NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL ATL: Week 9 recap

Episode Date: November 4, 2013

A room full of heroes, Gregg Rosenthal, Dan Hanzus and Chris Wesseling recap all of the Week 9 action including the “Sunday Night Football” matchup between the Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans. Don’t miss the key takeaways and analysis from each game. Join the conversation on Twitter: @NFL_ATL or #NFLATL.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the League podcast. Gets more emotional than Ray Lewis. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the League podcast. My name is Dan Hansis, and I'm joined by a room filled with heroes. Chris Wessling and Greg Rosenthal. What up, boys. Hey, Dan.

No Sessler tonight, Sunday night. So we're just going to have to carry it, carry a, Carry on. We can do it. Good day of football today. We know he's smiling somewhere because he picked the Browns to win, and he got that right. That is, you know. Not to spoil the rest of the show, but the Browns won.

Yeah, that was a slight spoiler alert, but it's all right. Mark is a happy man, and he's celebrating somewhere. We're a lot of games worth digging into here, week nine. I guess the place to start, though, is records falling or being tied at least in Oakland. where Nick Foles through seven touchdown passes, 4606 yards, and had a perfect passer rating leading the Eagles to a 49-20 win over the Raiders. K. Rich behind the glass, I think we're going to throw it to you actually to start for the first time ever. Kay Rich, who was a big Eagles fan, and she approached the game with a lot of positivity and it's paid off.

Well, guys, you know, I came in here with my eagle shirt on. Yes. So, you know, I've been wearing a smile all day. I really, I feel romance. Oh, what is this? I feel romance by my team. They did such a good job. The ball distribution was beautiful.

I saw big plays from Deshaun Jackson, Shady McCoy. Riley Cooper was amazing. Nick Bowles. So much soul. Seduction Sunday. I feel the seduction right here is Nick Foles, wooing young K. Rich. Oh, you've been a Michael Vick. fan for years and years.

See, this is, this is the hard part. I will always be a Michael Vick fan, and I had this conversation earlier. If he moves to another team, I'm not even sure of another team will pick him up, but it's hard to let go of the fandom. But I'm very, you know, I get optimistic with Nick Foles, but again, he's going against mediocre teams. Oh, stop. But he's doing a good job.

Next week will be the big test against the Packers. Oakland has a pretty good defense, actually, and, you know, I just, I just, you know, I just just, I can't believe that he is, it's almost emblematic of the NFL in general the way things are so up and down. You know, he's had some really bad games and now this, he has, you know, one of the best games ever. Barring injury, is it safe to say, Vic, we will not see him take another snap for the Eagles now? I don't think we can say that because we've already seen Nick Full's face plant once.

Yeah. But we also just saw him do something no one in the history of the NFL has ever done. seven touchdowns with a perfect passer rating. It was hard to see this one coming the way that the Raiders have been playing team defense. I don't know. I don't think the Eagles can sustain it, but I think it's a huge day for your softball pants. You've got to be feeling good. That was my big takeaway here.

Well, McFadding walks away with an injury. Prior got injured, but it seems like he'll be fine. And I think the defense may have gotten exposed a little bit. They were top ten statistically, but I think we all kind of thought there was some smoking mirrors to that. Right. They're now three and five. They're just on the line here.

They need to get the six wins for you to wait. 50 chance. You're still on pace to eat nylon and elastic and metal shards and things of that nature. However, this is also the type of loss that a lesser team could potentially go in the tank after. We'll see. You never know how these teams bounce back. but are you feeling more confident now that this this is now because you were you basically were almost you were thinking it was a done deal almost yeah i thought odds were against me

keeping my softball pants but now i feel like i have a 50 50 shot uh wait so is nick falls good that was my other question today you're you've never bought in on the fulls thing i have i've been saying he's got some potential he can do some things he threw it deep well he now has 18 touchdowns versus two interceptions if you take out the first start of his career. My problem with him going back to last season when I watched, I went back and watched him in the offseason, and he was awful in the red zone. And I didn't, you know, he didn't really need that much

because he was making big plays today down the field. That wasn't an issue. But, I mean, in two of his last three starts, he's played exceptionally well. I'm amazed the Seagull's team is four and five. They're not a good team overall, and five and in the mix. Well, I mean, they won by 29 points today,

and the Raiders actually outgain them in yards. The offense isn't a problem. The defense is. Do, you know, we're going to bring back our stick of fork in them committee. Going to make a judgment on some team or teams on Wednesday. Teaser. Is the committee going to talk about the Raiders at 3 and 5? Oh, I think we will.

