this, he's got to take a shot. shot at Mark's Gorda. Wesleying, what is up with the Jaguars on the flip side? Because since they've come out of the buy, I mean, listen, there's always been the laughing stock, but they've been a little bit frisky on defense. They have. I took note when they came on the buy. I was like, do you understand how hard they're hitting the Titans in that game? They came out killing the Titans,

and they've been playing with so much emotion. I don't want to say that they're like a decent team now, but they've won two out of three games. And after losing by double digits in the first 10 games, they've been competitive in the last three, so they're obviously a different team now. It's so weird, though, because now the Texans could wind up with a higher draft pick than the Jaguars. They would if the season

ended today, I believe. And it's all going to be based on Chad Henney, who's not going to be there next year, and Maurice Jones Drew, who's not going to be there next year. And a bunch of other people, that the Jaguars don't wind up getting this number one pick and the quarterback necessarily in the choice

that they need. MJD, by the way, What's going on? I was watching him during the press conference. He's starting to look like a young Dennis Green. It's like he could play Dennis Green in a biopic of his life. He's like a condensed Dennis Green. No, but back to Greg's point. Yeah, they still need the quarterback,

so maybe all this good play could actually hurt Shod Khan's boys in the long run, right? Yeah, if they have a picture of the Cleveland Brown's owner, or the Cleveland Indian owner, and they're picking off pieces of bikini, they're in trouble. right now. And Andre Johnson, by the way, after the game had this to say about his team or his offense specifically, we suck.

Also said they were a happy guy. Also said they were the worst team in the league. It was unwatchable, which is why I tuned out and went through the Panthers game. All right, and let's talk about your second game, which was the Panthers game. And Cam Newton converted a fourth and ten situation on his own 20 with

a completion to keep alive the Panthers' final possession. And they went on to score a touchdown. down with 43 seconds left, beating the Miami Dolphins 2016 on Sunday. Just a killer loss for the Dolphins West, and the Panthers, keep on rolling. Do you know that 4th and 10 completion was two? No. Steve Smith, and after the game, he said, how can I do that, how can anyone stop me with this monstrosity of a body I have?

What does that even mean? He's the best interview in the league. Oh, that's so great. It's so awesome. Yeah, they converted Both of their touchdown drive. They converted fourth down. It was rear-but-wrown.

Yeah. You know, when you're looking at the numbers in this game, it doesn't look too good for Carolina. Cam Newton 4.6 yards per attempt. I thought there'd be a Ted Ginn revenge factor, but he had 10 targets and 11 yards, and yet they still got the win. What was going on there?

It was, I thought it was Cam Newton's worst game of the year. He got hit in the mouth on really early in the first quarter Cam Wake hit him right in the mouth and he was spitting up blood and he wasn't himself for the next two quarters he didn't look like Cam Newton he looked sluggish

I'm not saying he had a concussion but he was not Cam Newton he was moving slowly and then they came out of halftime and they were a different team they came back and they were the Panthers but my like biggest takeaway was that they are not the same defense without Charles John we saw that in the Patriots game

they were up what 14 to 3 or something and then Johnson gets hurt and they're down 20 to 17 they are not the same defense without their best pass rusher. How did you're making the leap favorite preseason Lamar Miller look in this one?

They don't have a running game. As Greg looks at the box score. I am off the Lamar Miller train and you should be off the Daniel Thomas train. Yeah, I guess they come back. Get off all dolphins-related trains. Just go ahead and do it.

Five games now. they've been held under 25 yards rushing in the backfield. And that's, I don't know how you can win in the NFL like that. So now I feel like Wes is going to, we're going to get off the phone, and then he's going to get back on top of, like, on the chair, and then they're going to lift him in the air and just carry him around the bar, and they'll have a crown on, and it'll have like a big mug in each hand. Just conquering hero type stuff.

It does seem that way. Actually, that's a good guess. That's exactly what I'm going to do right now. Wes, go get back at it. Come home soon. I'm going to go get some. All right. Ice up, son.

Ice up, son. This Carolina win is kind of one of those that you wanted to see out of them, though, a game where they don't really play very well, and they still manage to get the win. That's what good teams do. It's setting up their two games against the Saints just to be Titanic clashes. I'm really looking forward to this. This would have kind of ruined those games a little bit, and they got out of it.

