NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL Week 11 recap

Episode Date: November 17, 2014

A room full of heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling and Marc Sessler -- recap every Sunday game from Week 11 in the NFL and debate which teams are in the driver seat for a playoff spot.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 NFL podcast turns down for JJ what. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis and I'm joined by a room filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, Greg Rosenthal. What up, boys. Greg getting physical. Hey, Dan.

Right out of the gate Sunday. Not a battle you want to take on. I'm just going to say. I just want to make sure that everyone's ready to battle tonight and fight. Craig's shoving Dan physically right out of the game. Yeah, listen. It's his move. He's going to use it.

I'm fired up. It was a big week. It's a big week. It is an exciting week. And let's face it, we're almost the Thanksgiving. Once you hit Thanksgiving, it is on. I'm not going to say on like Donkey Kong because I'm not a horrible person, but I'm going to say it is on once you hit that.

And this is the last week before you hit that home stretch. But it sets everything up for that home stretch. And we had a lot of developments come in on the old Sunday of week 11. Your thoughts, Mark? Well, glorious Sunday. Everything fell the way I would have hoped. I'm excited about that J.J. Watt intro right there. What was wrong with it?

I saw both of the 40-somethings nodding their heads. I gave a thumbs down for the J.J. Watt intro. It's not one of our most creative bits. TD, your thoughts? Well, beautifully voiced by Matt Money-Smith, who that's not the issue. No, Money Smith is a many talented man. Is this more like Wes going off against rap again? Is that what this is?

No, I like hip-hop. I like rap. Why would you say that? Because you have that Kanye West. You like it, but only if it was made before 1995. 95. I do tend to go, I tend to skew old school in all of my music choices, but I don't hate rap at all. Okay.

Well, now that that's out of the way, we can get into... But I would say that repetition is the death of art. Repetition is also the father of learning. Little Wayne. It's a quote. Brevity is the soul of wit. Blah, blah. What the hell's going on out there?

Please, for John. All right. So, yeah, so we have a lot of games to get to, and I guess we will start with a game, you know, the two Super Bowl teams. Let's start with the two Super Bowl teams because they are a little tough to figure out after a strange Sunday.

So why do we do that? And we start with the St. Louis Rams who replaced their quarterback, Austin Davis, brought Sean Hill back into the mix and had some success against the Denver Broncos. The defense tightens up really makes life tough for Peyton Manning. A 22-7 Rams win over the AFC West leading Broncos, and one of I would say the biggest upsets of the season. Wes, you were watching this game closely.

This is a day the Broncos would like to forget very quickly for a number of reasons, correct? Yeah, they would like to forget what Greg Rosenthal told us last week that the Rams have one of the best defenses in the NFL, and they were in Peyton Manning's grill, they punished the Broncos wide receivers, they deflected nine passes. They were all over the field today, and seven points. That's the fewest points Peyton Manning has scored in a game he's finished since the 2004 playoffs in which he lost to the Patriots 20 to 3. That's unbelievable, seven points in a dome. I mean, I know it's, you know, St. Louis home field, but it's still a dome. What do you, what do you thinks like the one thing they did that other teams haven't been able to do against Denver.

It's a good question. I don't know. It looked like they were playing with more than 11 defenders. It does feel like Denver, they can't run the ball very well right now. Is that accurate? Yeah, the Broncos passed on 25 of the first 30 plays. Ronnie Hillman's out two to three weeks. Monta Ball came back this week and aggravated his groin injury twice. He was limping badly the second time he did it. So I wouldn't expect to see him next week either. And then the injuries, too. Julius Thomas left early in the game, never came back. Emmanuel Sanders took one of the most brutal hits I've ever seen.

Did they throw a flag on that? They did. Yeah, that was pretty vicious. It looked clean. It was just a vicious hit. And he got tested for concussion, so that I'll have to go through that this week. Yeah, he had a concussion. And frankly, I think Peyton Manning's arm strength comes back to haunt him against good defenses.

We saw it in the Super Bowl, saw it against today. They've got something going. I mean, I got a lot of, I don't know if you got hit up. a lot on Twitter after we debate. They're a fun defense to watch because now they have other guys like Ogletree and Laroni and Tim McDonald's like getting into the mix. That right now is one of the best defenses in the NFL. They weren't early in the season, clearly, but right now they have to be playing the well. They have one sack in the first five games. They have 18 in their last five games. E.J. Gaines, the rookie cornerbacks been playing well. He had a good game

today. So did McDonald. I know that I was in the office early this morning. And when West came in, right away, eight seconds into the shift, there's bickering between. between you two about the Rams defense, I think that St. Louis sent a message today. It's a huge loss for Denver, just because you didn't expect it coming, and we kind of figured they're the favorite for the number one seed, even though they lost to the Patriots, but this is a loss that we never really expected, and they have some tough games coming up, too. I saw where you went with that, by the way. It wasn't so much St. Louis sending the message. It was Wes sending a message to his boss there. Fair, Mark?