We're looking for candidates that need a fork. Absolutely. The Raiders have to be high on that list. All right, our next game. We'll talk about the Sunday night matchup, a memorable game on a couple different levels. Obviously, the biggest storyline coming out of it was Texans coach Gary Kubiak, who dropped to one knee on the field coming off the sideline at halftime. After the game, we found out that he had some lightheadedness,

so they took him to the hospital. It doesn't seem to be serious, so that's good news. And then from the game standpoint, kind of a shocking melancholy. down for the Texans who had a big lead in the second half, and then Andrew Luck caught fire. They scored on four straight possessions, and a killer 2724 loss for the Texans who are in very deep trouble now. The Texans dominated for three quarters. The Colts couldn't protect Andrew Luck, and then in the fourth quarter, he and T.Y. Hilton

just took over. I mean, there are losses, and then there are losses, and there are losses losing an 18-point-year-old. lead at home against your division rival in what amounted to a playoff game. And then, oh, by the way, your coach went to the hospital in a very confusing situation where he was on a stretcher at halftime. And they say his signs are vital and it's positive. And there was even some optimism expressed to be back with the team soon. But we don't know.

We don't know what the head coaching situation is going to be there for a little bit. And I thought it was one of the most depressing losses I've seen. And how does it get much more depressing than that? They go into halftime. As second quarter ends, they're up 21-6, you know, three touchdown receptions for Andre Johnson. Case Keenham looks great. The world, everything seems to be coming in line for a potential, you know, strong Texan's second half. And Kubiak goes down.

He's off the field. White Phillips takes over. And, you know, the air came out of the building. The place, you know, I'm sure it was kind of a confusing scene if you were. in the stands at that game and then the offense could not Keenham who looked so great in the first half the offense didn't move the ball well in the second half

and for luck the big thing was he got better protection he was I believe four for 12 for less than 100 yards in the first half once they started protecting him it was game over I mean luck luck this was Hilton's first big game with Reggie Wayne out of the

lineup and he stepped up and during that score where they put up 24 straight points over four possessions they ran the ball once. So this is Andrew Luck's team. We knew that, but forget about Trent Richardson. This team goes as Andrew Luck goes, and he could take them far. Trent Richardson, I mean, he's not even their best back right now.

It's Donald Brown. Donald Brown's getting inside carries inside the 10. They have a knack for doing this. You know, the Colts have done it. 10 fourth quarter comebacks for luck in his career. They've had a lot of crazy comebacks. And the Texans have a knack for playing wildly uneven. games. They did it in week one

against the Chargers. They did against the Seahawks, which I said was one of the most dominant performances. It was almost a carbon copy of this game where at the end of the third quarter it started to change. People will make the narrative about Kubiak, and I think that's unfair because that's something that's different than football.

And they built the lead up 10 points to 18 after Kubiak went down, and then in the fourth quarter, it all fell apart. I've seen some sentiment on Twitter, not from national writers, But just from fans who aren't watching the Colts on a weekly basis think that Andrew Lux is kind of a product of national media hype. And then you see some of the throws he makes.

The throws he made in the fourth quarter were just unreal, just great throws that not many quarterbacks can make. He put the ball exactly where it needed to go. One other point for the Texans, you know, they are now two and six. The four committee is going to have to get together and have some discussions about them. The division's gone now, not that it was ever really there, but now they're four back with, with eight to play and also Aryan Foster the running back he left the game in the first quarter with the back injury of course a back injury shut him down for a good portion of the summer so things just keep getting worse well I think emotionally it seems like this loss probably ended their

playoff hopes couldn't they make a run of wild card well that's that's a conversation for the four committee I'm not willing to write them off because I like what I've seen so much from case Keenham. I mean, to me, he looks like more of a solution than a fill-in from what we've seen in two games now. I think he looks like a young Tony Romo or Jake Plummer, where he's playing with Moxie. He has athleticism. Not afraid to make a throw? No, he won't take checkdowns. He had 11 passes of 25 or more yards in eight quarters. Shob had six of those passes in 20 quarters. And Wade Phillips was so drained after the game. It's been. obviously an emotional couple weeks

for him and he kept just pointing to the stats like you know their quarterback only went 18 for 40 and our quarterback the quarterback rating was sensational we did this and we did that and it was like he was trying to add it all up well how did this possibly happen to me and that's

that's the feeling that a lot of techers start with his kicker yeah yeah Randy Bulls should not search his name on Twitter because it's fairly grim I think he's the first quarterback or first kicker to miss eight kicks in the first eight games of the season in over a decade? First kicker

with the nickname Fat Randy, too, I believe. It doesn't, yeah, it doesn't get worse. Worst nickname in the league and also having the worst season among any kicker. There was a zero percent chance he was making that kick at the end of the game. You could see it in his eyes. Oh, he had the fear in his eyes. I feel bad for him. Yeah. I like to call him

overweight, Randy. That's almost worse. Yeah. Okay. Let's move on. Tomah Ali and quarterback Sean Smith. return turnovers for touchdowns and it helped extend the Chiefs to 9-0 on the season. They 23-13 win over the bills.