I wouldn't look past the bucks next week. That's fair. That'll be a good matchup. You know you're a good team when you win, your letdown games. Something that our teams don't know a whole lot about him. We're getting to that. In fact, why don't we get to that?

Joe Flacco threw a 66-yard touchdown pass to Jacoby Jones. Justin Tucker kicked four field goals and the Baltimore Ravens shut down the sputtering offense of the New York Jets and a 193 victory on Sunday. Last Sunday I talked about how the Gino coaster had derailed and I was off the Gino coaster. I couldn't do it anymore. Nothing that happened on Sunday. did anything to change my mind.

And I'll give you this one stat before I throw it to you guys. With Gino Smith, a quarterback, the Jets have now scored one touchdown in their last 31 possessions. The guy is not the answer, maybe not forever, but right now he is not the answer. And every game they stick with him right now, they're putting themselves at a serious disadvantage. So you would make the move to Matt Sims this week before they play Miami? That is how bad things are for the Jets and how bad their depth chart is, is that Rex is in this position, and again, and we were talking about this downstairs, Rex is not safe. I know there was a lot of talk that the nice start to the season and how the players have responded

and he got some positive comments from his GM that, you know, he'll be back next year. If they go in the tank and they still lose double-digit games, he's in deep trouble. Now he's in a situation where he has a rookie quarterback in Gino Smith who has no confidence right now. I mean, you could tell the guy's confidence is shoddy. He has 24 completions in the past three games. I mean, they're just not moving the ball through the air. And he can only turn to Matt Sims, an undrafted free agent with no experience and, you know, questionable physical skills. It's just they're in a bad spot, but it might be the only thing they can do to potentially jumpstart their season.

See, I'd have a big issue with them after what the Jets have done this season. When the expectations were outrageously low, Rex has done a good job. And you put what Gino's done week after week, a lot of coaches, a lot of good coaches would struggle. to win games with that. And we're going to fire Rex Ryan with a roster that supports him. There's been very little drama there. He's handled all the ups and downs fine.

This is the season that we fire him after? I think he's going to get fired even if they go 8 and 8. I thought that all along, though, right? Or no? The owner's a Rex fan. I just think when a new general manager comes in, he wants to do it his way and that they're going to have to have a winning...

I've thought all along they're going to end up having to have a winning record right or wrong. I think it would be wrong, too. I agree with your point. Does Idzik have that much power? I don't want to get off track, but I mean, honestly, like, this hasn't been a disaster. Well, not yet. There's still a third of the season to go.

Yeah. That's fair. They were the worst five and four team we talked about it in NFL history in terms of point differential. Now they're five and six, and maybe their record's going to catch up with how good they really are. Right. And one thing I do want to say about Gino Smith is they're putting him in a tough spot too because obviously we know there's no weapons around him. The offensive line play has been subpar. did today in which kind of feeds into my feeling about them needing to maybe go in a different

direction for now is they are they have no faith in him and their game plan dictated that there was a lot of running the ball on first and second down a lot of wildcat um just the idea that they're going to play it very safe and that led to a lot of like third and sevens and third and eights for gino when he's not playing well and the defense knows what's coming so they're all they're all messed up now and a lot of that goes back to that they've lost faith in the quarterback um you know So, you know, you have that thing going on. He doesn't have a touchdown since the Patriots game. He has seven interceptions in that span.

And Rex was asked after the game, will Gino be the starter next week? He did not have an answer for that, which I believe is a first. So he's getting to the point where he's seriously thinking about it. And when a coach doesn't give an answer, I think it's on the table. They play the dolphins next week. That's a battle of the two of the five and six teams that are all tied for the wild card spot. And I think there's a chance we see. Or it's not his decision entirely.

That's 23 turnovers, by the way. Good defense they played, at least. Got to give him some credit. They did play good defense. And just a couple other quick notes. Ed Reed, and we knew this, but Ed Reed is not Ed Reed anymore. There was a deep ball. Joe Flacco had some nice deep balls today in tough conditions.

