NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL ATL: Week 13 recap

Episode Date: December 2, 2013

A room full of heroes -- Gregg Rosenthal, Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler and Chris Wesseling -- recap all the Week 13 action including the game of the week: the Denver Broncos and the Kansas City Chiefs. Don’t miss the key takeaways and analysis from each game. Find out if Chris Wesseling feels safe or if he’ll lose his bet and eat his softball pants. Also, we need your help naming our new segment. 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 scores more than the Browns' offense. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the League podcast. My name is Dan Hansis, and I am joined by truly a room filled with heroes. Chris Wessling, Mark Sessler, Greg Rosenthal. What up, boys.

Hey, Dan. Wessling's back. We've got him back. The prodigal son has. returned, finally. Happy to be here. Good to be back in the Studio 66. And you've got just a tiny bit more of hair on top

of your head. He's letting it grow in. The New West. It's an experiment. For a new month. I might whack it at any point. Have you checked in with H.R. just to remind them that you still are an employee here? I have not. You think I was gone for more than seven days?

Today is Sunday. Sunday night. It is our annual look back at the Sunday night games and there were a lot of good games to go through. We'll get going before that. I want to say hi to K. Rich, behind the glass. What's up, guys? It's up K. Rich. Krich said before the podcast started that she did

not know who you two was my favorite band ever and it really, really hurt me. Way to put me on the spot. Well, I didn't know the lead singer. Well, you knew that Bono was a person that was famous on some level. You had no idea. He was attached to a world famous rock band. Totally under the radar

group, though. A lot of people have never heard of that group. about this um all right Greg what were you about to say something go ahead well no you had called this our annual look back at the week that was I want to do it more often than that I love this podcast did I say that

I'm frankly I'm a little nervous to have the whole group back together it's like you know I feel like it's almost this is like the real thing we're all together but uh let's get going let's get right to it and we'll start with the game of the day the game of the week Peyton Manning threw for 403 yards

and five touchdowns four of them to Eric Decker and the Denver Broncos held off a furious rally to beat the Kansas City Chiefs 3528 Sunday. Seizing control of the AFC West, in your first day back at the office or first Sunday back, you watch that game? Tell us what you were taking out of it. I thought the story of the game was Peyton Manning's arm. Looked just fine. Nothing wrong with it whatsoever. I believe he was 8 of 10 on passes over 15 yards for 268 yards. He looked great. He threw perfect passes to Decker down the seam, hit Demarius Thomas on a 77-yard gain, hit Wes Welker really nicely on one diving catch. He looked great. The only time he had trouble,

and this was Greg Rosenthal theory after watching film, when he doesn't set his feet, if he's forced to run or if he has pressure up in the interior, that's when we see the fluttering passes. That makes sense to me, and I think we saw that today. I saw him throw. Every time I looked over, I felt like he was dropping one in the bucket. The couple of the Decker throws were deep balls. Obviously they were checking out just fine. I would think if you're a Broncos fan,

this is a very encouraging game to see the offense get back on track like this. Can I ask the question? Watching this a bit from home after I left the office, Kansas City Chief's defense, one-on-one coverage with Decker all afternoon.

Now, I understand there's so many weapons on that offense that you have to pick your poison. But it was mostly Cooper on Decker for the most of the day. Getting fried, they don't adjust the entire time. I feel like if you don't adjust what's not working against Denver, sitting duck. I think it's a fair criticism, but like you said, what are they going to do about it? Right. If it's not him, it's someone else.

Yeah, it's pick your poison offense. We've been saying that since August. Do you think now he gets five touchdowns that he can get back on this, you know, break all the records? That was your big thing early in the season, that this offense is going to break all the records. slowed down a little bit lately, although they've still scored points. Do you think they can still do that? Yes, he's still on pace to break the touchdown and passing yardage record for a single season, so I don't see why they can't do that. How about Alex Smith playing pretty well two straight weeks? He didn't get much credit for it last week. I thought he looked good out there.

Yeah, he looked great. He was making plays down the field. It was the gunslinger Alex Smith. We've seen for two weeks in a row. I think maybe Andy Reid should have unleashed the gunsinger slinger Alex Smith earlier in the season. He looked good, suffered a few drops from his receivers on plays 20, 30, 40 yards down the field that were perfect passes. I feel like we can't let this game go without talking about the elephant in the room, and that's Noshan Moreno's tears. That was the game-changing moment of the day, I felt like. That was one of the weirdest things I've ever seen in high-deaf slow-mo. Well, and Wes posited that it was eyewash potentially, but it happened during the national anthem.

because they asked him after the game, and his simple explanation was that he was just emotional. It was a moment that he got caught up in. It's possible to just store up a bunch of tears in your eye and then just let him go all at once? I feel like he needs to... None of us know. I feel like he has to marshal these resources and use them for good.