Greg, I don't know. Tell me about this game because I still don't know how the Chiefs are 9-0 but they are. They're 9-0, the worst 9-0 team ever? It's like the, sure, but it's so unfair, but, you know. It's like the Chiefs are trying to be less impressive

each week while they win like it's a contest what could we do to really annoy everyone now let's give up 470 yards to jeff tulle and the bills i watched this and there's no reason the bills lost this game they shouldn't have lost that they were in they ran the ball just down the chief's throats the last two weeks have made me wonder if the chief's defense is not quite as good as we think but that they did wind up scoring a couple touchdowns in this game there were a lot of Unforced errors though by Buffalo You know people are going to give the Chiefs credit There were a lot of drops to kill drives

There was fumbles in a bad spot There was a play in the red zone Where a rookie by the Chiefs I think it was Goodwin broke up a pass That was going to be completed to their tight end Chandler basically broke up a pass to his teammate So there's a lot of unforced errors And a lot of bad luck for Buffalo

The play of the game was 103 Buffalo knocking at the door inside The 5-yard line Sean Smith picks the ball off one yard deep into the end zone and takes it back 100 yards instead of 173 it's 1010 and it's very hard for any team to come back from that situation but they had a million chances too I mean CJ Spiller after that point just ran right through them they ran for over I think it was 240 yards against the Chiefs they moved the ball but they

couldn't finish it I mean you got to give the Chiefs credit but Smith threw for 4.3 yards per attempt in this game. The bill's deep. Gabbard. Mired in the Gabbard. Sub-Gabbard. So last time I saw Jeff Toole play, I thought he had the worst arm in the NFL. What was your impression?

He was hit or miss on the deep throws. They were taking shots with him, and sometimes it looked like a joke. I mean, it floated out of his hand. And then other times he made some pretty nice throws. There were a lot of drops and mistakes by the receivers. He wasn't terrible in this game. Are we talking with arm strength, West? Are we talking mid-period change?

Chad Pennington? Are we talking Tyler Palco Express? Where are we resting on this? It looked like slightly stronger arm than Tyler Palco. Okay. Which is pretty, but more wobbly passes than Palco. A lot of wobbles, but there was a 59-yard touchdown to Good One, which is a perfect throw, which he looked great on.

But for the most part, a lot of wobbles. Chiefs become the first team since the 1977 Gritz-Blitz-Atlanta Falcons to hold each of their first nine opponents to 17 points or fewer. All right, give them some credit. And by the way, they go into their buy because it is an annoying 9-0 because we all know they're not really this good. Very annoying.

I'm thinking the Broncos at home will take down the Chiefs. We'll see. But that would be, if the Chiefs win in Denver in week 11, you know, I think we all need to bow down at the altar of Andy Reid, but, you know, we'll see. Here's the craziest stat of the year to me. The Chief's defense did not touch Jeff Toole in this game. Not a sack and not a QB hit.

Not even once did they hit him. Wow. That's surprising. That's odd. All right, moving forward. Two straight weeks for that, by the way, Chief's defense didn't really touch the opponent. Something to watch. Nick Folk remained perfect this season for the Jets kicking four field goals.

And Rex Ryan got the better of his twin brother, Rob. The Jets, the Jets upset the Saints 2620 at MetLife Stadium. This is crazy. the Jets were beat 499 last week in Cincinnati and now they turn around and this was

you know one of their best probably their best all-around effort of the season and I think the thing that jumped out to me more than anything was you know

the Jets didn't enter the season with anybody on offense really but their top weapons Santonio Holmes Jeff Cumberland Cumbie Jeremy Curley Kellyn Winslow all these guys did not play

Curley suffered a potentially serious elbow injury early in the game So these are the people that stepped in. Greg Salas, Zach Sudfeld, David Nelson, Josh Cribs, all has-beens and never-will-bees. And they beat Drew Breeze. And, of course, this goes back to the defense. I said on Friday, I should have picked the Jets.

I didn't take the Jets kicking myself. But I did say that, you know, their only chances to really aggravate Breeze and get in his face. And they did. They were hitting them all game, you know. so big win for the Jets Is it safe to say that Rex is the Rob Grankowski of the Ryan brothers He earns Rob, doesn't he?