One of them basically was thrown right in the vicinity where Ed Reed, the old Ed Reed, would have had an interception. In this case, he didn't react quickly enough. And it was a long touchdown for Jacoby Jones. So the whole idea of bringing in that Reed to solve the jet steep all woes is not going to do it. And just because we like talking about the snowsuit, Ray Rice, off that 131-yard breakout game against the Bears last week, 30 yards on 16 carries. Which is why, honestly, even though the Rams are running the ball well, we shouldn't look at anything they did today or anything anyone does against Chicago's defense and take it seriously. The Ravens is sets up the big Thanksgiving night.

Mark Sessler is going to be in the building in Culver City, getting ready, Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens. Greg, up out of his chair at the concept of me working on Thanksgiving night. Steelers, Ravens. Sessler, Sessler, Sessler's family 300 miles away. Sessler alone, Sessler going to die alone. Sessler, Sessler, Sessler, Sessler, Settler, Sessler. Football. Yeah, we think the winner of this game is the AFC Wild Card. Do we agree with that? Ravens? I'm not, as you just said, there's a third of the season left, so I'm not ready to go there yet. By the way, thank you for joining us on Sunday night, Mark.

You're welcome. I'm currently on shift right now, so I'm enjoying this. Here I am. I'm enjoying this. All right, let's move on. Ben Rafflesberger threw two touchdown passes and beat Cleveland again as the Pittsburgh Steelers move back into the playoff picture with a 27-11 win over the Browns on Sunday. Mark, you stuck your neck out for your team on Friday.

You picked them. That was your hero pick. The hero crashes to the ground. a sad failure. I really thought that Cleveland this was a game at home that they'd get up for and they'd play well and from very, very early

on it was evident that was not going to happen. And this to me remains a team well I thought a couple weeks ago they were a quarterback away from being competitive. I still think they're not far away from being a decent team that can go deep into the season and contend

but they've got issues beyond Jason Campbell and beyond Brandon Weeden But listen, you cannot compete. I don't care how bad that six wildcard team is going to be in the AFC without a quarterback. And that's what Cleveland lacks right now. They don't have it. You know, Jason Campbell came out. He was not that different from what he was last week.

He was a checkdown robot. He tried to throw the ball down field a little bit more. But you know what? He just, he doesn't seem to see the entire field. In comes Whedon, who commits a ghastly fumble before throwing a pick six. Brendan Whedon will never die, by the way. He will not. And I don't want to take away.

Honestly, the story of the game, which is Pittsburgh, because their defense has played really well of late. They did a great job today. They shut down Cleveland entirely. And with Big Ben, you know, Wesleyan was right a couple weeks ago when Pittsburgh looked completely out of it. It doesn't matter what's around Big Ben. He makes it happen. Antonio Brown got the best of Joe Hayden. And Cleveland's season is done.

We're forked them. Preview the fork. And there are only one game out of the playoffs. You have to admit that's a true statement. Right. And Greg and I got into it in the newsroom. Because, Greg is right, mathematically and statistically, yes, they're one game out. But the way they played today and what they did last week in two key AFC North games

where they could have changed everything, they completely didn't show up. That to me tells me this is still a 5 and 11 Browns team. And we have an AFC team in this 5 and 6 mix that is capable of going on a run because they started their run when they got home from London. And that's the Pittsburgh Steelers. They were 0 and 4, and now they're what, they're 5 and 6. So do the math. I mean, they've been on a good run.

Really, they had that one game in Oakland where they gave up a couple big fluky plays and they couldn't get it done. They missed some kicks in that game. But other than that, they've consistently been a pretty good team for about seven games now. And they're better than Baltimore. We'll see. You know the number one toy being targeted by shoppers on Black Friday is supposed to be? I don't even want to know.

Check down robots. Took me a while to get to that. I was concerned with where you're going to go on that with the answer to that. Humor. Humor cuts through all. How pathetic is the whole, like, Black Friday thing, though, as a thing? As a society, I'm just saying. Oh, I couldn't agree more. It's completely antiquated, too.

Although, have you ever participated in it? I've never shopped, period, but in general. Greg, not human. I don't buy things for other people, but, you know. Well, just go on the computer and check out there and spend literally 17 more You know what I think it is, in my experience? It's when you get the whole family together. They've got 18, 19 people, and it's a way for a pocket.