You know what I mean? I mean, he has a power that few men have. That was an impressive thing. He can cry rivers at his beck and... Right, plenty of cities in metropolitan areas need water. In your post today, you said that the Broncos are now in the driver's seat. They're going to be the number one seed. What is their schedule?

And can we make a case for them not being the one seed? You don't buy that? Because they have to win out, most likely, right? Because that Patriots loss was that damaging. And I have the schedule in front of me. So we have at home to the Titans, at home to the Chargers, at Texans, at Raiders. Sets up well. You still got a win out.

Combined record of 16 and 32 on those teams. The toughest game there, I think, is the Chargers at home. So if that's your toughest game left, you've got to like their chances. Texan's game could be frisky, potentially. Yeah, right. And what's looming in that season finale versus the Raiders is maybe the Broncos don't need that game, but the Raiders have something to play for. We'll lose.

For your sake. We'll see. That game could really do me in. And we're going to talk a little bit later about the Raiders next opponent. They have a pretty good shot next week. All right, let's move on. Nick Foles through three touchdown passes, and the Philadelphia Eagles held on for a 24-21 win

over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. Greg, the Cardinals, they have been red-hot, but this game brought them down to Earth a little bit, didn't it? Carson Palmer didn't look good. I think if he had been on target with more of his throws, they might win this game. But I'm just impressed that the Eagles defense has been such a difference maker. They had a sack fumble early in this game.

They stopped the Cardinals with the game on the line when Arizona got the ball back. The Eagles' offense was a little misleading in this game. It looked like they did well, but they went through long stretches where they did nothing. The last four drives of the game, they had two first downs. The first four drives of the game, they had five first downs. So they weren't moving the ball. And the Eagles defense was the difference, Billy Davis. We talked about them.

A lot of creative blitzes seemed to confuse Carson Palmer, baited him into some mistakes. And they're the ones that got it done. now they're two seven and five teams in the NFC East. Could we possibly have two playoff teams from the NFC East? That would have been stunning. No. If anyone would have to say that, it probably still won't happen. I don't really think so.

If the 49ers plane disappears over like an eastern lake. But you said 8 and 8 was going to win this division mark all along, and it looks like that won't happen. One of these teams is going to win nine years. No, you're right. And we have talked for a couple weeks that the Eagles, more so than Dallas, seem to be a team, you know, crescendoing at the right time.

And their defense has played so much better. They were such a disaster early. Nick Fawles also, his interception streak should be over. He made a terrible decision with under four minutes left in the game. A ball that was picked off. It was overturned by penalty that had nothing to do with the pick. If that play didn't happen, the penalty wasn't called. The Cardinals have the ball there with a decent chance to win the game.

What would concern me if I was K. Rich, if I was an Eagles fan, this has been at least three times and maybe more that they've had a huge lead at halftime and can't do anything on offense after that and they're not set up to play with a lead like that. Why is that? Because they're a run team. Why don't they just not change their offense? Yeah, Kerritch, why don't they just not change their offense?

You know, I have Chip Kelly on speed dial so if guys, one, I'll just bring them up and call them up and ask them why. But you know what, I think that we have... Mr. Charisma himself. Yeah, but I think, you know, we do, We do second half lack a little bit, but I think our defense has come up in recent years, especially this year, especially this year, and they're holding us down when our offense gets a little tired.

Also, we've wanted to see more weapons on this Eagles offense, at least receiving, and Zach Ertz made a couple nice catches. They did a couple touchdown, and he could be a pretty big factor down the stretch. Well, that's a credit to Chip Kelly. As good as the Cardinals' defense has been there, the worst in the league defending tight ends, and by the middle of the second quarter the Eagles had thrown three touchdowns to tight ends.

Cam Newton threw for 263 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another score and the Carolina Panthers defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27 to 6 Sunday for their franchise record eighth straight regular season win. Mark, I think we all kind of felt

this game had a chance to be competitive when we talked about it on Friday. It did not work out that way, did it? Not at all, and it just on both sides of the ball. Carolina just overloaded Tampa. And I think that the problem a little bit for, you know, Mike Glennon has been, Greg didn't want to talk about him. You'd want to jinx him, right? And I can see where you're coming from because he had been so good over the last five, six

weeks. He had a tough game today. That defense is just too good. He made some bad throws. He had an ugly, ugly pass attempt that ricocheted off his hands for a critical fumble that I think honestly kind of put the game away. Carolina just took care of business every time they had the ball. They couldn't run early. You know what? Cam Newton just stepped up and took over the run game. I mean, we haven't seen, that's obviously a huge skill of his, and he absolutely, he had a semi-dominant performance on the ground. Here are some Newton stats. He ran for 68 yards.

He threw two interceptions, and he is now thrown for 13 touchdown passes and run for five touchdowns during this eight-game streak. So this guy's playing really well, almost at an MVP level, and that's pretty big. It's back off the MVP level. He's barely better than he was last year. I wouldn't put him in the top five quarterbacks in the league, much less MVP. And I think the issue there is that he's not doing it alone.