Yeah No love for bad Santa I mean he's been okay this season Rob is like Chris Gronkowski Is it Rob like 0 and 5 now against Rex? Yes, when their coordinators are above You can make weird rules If you count that when Rob

Rob beat them in college but never in the pros Yeah the other thing Chris Ivory if this guy stays healthy, he's exactly what the Jets need, which is kind of a bruising running back who can take time off the clock. And Gino had a nothing game. Gino Coaster was kind of silent today, but he didn't make any mistakes. So the Jets are 5 and 4, and they are, we could say it,

they're a legitimate playoff contender at this point. I agree. In the AFC, why not? That last wildcard spot is going to come down to a mediocre team. The Jets are that team right now. Right. They actually have the worst point differential of any five and four team in NFL history. So maybe a little bit of a mirage, but you have to give this coaching staff so much credit for what they've done.

Speaking of Gino Coaster, what's up with Tom Brennan stealing our nickname for Gino there? He dropped it twice in the Panthers game today. I have reached out our council, our round the league council. We're going to try to make some money off this. Spread the love. We like it. I mean, if Tom Brennam is listening to the podcast, what's up, Tom? Where's the silent eight?

If he starts dropping the AD line in the Bengals game, then we know he really is outright thieving. I just want to try to monetize the nickname, if possible. So I will be reaching out to our lawyers. We're going to put Lyle the intern on finding some lawyers, and we're going to look into that. But, yeah, great day to be a jet fan, and they have now won every odd week this season,

and lost every even week. so they lost two, four, six, eight. And now they have a buy next week, so they can't lose. Bad loss for the Saints, too, because they have to go to Seattle later this season. They still have two left against the Panthers, so they kind of open the door for the Panthers to get back in it. And, too, what you said before we move on, Wes, Rex said this after the game. I think it's clear that he should be the offensive assistant coach of the year, in reference to the offensive quarter of a Marty Morningwig, that there is no such thing as an offensive assistant coach of the year.

I just think that was funny that he made up in a while. Maybe we should give one for our end of the season awards. Thanks for all the feedback for the mid-season awards. People liked it. A lot of buzz. A lot of buzz. Thank you for everyone that listens to the podcast and keep downloading. Wait, let's get some stuff out there.

Download it and rate it and leave comments. Anything else? Tell your friends. Tell your friends. Tell your enemies. What's the hashtag on Twitter? NFL AT you. There you go.

And if you have multiple devices like an iPod and a computer and a phone, just subscribe on all of them. And play them all simultaneously. Out your windows. We are also on Stitcher. Yes, I don't know what Stitcher is, but we're definitely on it, and that's great. All right, moving on. You know, I feel I just got a little bounce on my step talking about the Jets. I'm excited.

Cam Newton overcame a shaky start. He threw for one touchdown, ran for another. And the Panthers beat up on the Falcons 3410 for their fourth straight win. That's also the fourth straight game that the Panthers have scored 30 plus points. Wes, is it all right to get really excited at this point about the Panthers? I mean, we're already excited. We were. It is.

What about society? Yeah, everybody should be excited about Riverboat Ron. Riverbout Ron. He did it again, right? He did it again. Fourth and won in the first quarter from the 14-yard line. They run play action, find Greg Olson for a touchdown because touchdowns are better than field goals. True story.

How did Jonathan Stewart look in this game for a game back? He looked pretty good. I don't want to say he looked like touchdowns. pre-injury Jonathan Stewart, but he looked like the best of their running backs. He had some burst. He ran decisively, looked good out of the backfield in the passing game. And if we wait a few weeks and we do start to see him as pre-injury Jonathan Stewart, he could be the best playmaker in that offense along with Cam Newton.

That's a big addition for a contender. Did you ever have a feeling that the Falcons could win this game? I was actually surprised they were close for much of it. I did not have a feeling they could win this game. The Panthers were clearly the better team. we suggested that Matt Ryan might faceplant and he now has seven interceptions in his last two games and for the first time in his career

has back-to-back games with at least three interceptions through his first pick six since 2010 hard times for Matt Ryan thank you to the Falcons by the way for not making us feel bad about forking you after only seven weeks because they're not coming back there's no coming back now and Tony Gonzalez will not be traded

that's the only good thing for the Falcons that there's no more speculation about Tony being traded. He had a good day today. He was getting open all over the middle of the field. And basically, the Panthers have one job. Stoped Tony Gonzalez and they couldn't do it. All right, let's move on. The Washington Redskins got a Darrell Young.

I'm just learning now who Darrell Young is. Scored a four-yard touchdown run on overtime Sunday. His third touchdown of the game, he's a fullback. He plays American football. giving the Redskins a 30-24 win over the Chargers. I came into the office today, and Greg was just losing his mind watching this game. Very fired up.