Typically, I don't want to, you know, generalize, but it's like mother and daughter, a grandmother, go out to get out of the house away from the men that have just been sitting around, eating, drinking, watching TV for two days. It's like a Norman Rockwell. And they get out of there. And whatever's they do, they just get out of there, and it's good for them. Are you being sexist right now? I don't know.

Do you go, well, do the guys go to Black Friday while the women sit home? Oh, yeah, the guys go too. You're talking to a big Black Friday shoppery. So explain it. Do you enjoy that? I enjoy it so much. First, you eat a good Thanksgiving meal. You maybe get in a nap, if possible, with all the festivities and drinks and food.

You take a little nap. You wake up at the crack of dawn. You go. You rush to get your stuff. And it's really good deals out there. I don't want to sound like I'm advertising, but you get good deals. And just, you know, if you happen to trample over someone, it's like football. Why not do that like two weeks before?

If people really love getting up at five in the morning and sleep and then go and shopping, like do that a couple weeks before Black Friday and avoid the rush. Well, you want to hear some real poppycock. You have to get the deals though. Whatever. The deals are outrageous. You want to hear some real poppycock? Stores are now opening on Thursday.

They're calling it Brown Thursday, which is then taking all those employees out of their family's homes on Thanksgiving. I won't stand for it. I worked on Thanksgiving before double time. worked on Thanksgiving. We all have the last like 10 years. We're part of American tradition with the NFL. Anyway, let's move on. Tangent. Don't chop on Thursday. You're hurting America. Backup quarterback Matt Flynn threw for 218 yards to help the Packers storm back from a 16-point deficit against the Vikings. The two teams traded field goals in overtime, and we had our first tie of the season, 26-26 at Lambeau Field. I hate this. I love symmetry. One of my favorite things

about sports is symmetry, everything balancing out. Dan, a tie is the most symmetrical thing you can get. And that's a great point, and I respect you for that point. But at the same time, I hate it. You throw a dash one into the mix. It clouds up the playoff picture. It doesn't, aesthetically, it doesn't look right. I'm not happy about it.

It was a big tie. It sounds weird. If we knew this was the result ahead of time, you would think the Packers really blew an opportunity to get back on top of the division. but just the fact they got this tie with Tolzine and Flynn keeps them right in the mix heading into the Thanksgiving game. They need to win that one anyways. Now they're only a half a game back.

They're not going to win any tie breaks to win in division, but it's almost as good as a win. I would call this today's most depressing storyline. The fact that Matt Flynn is back in Green Bay driving the Packers to touchdown. I cannot believe this. Why is that depressing? I don't want anything to do with.

Matt Flynn back on the field playing for the Packers. It's weird. You know what today did? I think it took off. Why is it weird? Why do you hate Matt Flynn so much? He floats around the league. Like, loses starting jobs over and over, and he's back in Green Bay as a system quarterback, generating yardage and points.

Get him out of there. Isn't it a redemption tale? I don't see it that way. He's been paid to do nothing for years. That's not redemption. Well, and he's got to be in a big spot. Unless Aaron Rogers comes back this week, they're playing. playoff hopes is riding on Matt Flynn against the same team that he broke all those records,

the Detroit Lions. Yeah, this snapped a three-game losing streak for the Packers, but they still haven't won in a month now, and you just wonder, I don't know when Rogers comes back, but you wonder when they look back at the end of December and they went a whole month of that winning in a competitive conference, you wonder if it's going to end up keeping them out, you know? My takeaway from this and everything that happened in the NFC North, we've talked about all their games. Now, that team's not getting a wild card. I think it's going to be second

place in the West and second place in the South. It's going to be Carolina and one of those West teams. And one other things. We saw some tweets after the game. Some Packers players didn't know the game could end in a tie. We're still seeing this. Every time there's a tie. Why does this pop up every

time we have a tie? It's ridiculous. It's like a guy that comes to work wearing shorts and then a memo gets sent out and it's like no shorts and then everybody's shocked about it. And then a couple months later, again, a guy comes with shorts, another memo, people are still shocked, and then another guy comes with shorts? Like, at what point, is everyone just stupid for not understanding that you can't wear shorts? I think, like, humanity is crescendoed. I know that

this podcast is going to be an hour and a half long, but let me raise a question to you, too. Let me see what you think. In overtime. Oswald acted alone. We're past that. Oh, we're past that. Okay, go ahead. In overtime, Mike McCarthy chooses to kick a field goal from the two-yard line. Now, it's tied at that point. There are any thought there that you just go for the win from the two-yard line? Yeah, your team on the brink. Yeah, it's, I didn't even think of that, but that makes sense.