That is a team that their defense has done. She should get the credit for where they are right now. Next Sunday night, we got Saints Panthers. The first of two of those games, I'm excited. Alan Chris deserve it after what the NFL put on them tonight. Right, this has been rough. I know there's a shadowy league figure trying to crawl into the room right now. but listen we should have flex this game out

I think someone wrote it maybe the New York Daily News beat writer said this was the NFL's lowest moment since the Heidi Bowl Well that's a tad hyperbole But it's it's a rough it's a rough watch Anything else in this Well I saw the Craig and got another sack He's now only 43 sacks shy of his goal

Right I think he can get there With a couple of big performances What did he say he wanted? 50 six Oh sorry buddy Tom Brady threw for 371 yards and two touchdowns and Stephen Gostowski

I know he's struggled with that last name Gottis Towski Gostowski Gostowski Gostkowski Yeah Gaskowski Made two long field goals in the fourth quarter

He was getting worse I'm just going to call him Steve from that one Made two long field goals in the fourth quarter As the New England Patriots rallied for a 34-31 win over the Houston Texans who have now lost a franchise record 10 straight games. I watch this game very closely,

and the Patriots, they can get away with it against the team like the Texans that has no idea how to close. But this is now the second straight week. They go into the halftime tunnel down multiple double-digit points. They were down 17-7 at the half to their credit. They came out looking great in the second half, and Tom Brady is back to being Tom Brady. I feel like I know we were talking at the season's midpoint

about how people seem to be making excuses for Brady and there's even some ludicrous MVP talk around him. Now he's playing at that high level you're used to and I don't think it's a coincidence that Rob Garnkowski's return has kind of coincided with that raise in his play. It goes for any quarterback, you need your weapons to really work at a high level

and Gronks the best tight end in football. You know, as a Patriots fan, the defense gets worse every week and that was my big case for them being a Super Bowl team before the season started and I've stuck with that and I've felt confident in that throughout even when their offense was struggling but it has to be a concern

for Bill Belichick that it's getting worse by the week and you know I asked you guys the question downstairs can you go to a Super Bowl can you win a Super Bowl with Chris Jones and Joe Villano as your two starting defensive tackles

two rookies who no one particularly wanted in the draft and I think that's become a bigger problem they can't stop the run. Belichick defenses are usually built around stopping the run and they just can't do it at all. I think I used to work at Walgreens with Joe Villano. I think we alternated Sundays changing the sign outside. He managed non-foods. One point I had, Greg, you talked about the Patriots defense and we don't really need to spend much time on the Texans. It's a lost season for them. A lot of people have said that despite the bad season, J.J. Watt is a

runaway defensive player of the year candidate or frontrunner. And Greg, you and I, we talked about this a little bit on Friday's podcast. It seems weird to me that he's positioned in that way by a lot of experts because the defense and the team in general has been so bad. Greg, you said it downstairs. Case Keenham put up 31 points today. The defense needs to win this game, and they could not get the stops in the second half. Yeah, it was a game, like you said.

I mean, Keenom, they should have won this game. It should have been their big moment. Instead, they're now in the number one spot. for the number one pick. And, you know, all alone, no one else has just two wins. And Antonio Smith, after the game, the Texans' defensive end, said he was suspicious of the adjustments that the Patriots made. He said, you know, either they were spying us or they were scouting us

because it was a little suspicious. We introduced some new stuff this week, and they reacted in a different way that they haven't shown all season, which is a ridiculous state. It just shows it's an indictment of his own coaching staff. he's so surprised to see mid-game adjustments that coming out of halftime they changed everything up that he thinks they were spying on them.

Greg only likes defensive players on bad teams, so he probably still will log a vote for JJ Watt. Of course. He's the best. Give me another choice. Let me have one slight rant on this JJ Watt thing. Well, hold on. No one's knocking J.J. Watt. I think Dan's argument on Friday real quick was

that you wanted to see J.J. Watt make a game-changing play. What a game. He does. This isn't a rant against Dan or you or anyone else. J.J. Watt, if you're watching the games, is the most dominant player on defense. He's the Reggie White type of player of his generation. And if you're watching the games, that's easy to see. He controls the game like no other defensive player in the NFL.

If you're a voter for the award and you don't want to vote for J.J. Watt, that's your prerogative, and you shouldn't have some stat dork telling you that you're not smart enough and you don't know what you're doing. You have to vote for Watt because PFF stats say they so. You can vote for whoever you want. It's your subjective vote. if you think Earl Thomas controls the game, vote for him. Who would you put number two?

I would put Robert Quinn number two. But I don't think, I don't like these stats stories telling people if they're not smart enough to vote for the right guy. Fair, fair. Gostkowski. Yeah, did keep working on. Kapowski? You got to pronounce the T at the end of the Gost.