Greg, tell us about this one, because Chargers basically blew this one. They did. And just to paint a picture, Darrell Young is the Tommy Bowhannon of the Washington Redskins. Does that mean anything to you? No.

Tommy Bowhann's your guy on the Jets. Grateful back. This was a very tough game. to watch for Charger Nation, of which I now consider myself a Chargers fan. I jumped on three or four weeks ago. I'll tell you, they'll break your heart. If you were sitting next to Greg

in the newsroom today, you would have thought that he kicked the Patriots to the curb and adopted the Chargers as his new team. The Redskins tried to give this game away. Up 10, 7 minutes to go. They blow that lead. They do a terrible job mismanaging the clock,

giving San Diego way too much time. San Diego is driving. Phil Brevers is playing well at the end of the game. They have three chances at the one foot line with 18 seconds left. They have a time out there. They run it with Danny Woodhead instead of Ryan Matthews. They still have a time out. And then they throw two very low percentage passes and go to overtime. And it was like, just give Ryan Matthews a chance. You've got one of the toughest running backs in the league. And they made it so hard on themselves. It goes to overtime. And I said, whoever wins a coin toss is going down and scoring a touchdown.

The new overtime rules doesn't matter because both of these defenses could not make a real stop for the game. And the Redskins did it. What do we think of Mike McCoy? This is not the first time we've questioned the Chargers game management late in the game. He's got some Norv Turner tendencies, which is that he's done a great job creating some offense on this team out of nothing. I think he's done a terrific job. but they've made some crazy decisions and shown a tendency to make a losses out of wins. Give me an RG3 report.

Good. I mean, he played well overall. He missed a throw or two, especially late in the game that could have put it away. But, you know, he played, he was accurate, and he played with reckless abandon. You know, we heard all offseason how he's going to be careful and protect himself. He took a ton of hits in this game. Some of it was running the read option. some of it was him just running on his own

one was a huge third down play where he dove for the first down and got nailed and it was like all that offseason stuff was out the window we need a win and I don't know how long he can last like this but it was fun to watch and the best player on the field was Pierre Garsohn I mean this was the best game he's ever had as a Redskin he made three or four unbelievable catches

a couple of them to keep drives going I don't think they win this game without Garcone it was really those guys and the running game making plays for our there's kind of a weird statistical anomaly going on with this team was it two weeks ago roy halloo scored three touchdowns yes and then today darrell young does and they have alf morris that's a little bit odd that they are these secondary guys are scoring the trio of touchdowns i i actually got to watch a good portion of this game and you know this isn't anything new but i it's still i get sad watching rg3 with that giant knee brace he just he doesn't move very like

Even kind of walks the way he walks. He just doesn't seem as exciting. And I thought back to how amazing it was last year when he was just such a different player. He didn't seem to be moving too well to me today. He didn't run a ton, but their running game was effective partly because of him because they did a lot of option stuff. They had Jordan Reed run once out of the back field. I mean, they ran for over 200 yards. The Chargers defense could not stop Washington in general.

I had no faith that they would in overtime. And the Chargers' offense only stopped when it was stopping themselves. Keenan Allen, who had a big game statistically, had a rough performance. He had a huge drop to kill a drive. He didn't fight for a ball on an interception. I think the Chargers really imploded more than the Redskins winning. To your point, Dan, I don't think we'll see pre-injury Griffin until he loses that knee brace. He insists he's faster now than he was before the injury, but you can't run as fast with that bulky brace.

But there were plays in that Bears game where he was really explosive. I mean, he was making the defenders look so slow. So maybe he's not as explosive as he was running, and I don't know if it's consistent. I think there's a pretty significant difference. But he's still more explosive than most quarterbacks. I don't think his movement was a problem for them. It's his accuracy. He's always messing with that brace, too.

It's like every time you see him, you're constantly reminded. It's so big. He's always fidgeting with it. And I don't know. It's just depressing to me because I thought, he came into the league last year. He was the most exciting player we've seen him a long time. Whatever.

Season saving goal line stand, I think, for them. I don't think they're going anywhere this year, but I think they were done if they don't get this win. We did count them out last year, too. Well, that's why I'm not. I'm saying they're live. Three and five. All right, let's move on.