I think that West comes down on the other side of the argument, actually. I believe that it's Greg who's been the support of the San Luis defense. Okay, never mind. Nice attempt to take the message and flip it completely 180 into something that would be factually inaccurate. I like to introduce chaos into the mix. I let you did a very nice job with that. Let's see what happens. All right, so the Broncos go down.

How about their opponent in Super Bowl 48? The Seattle Seahawks also ran into trouble. On the road, Jamal Charles ran for 159 yards and two touchdowns, and the Chiefs stopped Seattle on fourth down three times late in the fourth quarter. It all added up to a 24-20 win for the Chief. who are seven to three, five straight wins. And by the way, we're just talking about the Broncos. First place, tying the AFC West, the Chiefs.

Mark Sessler. The Chiefs are one of the best teams in the AFC. Time's giving them respect, right? You know, I know, Greg, you cover this game. I look at the box score here. I see Alex Smith with 108 yards passing. Can you explain what happened here? Wait a second.

Time out. You didn't answer my question. What's the question you're asking? Are they one of the best teams? I think we have to respect. them. I think they're strange and incomplete, and that's the question I asked. But yeah, of course, they're seven and three. They keep winning. It's the most Kansas City Chiefs whenever. Their wide receivers have 18 yards in the game, and yet they beat Seattle. I mean, they only

throw the ball 16 times, only once down the field, and they beat Seattle, and they do it with these long drives, and they do it because Jamal Charles is the best player on the field today. And the pass for us, Tom Bali and Justin Houston, they both had three quarterback hits. Yeah, they were good. You know, Russell Wilson kept this game alive. I'm beating the same drum every week that they have no offense other than Russell Wilson improvising. And he was great at it today. It was kind of like that Washington game.

It felt like they shouldn't even been in it, if not for a bunch of miracle plays that Wilson pulled off. Marshawn Lynch ran the ball very well. There wasn't one big takeaway that you could say, okay, the Chiefs did it. It was a complete team effort. But Charles was special today. I mean, a lot of their runs were up the middle against the chiefs. Seattle, and you just have to think, how big is that loss of Brandon Meebain? They didn't look the same stop in the run.

Charles is having an amazing career. It's now, it's not just a one or two-year thing. This has been a nice stretch of play with a major knee injury in the mix, and he is overlooked on some level when you talk about those great running backs in the NFL. He's right at the top of the list. He showed it today. If he stays healthy for three more years, is he a Hall of Famer? I think he's right there.

I mean, that's a long time to stay healthy, but he's at running backs at that level. It's a career almost. It's tricky with running back staff. It's the one position where you almost have to boost their stats comparing it to former generations. I think so because he's been a top, let's say, two to three running back for four or five years of his career. And those are generally the types of players that go to the Hall of Fame. And let's talk about Seattle because, you know, it's gotten to the point. I think back to week one when I was in Seattle and we were on the phone together.

We were talking about how amazing they looked and how they were by far the best team, the most balanced team in the league. Now they lose seemingly almost every other week, and it's reached a point now where they lost today, and it's not even that big a deal. I remember when San Diego beat them in San Diego, and it was like, wow, what a win for the Chargers. What happened to the Seahawks?

What happened to that dominant team that we remember? I think we're recalibrating, you know, as the season goes along, what we really feel about this team. And for me, it's a couple of things. One, the injuries, I think, cost them heavily, and they weren't able to do with them. But number two, this is, this is, This is weeks in a row where the passing game, Greg used the best word last week, just random,

and they don't seem to have, they can't really do what they want through the air. Right, and their defense is good, but it's no longer great. It's no longer one of the best two defense in the league. And injuries are a factor, but they got a lot of people back today. They got back Byron Maxwell, Jeremy Lane, Cam Chancellor, Malcolm Smith, who made a very big play in this game. And yet, early in the game, the Chief's first two drives were just run down the field and just cream them for 15-play drive, and then a quick drive.