Gostowski. Gostkowski. Adam Vinitieri, how about that? Tied a career high with five field goals and Donald Brown scored on a four-yard touchdown run with 156. to play, giving the Colts a 2214 win over the Tennessee Titans. Oh, by the way, this is a big Sunday for the Fort Committee. Any of the teams that we perhaps were a little nervous about went down in flames.

And now, you know, something could still happen. But the committee should be feeling very confident. The Titans were one of those teams. I picked, this was my hero pick or one of my failed hero picks this week. I thought the Titans would go into Indy and get a win. They almost did, but they did not pull it off. The cults are now, they have a three-game lead in the AFC South, and the Titans play for next year.

Well, we already forked him. We knew that. Yeah. I was feeling good about it. Now the rest of society is on board, potentially. Who cares about society? It's hard to get excited about the cults, though, right now, isn't it? It is.

They're not a good team. They're not a good team. They have Andrew Luck and... Well, they're not a bad team. They're just a team that exists. They're pretty bad. You look at this, AFC playoff. bracket and outside of your Brady and Manning-led squads, suspicious.

The matchup next week that, in theory, is the biggest in the AFC, is Indianapolis versus Cincinnati, two division leaders, both still in the mix for a playoff buy, and yet it doesn't really feel like those are two good teams. Wake me up when it's over. Oh, stop. I said it to... You said this game would be a blowout Wesleyan in favor of the Titan, so give me a break. I was being facetious.

I said it to Mike Silver downstairs today that I think everything the stars are aligning for our first Super Bowl blowout in some time and it's because really what we're talking about here you have the Patriots and Broncos and we kind of feel good about them but all these other teams and I agree with you on that West including the Colts

how do you get too excited about them? I certainly don't. But then they won't make the Super Bowl the Patriots are Broncos well Yeah but you know the Broncos get knocked off all the time or Peyton Manning does and you know I'm sorry Greg Patriots haven't been that good in the playoffs.

You know we're heading to a Chiefs, Bengals, Saturday playoff game. I'll enjoy it. It's a holiday in my house. You have a house. Blair Walsh's 34-yard field goal with 143 in overtime gave the Minnesota Vikings a 23-20 victory over the Chicago Bears on Sunday after both teams missed kicks in the extra period. This is a killer, killer loss for the Bears, a game that they let get away. They got a second life in overtime when there was a suspect call that wiped out a game-winning Vikings field goal. And then on the other side of the field, Robbie Gould misses a 47-yarder, pushes it right,

and Adrian Peterson then leads a drive to set up a chip-shot field goal. The Bears, are they dead? At 6-6? No. I mean, I haven't had faith in this team for a while, but you're only one game back of a Lions team you could see losing. What this loss does set up, though, the lions are in the playoffs if they win three out of four games, period. It doesn't matter with the tie breaks.

If they win three out of their last four, they're in. Bears keep losing divisional games they should be winning, and it's hard to take them seriously. Poor Mark was tasked with defending my hero pick on this one. I tried, less. And you got it. You got a hero. You tried, and it came down to this. If Brandon Jacobs can run for 100 yards on the bears,

then Adrian Peterson can run for 200. And that's exactly what happened. Yeah, don't you like things that are reliable and predictable occasionally in life? We thought Adrian Peterson would run over the Bears. Dan talked about it on the podcast, and he gets to 111 yards. How bad is the Bears' offense that they gave up 496 yards to Matt Castle, who came in for the concussed Christian Ponder? Well, that's why we shouldn't be, yes, we can posit that mathematically they still exist in the playoff race.

They're right in it. I understand that. But their defense is so, it's such a liability that it's just hard to take them seriously. But their offense is so good. Their offense is interesting. One positive to take out of the game for the Bears. Alshon Jeffrey. Oh, my God.

12 catches, 249 yards, two touchdowns. This is kind of silly, but I'll throw it out there. Is he the best wide receiver on the Bears at this point? Well, I think Wes questioned that a few months. We asked him. I think it's a fair question. I think he's one of the best in the league, practically. I don't think you can declare him that

when Marshall is taking the double teams. Alson Jeffrey might be our shining star of the Making the Leap series which has been submitted for a Pulitzer Award. So we'll see. Some other notables, Dan had Michael Floyd

who had another big game. Chandler Jones. A great performance today, Michael Floyd. Also, how about Julian Edelman? Listen to these stats. 70 catches for 711 yards this year. Compare that to Wes Welker. 68 catches for 717 yards

Almost the exact scene Edelman has been the best receiver From start to finish for the Patriots this year What? He's kind of had a funky year though Like he was the only receiver early in the season Then they went away from him for a little bit And now the last two games

He's been great again He's had a renaissance Like a mid-season renaissance It's odd because He's very frustrating for Danny Amandola Fantasy in those there Because you're kind of like, yeah Oh wait

That's racist Wait No, we're going to let it pass Why are they suddenly using Edelman more than Amandola? I don't... Racism. I've always thought with the Patriots