I mean, because then it becomes true sudden death, only that team is backed up, even if you fail, barring some type of horrible turnover, they're backed up. There's some logic there for sure. I haven't looked at advanced NFL stats or any of the stats people talking about. I would strongly suspect that the numbers are with you going for them. Because of what you said too, because if you don't get it, you're still pinning them. And yes, I think that's very interesting quote. And I also want to say the reason why maybe you go for it there is because the Packers' defense,

I know Aaron Rogers being out is the main reason why, but, you know, they've been leaky. And you put the game back in their hands and they didn't get the job done. And so there you go. You know, Riverboat Ron would have went for it. That's all I'm going to say. Philip Rivers threw for 392 yards and three touchdowns. The final one, a 26-yarder to, let me see if I got this. Sayji Adjorotutu.

Seijiotutu. Come on, man. I mean, he's been around. This is like his fourth time with the judges, I believe. With 24 seconds remaining to give the San Diego Chargers a 41-38 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday that ends the Chargers three-game losing streak. Greg, are the Chargers alive? They are.

Mark picked them to be the team that emerged from this wild card morass because they have a quarterback and they have a quarterback that went over 390 yards for the fourth time this season. That's only happened twice in NFL history before this. Joe Montana, Dan Marino, and now Philip Rivers. And it just goes to show you never know what's going to happen when you dole out the assignment and what games are going to be great. I never expected this to be a 41 to 38 game where nine touchdowns were scored in the last

32 minutes, I believe. It was wild. It was a lot of fun. I was disappointed during the season. I've been disappointed periodically with where my draft pick has been for picking games. I missed the draft entirely this week, apparently, because I just got a game assignment with no correspondence at all. The Jets pick was your number one pick.

I knew it was. play like a fantasy draft that would have let that line the weeds and went back and got it in the second round. That would have been an interesting strategy. Two important things. The Chiefs, obviously, they now lost two games in a row. Also, they lost their top pass rusher, Tom Bahaliy, Ali, and Justin Houston to injuries. And now the Broncos coming into their house.

So, you know, Chiefs, Mark, you called it actually on Friday. You said that a three-game losing streak would be staring at the Chiefs, and that could happen here. Two quick things. Greg made a good point that even before these two premier pass rushers were gone. Kansas City's not been getting to the quarterback the same way they were earlier in the year. For a month. For a while, right? And I looked at the first takeaway I had when I looked at the score was like, wait, Kansas City put up 38 points.

Alex Smith had his best game of the year. He was protected really well. It was kind of a matchup of weaknesses. Could the Chargers defense stop anyone? They got no pass rush on him. They kept picking up third in tens. He made a lot of good throws. He put them in the lead with a touchdown with only a minute and a half to go.

It looked like it was going to be kind of Alex Smith's big moment. And I thought, wow, this is great. The offense actually carries them for one game after the defense just collapsed, but they couldn't hold Philip Rivers back. Keenan Allen and Lardarius Green are just an unbelievable one-two punch right now at wide receiver in tight end. Green has to be the fastest tight end in the league. I mean, he is the fastest guy in that team with the ball.

You now have him and Gates, and Matthews is playing while he went out with a hamstring and Alan. They got a lot going on. Their schedule is really rough, but let's go back to Kansas City. But this was supposed to be one of their toughest games, and they just won it. Do you think that Kansas City can generate a win against the Broncos next week? No way. I wouldn't have said they had much of a chance even with Houston and Ali, and those two injuries looked serious.