Stephen Hoshka kicked a 27-yard field goal with eight minutes to play in overtime. And the Seahawks staged the biggest rally in franchise history to beat the Tampa Bay Bucks 2017. 24 in overtime on Sunday. Just the fact that this even came down to overtime was stunning. I think we

did not, and we weren't alone, but on Friday's podcast, we didn't take this game very seriously. And then Tampa Bay comes out and punches Seattle in the mouth with 21 straight points on the road. It was weird. But, you know, he actually got to 217 at the half and then 24-7 early

in the third quarter. And then Greg Shiano, and you know, we don't have to pick on the guy every week until he's history. But, you know, they basically took the air out of the ball at 24-7 and thought they could run away and hide playing in that building, which is not going to work out. And, you know, ended up costing them. Seattle started leaning hard on Marshawn Lynch, who made plays.

And he kind of, Lynch took over and overtime, led them down the field and kicked the field goal. So the Seahawks, despite not playing very well at all, have two wins in the past six days. And, you know, that's a sign of a good team when you're winning, you're playing bad. That Shiano call gave me an idea. We need to start a coaching tracker for, like, crucial decisions, and which coaches do it right and which coaches consistently do it wrong. I think we can track that on the podcast or on the site.

Homework project. I know the man for it. Chris Wesley. I just volunteered myself for that one. And if you're looking, if you're a bucks van, and I'm sorry if you are, but for silver linings, Mike Lennon looks pretty good. He made some nice plays. He had a really nice 20-yard touchdown pass to Taekwuan Underwood

where he showed some nice footwork and some good touch. And then this guy, Mike Jones, you know, he looked really good. Mike James. Excuse me, Mike Janes. He ran for a season high 158 yards. Also threw a little Tebow-esque jump pass for a touchdown. He looks better than Doug Martin ever looked before he got hurt this season. So maybe not last year, but earlier this season.

And so that guy can play a little bit. But, you know, the Bucks are now 0 and 8, and, you know, is Shiano going to survive? At this point, I think that would be a surprise if he survived. You're changing your tune. Now I am 0 and 8. Although, you know, let's get an update. Have they quit on Shiano this week? Because everyone's convinced, oh, they quit.

They're obviously not playing for him. So were they trying when they got the big lead, but then they quit on him when they got the, when they felt? I didn't see the game. I can't. Yeah, there was a lot of buzz in the newsroom after the field goal to end the game. Oh, Shiano's history, but I know it's ugly to blow a 21-0-0 lead, but this game proves that they are still playing hard because, you know, they almost won the game.

So I don't think he gets fired this week. Oh, this week? No, no, I think he'll make it to the end of the season, actually. How did the Seahawks offensive line look? They lost Michael Bowie to an injury. Max Unger suffered a concussion. So that's something to watch But on balance

They did a better job in protection And you know The Seahawks They rushed the ball very well So you know They're not playing very well right now But they're 8 and 1 So

They don't have to worry about momentum Until the playoffs are closer They just need wins now They just need home field advantage And that's you know They got to assist today From the New York Jets They did yes

And that's also 12 straight wins At home for the Seahawks, which ties a franchise. Russell Wilson has never lost at home. No. Good job by him. All right, moving forward. Tony Romo threw for 337 yards and two touchdowns,

including the go-ahead score to Dwayne Harris. A lot of like no-name guys stepping up today with 35 seconds left. Cowboys beat the Vikings 27-23. You know, this was a, Wes, this was a game that, not going to get excited about the Cowboys because they're so schizophrenic, but they've blown this game before, so finishing and actually coming back is a nice little achievement.

I feel sorry for all of the people that were out there on social media just waiting for Romo to collapse, and they didn't get a chance to put their snark out into the world today. I feel really bad for them. All they have to do is win these types of games, and they can probably win the division.

Now, they've shown that they won't necessarily win these types of games easy, but I think this is all they need to do to get to eight or nine wins and take the NFC East. One major concern for them is DeMarco Murray averaged eight yards per carry today and they only gave him four carries. This has been the most one-dimensional offense in the NFL. They don't run the ball.

I thought that was supposed to change this year. It was. I don't know what's going on with that. Well, they shouldn't have run it last week because Joseph Randall doesn't look like an NFL player. No, he doesn't. So they gave up on that for a reason. Poor Vikings, though.

They get a good out. effort, blow it. Christian Ponder, by the way, will start on Thursday night football. So get excited for that. The Vikings are on national TV again. They're on our network. It's got to be a great game. And Ponder will keep his starting job, at least for this week. Adrian Peterson had a nice day. He had a big long run and then had one of the best touchdown runs of the year where he basically took three defenders in the end zone. It made me think of Ray Lewis a couple weeks ago, said that when he saw locked eyes with Adrian Peterson on the field after or a grim loss of the Giants that, you know, he saw something in his eyes that he didn't want to see.