None of it is predictable. It's all just matchups and he happens to be getting the good ones that week. That's about it. And Tompkins got hurt today. Ryan Tannhill threw for 331 yards and two touchdown passes leading the Dolphins to a 23-3 win

over the New York Jets on Sunday keeping the Dolphins playoff hopes alive and burying essentially my New York Jets this was a game notable for the Jets at least because Gino Smith finally got benched in a meaningful way

after a terrible half time and you know after a terrible first half in which he completed four passes for 29 yards had an 8.3 quarterback rating Matt Sims came on and because Matt Sims also stinks he didn't do much 9 of 18

79 yards and interception and that might be worse and listen this is a this is a This is a, we talked about this. This is a terrible situation for poor Rex Ryan. We were all excited. Well, I think we all kind of like Rex in here for the most part. And we thought he was in good position to save his job.

Now the worst case scenario has come to Roost where Gino Smith has, the Gino coaster is obviously off the rails floating deeper into the Atlantic. And what is Rex have now? What does he have to choose from? A completely untested and quarterback of Matt Sims, that obviously is not the future. either, and he's trying to save his job. Well, you know, Ann, you made a good point in your post about this, Dan. Thanks, Mark. John Idick can jump in and say, I'm going to get rid of Rex Ryan, but how about the fact

that John Idzik drafted two players, one of them at quarterback, the other to replace Dorel Revis, and they both failed miserly. Hizek lives in the shadows. He doesn't like to talk publicly a lot, but his first draft is not looking good. He's got the defensive rookie of the year. All right. You got a benched that. No, no, no, no.

Let's not be too. You got to make my point, right? I'm talking about, I was talking to Mark. I'm just saying you've got to throw that in. The top three picks, John Idzick's first year. Dee Milner was benched for the third time this season today. It was an absolute train wreck today. Number two, Sheldon Richardson, a legit defensive player of the year, a rookie of the year candidate.

And the third is Gino Smith, who leads the NFL in interceptions, also got benched today. Not a great situation for Izick. My favorite stat possibly, possibly ever. I know what's coming. year, if Gino Smith, if Nick Fools throws an interception on his next 50-50 passes, he still has a higher passer rating than Gino Smith. How is that possible? That's a Philly beat guy Rubin Frank.

That's awesome. I saw the follow-up tweet. He would then have a 60.4 passer rating, or a 60.5 passer rating for Fools, 60.4 for Gino Smith. The numbers from today's game are just outrageous. 13 for 28 for 78 total yards as a team. Their combined QBR was 4.7. Matt Sims had a 3 and Gino Smith was under 2.

And I, because I'll always know this guy's voice just from back in the old inside the NFL days with Len Dawson and Nick Bonacotti. Gary Myers asked Rex after the game about the Mark Sanchez decision in the preseason. Again, through it Adam said, you know, now knowing how it played out, do you have regrets about playing Mark in the fourth quarter. This is a game that was played on August 24th, by the way. And Rex, you could see, like, him melting on the inside because it's like, Rex can't answer this anymore,

and he knows that he messed up. He can't, he can't, there's nothing else he could do. And all these guys are kind of, I feel like relishing in the fact that, yeah, Rex, ultimately that decision did burn you. Well, I don't even know if it would matter. I mean, he's throwing a David Nelson and Kellen Winslow and Kumbi. This is not a group that's going to be winning with many. Sanchez, now, whether or not Sanchez would have been better or worse is obviously up for a debate, but he would have been in the game.

Only in the mind of somebody just waiting for Rex Ryan to fail, would you think that Mark Sanchez is some kind of savior? We're calling Jeff Cumberland Cumbie now? Yeah. Oh, yeah. We're buddies. We do that all the time? We're Cumbie. Let's, do we think this is a forked team?

I mean, you're kind of talking about. I know the committee has to meet later. Committee's got to get together. Fork the hell out of them. Got to get the Danish out. I can't believe only three weeks ago. I got a hero pick. for picking against the Jets.

It wasn't that long ago. West still has to pick the Jets four more weeks after this. Let's give the Dolphins some credit, too. I think they played really well last week in a way. We have to give them a little credit. They're playing well right now. You can't have to pull it out of me. Tannahill played very well in the second half.

But they did every, if the Jets were even halfway, not great. He missed a lot of throws. He's been missing a lot of throws for a lot of weeks. If the Jets were even halfway functional as a team right now, then this game would have been totally. different because the Dolphins gave up so many chances to jump out

to a big lead. I have an idea in the AFC. Remember the old 1980 playoff brackets where you just had five teams? Get your three best division winners and have the other two play a wild card game. In general. We have no six seed. No one's worthy. I could buy that.

I like that. I don't feel a resounding support in the room for that. When I listen to the podcast, I heard this notion that 9 and 7 is going to win, I'll be shocked if any but he goes nine and seven out of you. It's going to have to be Baltimore winning three out of four to do it. Have you seen their schedule?