We don't know about their availability. Carson Palmer threw two touchdown passes to Lyra Fitzgerald. Carlos Dansby returned to an interception 22 yards for a score in the Arizona Cardinals won their fourth in a row with a 40-11 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. The Around the League team picked the Cardinals across the board. We were a little surprised that happened, but apparently we were on to something. A total blowout. Mark, you watched that game very closely.

Tell me what you saw. You know, this was the kind of game for me. You got two teams that are right in the middle of that playoff group. in each conference, who's going to show up and say we really are the better of the two? Arizona just stamped them. This was over so quickly. And, you know, the Colts had been outscored 93 to 9 in the first half over the last four games. I don't know what the deal is.

I don't know if it's coaching. I don't know if it's an inability to just make plays early. It obviously is that to some degree. They were so roughed up and so outplayed. I see a team in Indianapolis that wants to get this ground game going and start to set the tempo with that, but they don't have the people to do it. They can't get it done. And Andrew Luck can't rescue them out of every 21 and nothing hole.

They were down 27 to 3 at the halftime. Is he a reason why they're falling into these holes? Did he play well today? I don't think that Andrew Luck is at all the issue. He's by far their best player. But honestly, it was just that you talk, get thrown weight out. get, whatever your game plan was, they were thrown out of it so far. And props to Carson Palmer. Fourth straight, good game, honestly. Where I thought this is the reason that the Cardinals are a seven and

nine team. He's actually played well and you put him, you know, they've got a couple of weapons on that team. It's not just Larry Fitzgerald anymore. And they, they really, they're kind of jelling because their defense is, is interesting. The defense is a weapon. Outstanding. And defense scored points today. And, you know, I just, I look at this. And they're one of the best home teams in the league. They've proven it now. They have. They've got the Niners on the ropes because they've got a half-game lead. The Niners can tie it up tomorrow night.

But no, who would have thought this is where we'd be with the Cardinals at this point? You should call you Mark Saucy. You think the Niners are on the ropes in the NFC West. Well, I mean, they technically are. They have to win to keep pace with the Cardinals. And then the Panthers have changed everything. Let's take a look at the rest of the Cardinals schedule because I am interested. This was a legit win.

They had a couple easy wins after they're by. They're now seven and four. They have at Eagles, home to Rams, at Titans, at Seahawks, home to Niners. So it tightens up a little bit in the back end there. Last thing, I honestly think that Bruce Ariens should be a back-to-back coach of the year. That would be awesome. Two different organizations, I like it. We talked about that before the season.

It's his chance to make history, not just a man in his 60s wearing Kangles, but a man that could win coach of the year for two different teams. It's crazy. Just him and Samuel L. Jackson, the only 60-something dudes wearing cangles. By the way, Greg, the statement committee gathered on that game. Yes. They ruled the Cardinals

delivered a high-level statement. Statement win. Statement. What is the statement? We good. Moving on, Ryan Fitzpatrick threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Kendall Wright with 10 seconds remaining to cap a mistake-free performance that

put the Tennessee Titans back in playoff contention with a 2319 win over the Oakland Raiders. On Sunday, this was a game that was very tough. I picked the Raiders this week. I thought they had this one. I thought Wes's, the softball pants was going to be some serious danger on the softball pants front. But as it turns out, Ryan Fitzpatrick, a little Fitzmajor,

playing the way he did in Buffalo before he got that big contract extension. And I will say this, fellas. I wrote last couple weeks ago that I thought the only thing that could keep the Titans in the mix here was Fitzpatrick getting on one of those roles? He's rolling, Sessler. Oh, you know, by the way, I know this is Greg's game. Is it Greg's game? I'm not going to get in your way.

Listen, we forked the Titans. Yeah, I'm fine about that. I'm just saying anything can happen. We knew that one of these teams that were forked are going to win this game. We forked the Redskins and Greg had to contribute as he's told us many times money to a charity because of that. Now, he has promised that if the Titans get to the playoffs, he will drop a $500 bill on the Rocky Top Foundation for Children and Tots.

That's true? That is not a real charity. Rocky Top Foundation for Children and Tots. I'm sure it is. Children are Tots. Well, listen, I'm not sure they named it as succinctly as they could, but that's where the money is going. You would think that they would put some time into naming their charity and not having obvious flubs in the text. What's the real tragedy in this game, though?