And, you know, he saw the same thing in Barry Sanders. Right. I remember that. He kind of hinted that Peterson might retire early because the passion. So Ray Lewis spoke. Ray Lewis spoke to Jesus who must have misinformed him because Adrian ran with a lot of purpose today. So bad job by you, Ray. You know a guy has to do something impressive to get my wife to instant message me.

Adrian Peterson is a monster. Wow. I don't think of, yes, she must have been watching Red Zone or something, and there was that play. Your wife watches Red Zone? She watches a little football on Sundays. I'm proud. I'm proud. Well, she does have her own fantasy team.

Yes. My wife has no idea what Red Zone is. All right, moving on, Tom Brady. Greg, get excited. Through for season highs and yardage, 432 yards, four touchdowns. Gronk had a career high nine catches. The Patriots destroyed the Steelers, 5531. This is kind of like those Patriots wins we became accustomed to over the past couple of years.

All of a sudden, Tommy's looking good, isn't he, Greg? It was like a 2010 game broke out here. Rob Grunkowski is looking better than he ever looked. I mean he looks faster. Obviously, he's the most physical tight end in the league, and he just looks great. You have Danny Mandola going over 100 yards. You have Aaron Dobson kind of playing the Dionne Bray. ranch roll. He goes over 100 yards. Brady had his sharpest game of the season, and they stuck with Ridley as the primary back goal game. It's amazing. I guess we shouldn't be surprised how much better they look when it's Grank, Amandola, and Ridley all on the field together today. And I thought, hey, maybe they've kind of found their mix, and that's what they're going to stick with.

We both saw Tom Brady, we saw something in his game last week where we thought he looked better than his numbers, but I don't think we could expect this. I think I saw that this is the first game. in Patriots history where three different players had 100 yards receiving? Yeah, that's true. He had 432 yards and four touchdowns. He's finally going to be out of the Gabbert zone for good this season after this. And he threw outside the numbers a lot in this game. And he threw deep to Dobson and a couple other times. And the Steelers defense is almost unrecognizable at this point.

They gave up the most points and yards in the history of the franchise. There were some coverage busts, especially early in the game, that made it easier for the Patriots. This isn't just a one game thing for the Steelers. They have given up at least 34 points three times, which is the first time that's happened since 1989. You know, when I go into the, we have our fork committee gathering ahead of Wednesday's podcast, I will be bringing in a big file filled with stats, and I'm going to push hard for the fork going into the Steelers back deep, deep into their body. You're going to get some arguments, but I'm open-minded to it.

That's all I ask for. That's all the committee could ask for. Everyone has an open mind. I can be swayed on that one. They're such a weird team, though. Even in this game, it's like Ben Rathesberger throws for 400 yards. He throws for four touchdowns. They do some good things, but they can't ever put it all together.

Brady picked on Shamarko Thomas like he was the only player on the field. Wherever Shamarko was, they basically just threw it at him. It's odd they drafted him as a safety, and they're playing him at cornerback. Well, Ryan Clark got hurt in the game. and I Taylor got hurt too in the second half, so they were down a couple people that definitely helped Brady's cause. And any of you people out there

that started Tom Brady in fantasy, that means that you didn't listen to like idiots that work for fantasy sites and said maybe you should drop Tom Brady. You never dropped Tom Brady, and he showed you why. And they're going into their buy seven and two. I think they need their offense to be this good

because the defense isn't going to be. They lost Steve Gregory in this game. They lost Rob Ninkovich in this game. They keep getting defensive players injured. But suddenly they're coming out of the buy, 7 and 2. They're going to get to leave back. They're going to get Vareen back. And these are a lot of premier players.

They're rounded into form. You're excited, Greg. But you better keep winning because the New York Jets. The New York Jets are in second place. Only two games back. And the Patriots come out of the by at Carolina and versus Denver. So that's about as hard as it gets right now. Interesting.

Ooh, Patriots, Carolina. I love that. all right moving forward jason campbell yes jason campbell threw three touchdown passes two to devon bests and the browns ended on 11 game losing streak against the ravens uh with a 24 18 win the ravens are in trouble folks the ravens are three and five they don't look good ray rice stinks right now and joe flacco is not good enough to put them on his back and take them to a next level um at least not right now he looks nothing like the guy guy from January.

A lot of issues here. Meanwhile, the Browns are four and five in the mix. And Jason Campbell, again, Jason Campbell, who everyone, you know, kind of, once he took over for Whedon, it was assumed that it would be just the end of the road for the Browns. He's played two good games in a row. He was great today through three touchdowns, and he iced the game with a long drive that covered 15 plays that basically ended any chance of a Ravens comeback. Get excited, Cleveland.