It's tough, but they've played fairly well lately. Spare the viewers. They have to go to Detroit, home to the Patriots, and then at Cincinnati in the last three games. You guys just don't, you know, this Dolphins team is fighting against all odds in the media, you know, Jonathan Martin and all this. They're really coming together as a team. NFL appointed gum shoe Ted Wells is going to us to us to push them into the pounds. What a likable squad of scrappy overall. Went to the field, Greg.

My fantasy team next year is going to be Gumshoe Ted Wells. Matt Ryan hit a 36-yard field goal. Three minutes into overtime to lift the Atlanta Falcons to a 34-31 win.

It's a big day for kickers around the NFL. A lot of big kicks at the end of the game. Anyway, for the Falcons to lead the Falcons to a 34-31 win over the Bills in Buffalo's

annual sad home game in Toronto. Wes, you watch this game with... By the way, there was 37,000 people in Toronto to watch this game. They staged this game on a random Tuesday in September and just decided to show it now. Wait, what does that even mean? Well, why would anybody watch these two teams? It's like an experiment or something.

Nobody would watch these two teams. Because it's unfolding in Canada. Canadians are watching it. Fred Jackson was involved. Some fancy moves. Fred Jackson, the replica jersey worn by Rob Ford, Toronto's crack mare at the game, eating chicken wings, stealing someone's seat in the stadium. A very surreal scene.

Fred Jackson was also responsible for the first weekly Around the League podcast Clown Suit of the Week Award. Wow. We are breaking this out. He put a move on Desmond Truffant, Falcons' rookie cornerback, that had Greg and I looking at F. Jacks in admiration. A nice year for F. Jacks, by the way. Let's give F. Jacks some credit.

Put a clown tune on him. And this might ruin the Falcons chances of getting Chedevian Clownie. No, they're still getting. The Bills really blew this game, too, didn't they? Yes, they did. Stevie Johnson was a big culprit with a fumble. Bills outplayed the Falcons most of the game.

Give Matt Ryan some credit. He played better than E.J. Manuel. His offensive line was terrible once again. He got sacked six times, hit nine times. Stephen Jackson did a pretty good game, but Matt Ryan really brought them back and won the game for him. Cecil Shorts caught a 20-yard touchdown pass from Chad Hennie with 40 seconds left, rallying the Jacksonville Jaguars to a 3228 win over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday.

Mark, I said on Friday I could never pick a game where Brennan Whedon was the starter. But it looked like it was actually going to blow up in my face. Apparently it didn't work out that way because they did not get it done. This might have been, listen, Cleveland's had a lot of bad losses since they've come back into the league in 1999. This has to be top three because if you can't beat. Jacksonville, a two-win Jacksonville team. You're a factory of sadness! Exactly.

If you can't take care of business. The season goes along, Mark gets more and more aggravated by that sound clip, but K. Rich, keep bringing it because it's the best. It looks good kill. Mark. What was that shot? What was that? No, that's the crook guy.

No, the stink guy. I will pause for the sound bite to finish, and then I'll continue talking. I think you guys got to work things out. While silently going after Cairge. I apologize, but I thought that was perfect. And it was perfect. And don't let Marks really, that was a little bit vile that look that you gave back there. Not intentional.

Not towards you. I'm sorry, Crystal. I am irritated by this game. Huh? Who was it toward? I don't know. It was towards the sky. Listen.

The sky was crystal. Someone told me, someone told me coming into this game that Brandon was going to connect with Josh Gordon for 261 yards. and they were going to, against Jacksonville, this would have felt like the game you just walk in and roll through. But instead, what else happened is that on three drives in about a minute, two and a half minutes right before halftime, Whedon throws two crushing interceptions, awful throws,

and then fumbles the ball on a display of terrible ball control. That was the game right there. That allowed Jacksonville right back into it. And then, yeah, Hayden, who I think is a Pro Bowl-level cornerback, gets Cecil Shorts, gets right behind him on that play. We haven't seen him give up that kind of throw this year. Everything ugly that could have happened, happened. That series of inaptitude from Whedon...

You were loving it. We'll always have a fondness... Wesleyan, when it comes to... Because of the unprecedented move of an official team's Twitter feed trolling the starting quarterback. It did. It really did. Listen. That was awesome.

and continues, and this is my last point, remember the two weeks in a row when he threw this bizarre shuffle pass? Yeah. Right? These picks. They were just... What is this? Is this like dodgeball in sixth grade? And he did it again, like three times today. I don't think he plays again for the Browns,

barring, which probably will happen, another quarterback getting hurt. He suffered a concussion in this game he revealed afterwards, and Jason Campbell is coming off a concussion. So there is an outside chance here. If neither one of them is ready, We could be seeing Alex Tanny trick-shot NFL starting quarterback.