They only had three drives in the first half, and two of them were long touchdown drive, so the Chiefs' offense did what they wanted early. Are we surprised, though, that the Seattle defense, which a lot of people talked up as a potentially all-time-level defense, they got hit with some injuries, but that it would drop off that quickly, that there maybe wasn't enough depth, and maybe we all missed that this team wasn't prepared for a rash of injuries? Yes, because mostly they're young. Right.

The injuries are two Bobby Wagner and Cam Chancellor who are two are the most important players You can't just replace them And now me, Bain, and they're not a bad defense They've just gone from unbelievable To, okay, maybe they're the sixth best defense In the league

And they played with two small of a margin for error last year There's nothing this team hangs its hat on anymore Well, they're a terrible road team And they're going to have to go and win in Arizona Or win in San Francisco One of those types of games Or else they're not going to go to the playoffs One last point on Jamal Charles

DeMarco Murray is on pace to break the record for carries this year Jamal Charles entered this game with only seven more carries than his backup You have to like what the Chiefs are doing saving him for the playoffs That's good So the Seattle Seahawks are now 6 and 4 And the Arizona Cardinals Our next team Now 9 in 1 gentlemen

Drew Stanton through touchdown passes to Michael Floyd on the team's first two possessions of the game and then the defense took over holding the lines to two Matt Prater field goals and what ended up as a 14-6 win in a matchup, a big matchup between two of the teams with the two best records in the NFC so the Cardinals send another message

this time without Carson Palmer will put in Drew Stanton who played okay today he played amazingly in the first quarter his play dropped off a little bit and then the defense took over and played an excellent game I mean, they pressured Matt Stafford all game. They held Golden Tait and Megatron to 100 yards combined and no touchdowns. Obviously, didn't give up a touchdown to anyone on the game.

And the big call of the game and the one that I really showed you where Bruce Ariens is at with Drew Stanton. They were facing a third in 11, about two and a half minutes to play. The Lions had no timeouts. So conventional wisdom, if you have a backup quarterback, you run the ball, take it to the two-minute warning, and hope your defense gets one more stop. Arient said, screw it, I'm throwing it. Got a first down, 11-yard completion to Larry Fitz, three kneel downs, and it's over.

So all this talk about Bruce Ariens saying that he trusts Drew Stanton, that to me was all backed up by the way he handled him today, letting him throw the ball. He said it all the way dating back to deep in the pre-s in the off-season, where they talked about, well, are you going to go draft someone or bring someone? He's like, I really, really like what we have in Drew Stanton. And I think we know he doesn't have the same skill set in some areas as Palmer, But Aryans, I love what he does as a coach.

He's going to roll with his guys. And Dan's point is so well said because not only does he have the confidence to make that call in a vacuum, but he does it in a game where Staten has two picks and almost threw a couple more in the second half. So he is watching Drew Stanton try to throw this game away, but he knows, look, the only way I'm going to win is by playing two win, even in this spot. And they trust him to throw. It's awesome. The number one defense in the league had zero sacks today against an offensive line that's been the worst in the NFL

over the past couple of years and has really been much better this year but that's pretty telling to me that the best defense in the league couldn't get to Drew Stanton. Wow, what are the odds that the Lions have no sacks against Drew Stanton and the Seattle Seahawks had a Golston today. No QB hits, no sacks.

Remember our old phrase that the Goulston? The goldston, yeah. I think it speaks to me about, no matter what team looks hot one week, you cannot predict what's going to happen the next. Detroit hasn't really looked hot, though. They haven't played a complete game. Their defense has.

Right, that's fair. But they haven't played a complete game, and I'm sick to my stomach for not choosing this magical Cardinals team to win today because the Lions have struggled to put together four quarters. I mean, that's fair to say. They've pulled these games out of their, you know, you know what. What? Yeah, you know.

That's it. Oh, they're buttocks. They're buttocks. Hey, this is a family shell. He meant the buttocks. Can we bleep that TDA afterwards? Keep it in. It's anatomically correct.

By the way, it is not a Goulston. I thought this was settled. It's a dirty Peter. We settled that ages ago. You keep on trying to force the Gullston narrative. That may need to be bleeped out. I thought we appreciated both were okay. First of all, I love that this is a callback to a year ago.

So thanks to all the fans who have been with us the whole time even know what we're talking about. And to the ones that don't, I apologize. Yeah, anything else to say about this game? And the other side of the ball, Jim Caldwell, I will give him credit because myself, and a lot of other people have taken shots at Caldwell, thought it was not an inspiring hiring. He's done a good job.