We should explain the weird Jason Campbell phenomenon in our newsroom. We have an editor at NFL.com named Mike Coppinger. And you might understand if somebody's favorite player was Andrew Luck or even Case Keenham. But Mike Coppinger has a weird, bizarre fetish for Jason Campbell. He told us that Campbell would turn the brown season around and Campbell would be electric. He has to be the only person in America that had that opinion. Cabinger is a Redskins fan, so he has some history with Campbell. And, you know, Sessler, I didn't get a chance to talk to him.

He left before the game was over. But I would imagine, and we'll ask him on Wednesday, that he's getting a little excited. Because with a very good defense, they still have no running game. McGahey is just awful. I think he... 31 yards and 21 carries. That's outrageous. Is that the McGahey's zone?

Well, what's odd is in this game, there are only three NFL running. backs with under three yards per carry and at least 75 carries and all were playing in this game. Wow. And all of them averaged one point, less than two yards per carry in this game. It's a major issue. Greg, I think you made the point downstairs also that, yes, it's starting to look like the Browns got the better of that trade with the Colts, but it would have, even a mediocre

Trent Richardson would be a huge upgrade over what they have right now. They could really use a league average running back right now. It's time to see what they have in Fosie Whitaker. Right. But yeah, and back to my point, if you take a good defense and a quarterback in Campbell, if he continues to play well, there's no reason why they can't flirt with the playoffs. It makes you wonder what they would be if Jason Campbell was the week one starter. Is that that crazy to think? No, it's not. And for all the love the Ravens defense has received this year, and most of it's deserved, I can think of two division games in the last three weeks where their defense had a chance to make a stop at the end of the game. and try to set up a win, and they really couldn't get the stop.

So in big spots, if you're your defensive team, the Browns went right through them at the end of the game. It was impressive. Yes, and just for fun, I'll take a quick look at their schedule. They go into a buy week now. Nice timing for the buy. Then they have At Bangles, without Gino Atkins, home to Steelers, home to Jags. So, listen, they got a shot, and then they go to New England.

So they really need to take two of three after that buy to be, you know, considered a real contender, but we'll see. Sometimes we hear from fans we don't talk about them enough, like the Ravens when they were doing well. I heard some, the Ravens fans should be happy that we don't talk about the Ravens that much because any other defending championship team that would be three and five,

that would be all we're talking about, but for some reason we're just bored by them and don't bother. Yes. Okay, moving forward. Yes. And finally, Chris Johnson ran for 150 yards and two touchdowns, Chris Johnson, who Cessler and I acquired for our fantasy team, Alison Brie,

and the Titans beat former coach Jeff Fisher and the Rams 2821. Wes, you watch this game. What was the most compelling take you took out of it? The story of this game really was Chris Johnson. He looked like CJ2K, Chris Johnson. And I bet that this is the most yards he's ever rushed for in a game where his longest carry was 24 yards. He was a sustaining back.

He got first downs, carried the offense, looked explosive, was quicker through the hole, made sharper cuts, broke arm tackles, which he hadn't done at any point this year. He was the most easiest back to tackle, it seemed like. I wonder if, you know, the news this week of Sean Greene getting up to 15 carries, maybe a little lit a fire under it. I think there has been some criticism of Chris Johnson that he doesn't always play as hard as he should. And maybe that did light a fire under him. Well, I know he respects Chris Wessling's opinion. And when he hears that Chris Wesleyan's that big a Sean Green fan And Sean Greed could be coming gunning for him

He thought I better pick it up Sean Green would look good today too He carried a couple guys into the end zone He had a 28-yard screen pass They're running screen passes to a big back like Sean Green This is a sneaky potential playoff team of Titans I've been talking about it for the last week That I think they got a shot to sneak in there as the six seed

In a watered down AFC And my guy Jarrell Casey made a game-changing play Kellyn Clemens, big quarterback like Kellyn Clemens is taking his team down the field. Strip, sack, fumble, Titans take it from there. We should mention Zach Stacey looked great again. He touched the ball on half of their snaps and looked phenomenal. This guy, he makes people miss in tight spaces, not an open field. And I don't think many backs have that trait.

How about a Tavon Austin update? Zero catches, have one nice return, but basically invisible in offense. I guess at this point with Kellan Clemens and You can't even really get an accurate gauge, but interesting to know. Okay, that's it for tonight's podcast. We will be back Wednesday, where we will, as we discussed during the show, the fork committee will get together and announce who has had the fork stuck deep between the shoulder blades ending their 2013 dreams.

And we'll also preview Thursday night and week 10, get excited. But until then, this is Dan Hansa, signing off for the mailman, the boss, K. Rich behind the glass. Of course, Lyle, the ATO, interned, until Wednesday.