Is there a nickname for him like Kickalicious or anything? Sadness. Sadness. I wouldn't be shocked if Cleveland released Whedon this week. You are a factory of sadness! Just for you, Mark. Next game. Release him?

He just threw for 370 yards and three touchdowns. Wes, are you defending Whedon all of a sudden? I don't think they would release him. I just think it's gotten. It's gotten that ugly. They might put him on injury reserve with the concussion. It's not a personal thing. He threw a touchdown pass 95 yards to go ahead with under five minutes to go.

The defense kind of blew it from there. You have to admit that. No, they did. The defense did blow. You know, listen. He could have been the hero. Listen, he gives you two or three awful turnovers every game. You cannot do that.

He's a turnover robot. You can't do that. He's a turnover droid 2.1. All right, let's move on. Mark, I'm sorry that that got so heated. Just hang in there. It's okay, I'm fine. Anquan Bolden caught nine passes from Colin Kaepernick.

Michael Crabtree made his long-awaited season debut six months after Achilles' tendon surgery, and the San Francisco 49ers beat the St. Louis Rams 2313 on Sunday. I don't know. I don't know how much to take from this game. The Niners are a much better team. It was actually not quite as close as the score indicated. The Niners had this game in hand the whole time.

One, maybe the biggest takeaway I had from the game is how much I really do like the Niners as possible sleeping giant in a conference where the Saints and the Seahawks are seen as the overwhelming favorites, especially with Crabtreeback. And I know he had a 60-yard catch-and-run today where it was clear that he's not moving near to where he is when he's completely healthy. But at the same time, that he adds something to that offense, and I don't think it was a coincidence that Vernon Davis and Anquan Bolden both put up, big days as well. So I really like what I'm seeing from the Niners right now, and I don't have any doubts that they're going to get that six-seat of the playoffs. Yeah, when I saw that play to Crabtree,

you could tell that he's a fraction of what he was before the injury. Now, when Demarius Thomas had a similar injury, he didn't do much in the first half of the season. It took him eight or nine weeks. Crabtree might take until the playoffs before we see him resembling. But I think the key point that Dan said was, I don't think it's a coincidence that Bolden and Dave, both had good games because Crabtree draws more attention.

God don't count for me. Than any Kyle Williams, Mario Manningham guy would ever draw. And he started over, Manningham. I was surprised how easy this game was for them. 9.8 yards per attempt for Kaepernick against this Rams defense, who we've spent a couple weeks talking up that they're so feisty and so dangerous down the stretch, and the 49ers handled them. This is, dare I say it, Dan, close to a statement game.

Hmm. The Statement Game Committee. The Statement Committee is going to get together. I don't know against a team that they're obviously better than maybe they need to put forth a bit more of a dominant effort. So we're probably not going to give them that. But at the very least, it's a victory that once again reaffirms that they are a very good team. But maybe that's maybe the definition of a statement. So maybe it is a statement game.

I think they clearly stated that they're going to win the sixth seed in the NFC. They are now a full game out in front of the cards. They're for real. The Cardinals aren't. Yes. One injury note, though, to take out of that game is Niners left tackle. Joe Staley had a right knee injury left in the first quarter. I think I saw some tweets out there that it's not initially believed to be an ACL situation, but it's something to keep an eye on this week. Andy Dalton threw a go-ahead, 21-yard touchdown pass to a wide open, A.J. Green late in the third quarter in the A.F.C. North leading Cincinnati Bengals beat the San Diego Chargers 1710 on Sunday. The Bengals are now 8 and 4, and they keep their two-game lead over the Ravens in the AFC North.

Greg? Huge win for them. I think it's a lot harder to come up with the scenario where the Bengals blow the division now. I think this is a tough place to get a win. San Diego, the way they've been playing now. And the Chargers defense, just they're coming up with new ways each week to not impress me. And this week, they didn't have a single quarterback hit or a single sack on Andy Dolphi. They knew that the Bengals were going to run the ball late in the game.

The Bengals got the ball back up 7-48 to go, and they just ran it and ran it and ran it until the game was over, and that was it. We saw the Chiefs in back-to-back games did not have a single quarterback hit. Greg, tell the people what you want. Oh, that's right. We need a name for this. I always look in the box score, I don't know why, to see how many quarterback hits and sacks. We need a name for it when you don't have any. of either. No quarterback hits, no sacks. You did not touch the quarterback.

Our around the league listeners should tweet at us some ideas for this. There's only been six or seven times all year this happens. I have a great one. Should I share it now or should we wait? Roll it out. Roll it out. When you do not have a quarterback hit in a whole game, that is a dirty Peter. Why is that? I like it. I don't know why, but I like it. Oh my God. It was a Dirty Peter. I don't know why, but I love him. Just that's my idea. Hey, readers, don't even bother tweeting this reader.

K. Rich, even though I feel like that's never going to be topped, can we, can we throw it out there to the Twitterverse, all the ATL NFL underscore ATL, tweeters, tweets? Followers. We will. Dirty Peter. If you like that. No, no, no. That's just my suggestion. We want them to give theirs.