Let's be honest. The softball pants look a little safer today. This would have put the Raiders on the doorstep. Chris Wesleyan has volunteered to eat his softball pants if they get to six wins. They're at four. This would have put them at five. Their schedule gets a little tougher. And it would have been a big national story every week.

Everyone wondering, are they going to get to the sixth win? Now it's going to be a little tougher. They're going to have to pull off some upsets. I still think they have a chance. I think they'll get to that fifth win, but it's going to be tough to get to six now. A couple notes from that game. Matt McLean, he played very well. a great 27-yard touchdown pass to Marcel Reese that was 6-10 to play that looked like

had a chance to stand up. It didn't, but he played well. And then Dennis Allen after the game said that he earned another start. So Matt McGloin is number one on that depth chart. And from the Tennessee side, Kenny Britt is lost in the abyss, another couple of jobs. But Justin Hunter and Kendall Wright, that has the potential to be a really good one-two punch. I don't know where Wes had Tennessee on his rankings of wide receivers. It's probably premature.

to have them involved in that list. But those guys have a lot of potential, both over 100 yards. And Hunter was particularly impressive. He put the clown suit on two Oakland defenders on his 54-yard touchdown. So, you know, some reasons to be excited in Tennessee. One clown suit on two men.

Yeah, that makes it even more humiliating. The Titan season comes down in next week. They want to make a sweat about forking them win in Indianapolis. They have a shot. Then they're in the AFC South mix once again if they win that game. That's basically their season on the line next week. All right. Tony Romo threw two touchdown passes and let a drive that set up Dan Bailey's

35-yard field goal on the final play of the game as the Cowboys defeated the Giants 24 to 21 on Sunday at the Meadowlands. The Giants winning streak, which wasn't all that impressive to start with, is over at four games and so too is the Giants' season most likely. Right, Greg? Yeah, I think so. I've thought it's been over this whole thing. time. I'm happy to get rid of them. This was a game the Cowboys were ripe for the picking. They gave up 200 yards rushing. Cowboys stink. Let's remember those too. Cowboys control their destiny at this point. Yeah, they're six and five. So are the Eagles. But all the Cowboys have to do is beat the Redskins when they play later. And they'll have every tiebreak possible. So the week

17 matchup with the Eagles, Cowboys Eagles, it looks like that'll be for the NFCE's title. But you never know. If the Cowboys had a one game lead going into it, it's already over. said, don't they just feel like a team that it's hard to take them seriously? I think the Giants lost this game more than the Cowboys won it. The Giants were inside the 10 a couple times, settled for field goals, they got stopped on a fourth down. There was a ton of bad penalties against them, stupid penalties. But give Tony Romo a lot of credit. Game winning drives in two of the last three games. Des Bryant made huge catches on third down. When push games to shove, those two guys basically saved the day, save the defense, who

was kind of falling apart at the end. Romo successfully runs a four-minute drill to win the game. Perhaps not surprisingly, Twitter falls absolutely silent. Right. No one acknowledges when he does this. Despite all social media, including our social media director, pulling hard for a Romo to falter. Because, let's face it, that drives traffic, that drives chatter. It's a big part of the NFL experience is Tony Romo failing and embarrassing himself.

It didn't happen here. So all the Romo haters, tough day, Romo defenders, congratulations. I'm just happy we can stop talking, stop pretending and trying to convince ourselves that these are the same old giants and watch out, they're dangerous and they have not put together 60 minutes all season that have particularly impressed us. The four committee will obviously be gathering very busy, big, a lot of, we're going to have to have an extra big spread of bagels and muffins and orange juice because we've got to discuss a lot of things and the giants are obviously going to be coming up. We need to get some locks. I would never eat locks. get our culture going. That does it for our Sunday schedule. We will be back later this week, our Thanksgiving special. So be ready for that. When is that going to be?

We don't know. But it will be at some point during this week. The Thanksgiving special, Mark will definitely be involved. Wes will be involved maybe via a phone call. If he survives tonight, we don't know how that's going to play out. Let's not over anticipate that. Yeah, exactly. But until then, this is Dan Hansa signing off for the Sizzler, the boss, K. Rich behind the glass. and Lyle the intern. Until then.