All right. And maybe if there's a hashtag. No hits, no sacks. You did not touch the quarterback. What should we call that? Well, I think if it's simplified, it just because the sack is obviously a QB hit, just if you don't ever hit the quarterback. Yeah.

Kind of a hollow exercise for the listeners because you've nailed it. Well, I don't know. Greg doesn't seem sold on the dirty paper. No, I've not sold on it. I need you explain it. It just sounds right. I feel about the Dirty Peter the way you feel about the Dulton scale. I don't understand it.

After Dauvin'am with Mark, this one just sounds right. I think you hit it. This was a. I know it, but I just, I don't want to force it through legislation. Go ahead, listeners. Just write in, write in your things. Have a nice time. Take a shot.

Try to beat Dirty Peter. Try your best, but fail as you try. Tilt at windmills. This was a perfect game for the... Tilt at windmills. A literary reference, literally 98% of our listening public will not get it. Maybe that should be the term. If you don't hit the quarterback, you're tilting at windmills.

Greg is getting furious. Why would I be getting furious? I'm the one who threw this out there. I'm loving it. Tilting at windmill. It's a windmill tilt when you don't have a quarterback hit. That's almost as good as the Dirty Peter. Both from obscure literary references.

I don't know. We're mine's from actually. And that takes us to the Sunday night game, a 24-17 Giants win in which the Giants overcame a 14-0 deficit early. but obviously when you're dealing with two teams that are kind of also-rans at this point. The only thing really to take out of the game is what happened at the end. And I will throw it to my boss, Greg, to explain to the people what he saw.

Well, this was confusing, but the Redskins were driving late, down seven points, and it looked like they had picked up a first down, and the marker on the sideline changed the number on the sideline to first down. and the Redskins threw the ball 20 yards down the field it ended up being a drop it was an incomplete and then the officials came back and they changed it back to a fourth down so basically the Redskins had never picked up the first down the whole time

the officials made a mistake they made the Redskins think that they had picked up the first down They didn't stop down the clock to even do a measurement or anything they just plowed forward all this happening with right at the end of the game on the final drive of the game Yeah sometimes there's a game between two teams

that don't have great records, but you think, wow, if you didn't know they were bad teams, like, this is a good game. This was not one of those games, but it's just this ending's going to stick with you because you don't really see the NFL officials make a mistake that big. Most of these end-of-game controversies to me remind me of the Chris Weber timeout scandal where it's so overblown because they probably weren't going to win the game anyway. Right. Nothing I saw from the Redskins in the second half made me think they were going to complete that drive for a touchdown.

Well, I will say that you had, of course, the referees fouled up, and that will be the big talking point coming out of this game. But Fred Davis, as Greg alluded to, dropped a 30-yard reception that hit him right in the chest. Right. And then you had the confusion with the down, and it's fourth down, and RG3 completes a first down pass to Pierre Garsohn, who doesn't compete well enough to hold on to the football, gets ripped out of his hands.

And that's really how the game ends. That's how it was decided, not because of the bad spot, because Garcone couldn't control the ball after he had the first down. It was just basically, if you want to just talk about the Redskins themselves, it was a real study in why they stink. They had several chances to make big plays on that final drive, and they just couldn't finish. And they got beat by a Giants team that we all know is not very good.

A ton of drops, RG3 started well again, but like you said, they didn't make any big plays in the entire game. They were unimpressive. But I don't think it's blowing up the ending too much to focus on that because this was a really basic mistake. We've all watched a lot of NFL games. Have you ever seen that ever happen at any point in the game? I've never seen it.

It was pretty bad. It's pretty bad. Dean Blondino's red phone is ringing right now next to his nightstand. His son is the color of Shanahan's face right now. Yeah. Dean's wife is like, Dean, it's the red phone. It's blinking. All right.

So that is the Sunday games. there is one more game. The New Orleans Seattle Tilt. We might even have to talk about that one. Oh, yeah. You know, who knows. But we will be back on Wednesday. What do we have coming up on Wednesday?

Well, we'll talk some forkage. We'll... We're due for a toaster. I forgot that existed. They forgot about it because it's been a while. Yeah. Got to get Lyle, the intern, to work up some questions. Maybe he won't screw it up this time.

He's still recovering. You know? If I remember correctly, you owe someone a rematch. I do. Shom. Shom. Yeah, Shom, the great nemesis. Due to the great toaster controversy of 2013. Just like the ending of that game.

Yes. Well, maybe that will be in play this week or next week. We'll figure it out. But, yeah, we'll be back either way on Wednesday. And I hope you're there to listen, you know. We like when you listen to the podcast. Tell your friends. Tell them all.

Okay, this is Dan Hanzas signing off for the mailman, the boss, the sizzler, K. Rich Behind the Glass and Lyle, the intern, until Wednesday.