The team seems to be a little more disciplined now under him, but this was not a great game for Jim Caldwell. I'll say that at the same time, very conservatively played several fourth and short scenarios where he punted the ball, settled for a field. goal finally did go for it in the fourth quarter and then it was a bad play call i thought where they tried to force it to megatron on on a kind of an out that didn't work um so caldo played this game and gregg you were watching a game as well and in a frustrating manner i was sickened i mean the whole the whole game seemed like an excuse for caldwell to not go for anything you know what i

mean i mean he's the opposite of arians and then when they have third and one key spot they give the ball the theo riddick who has two carries on the day for two yards meanwhile joick bell is having one of the best games of his career, running over. Very annoying. Joyc Bell, 6.1 yards per carry and 14 carries, and yet in all these fourth and short scenarios, did not give him the ball. If I'm Detroit, I immediately ripped the roof off our dome, become an outdoor rugged team, and then I can start to get on this train. You're coddled, you live in a dome, and you're never going anywhere, if that's the case.

That's expensive. If you were to draw up a third and one running back, he would look exactly opposite of Theo Riddick. Right, he'd look like Joyc Bell. The Cardinals, by the way, can basically win the division next week if they win in Seattle, which is very tough to do, but that's insane that they could give Bruce Arons the trophy. Do you get a trophy when your coach of the year? I'm sure you do. Yeah, probably. I think you get a Cadillac. In fact, he already has one of those. Just give it to them because in a year where you had the Niners and the Seahawks in your division and you just blow the division away

and maybe clinch it by December. Not wrong. Just put him in the Hall of Fame. And you lose your quarterback? He's awesome. Just put him in the Hall of Fame. How are they not the team of ATL? Bruce Ariens is our people. We have the power to do that. Let's keep our dignity, West. We don't have any dignity. Well, that's a good point, too. Would you like to stay in the NFC West Division?

That would be fun. Okay. Great division. 49ers rookie linebacker, Chris Borland intercepted a fourth down pass by Eli Manning, one of five interceptions by the Giants' quarterback. That was the final interception, though, was the killer, a 16-10 win for the San Francisco 49ers over the Giants. That is five straight losses for.

The New York Giants, Wes is grinning for multiple reasons. Of course, we had the Eli Manning Hall of Fame discussion. You love these type of days. And also, you also like the Giants failing. But we're not going to talk to you about this right now, Wes. We're going to talk to our man. He is our East Coast. Yes, our East Coast correspondent.

He is young. He seems happy. He has a home that he shares with his girlfriend. He is Connor Orr. what's up Connor that was the best introduction i've ever got you're young you're happy are you in that home right now just kicked yeah you must be it's late i am yeah yeah so so you were at metlife stadium for what would be deemed as one of those classic eli meltdown afternoons correct yeah um you know after the third interception we didn't think it could get much worse but uh there

happened to just be two more after that and uh you know part of me i i'm still wrestling between, you know, part of me thinks that he's just a quarterback that doesn't stop growing, and you have to admire that, but all of his mistakes seem to be bad mistakes, and it never seems to get any better. I mean, a five-interception

game, and it's not as first that he's at. He's had quite a few as a whole last couple. West cackling. That's what you want in a Hall of Fame quarterback meltdown. Yeah, you don't have to respect it, Connor. You don't have to enjoy it. By the way, you know who through five interceptions? Sometimes, Joe name it, too. Gunsling.

In fairness, though, Eli only had six on the whole year going into this game. So it hasn't been typical of this season. Let's talk about the team that matters here. The Niners, who back-to-back weeks now have basically, you know, had their season flash before them, and ball times came out of it on top, a big-time defensive effort to get the job done today. Yeah, I mean, this one was entirely on the defense.

And, you know, Vic Fangio, he had them going early, and then Alvin Smith wasn't out for the first. two series. And then as soon as he put Alden Smith in, I mean, it got even, it spiraled for the Giants. I mean, they at one point were triple teaming him. And, I mean, if you think about how many offensive linemen you have, you know, I mean, that's a large portion of those people. And Smith, who got benched, basically, I mean, Smith, who wasn't starting the game, when he came in, Amad Brooks was part of a rotation with Lynch. And at one point, Brooks decided that he didn't want to be part of the rotation, and he, according to our NFL media

insider Ian Raffort, told the 49ers coaches he didn't want to play anymore. That's healthy. He benched himself. He took off his cleats. That is the best part. He sat at the end of the bench. He took off of his cleats. It's insane.

You know, the best part about this is every week you hear a new story about how Jim Harbaugh is catastrophically losing this locker room, and yet they're six and four. I mean, they're an extremely talented team, and somehow he has just enough guys in his corner. You know, after, I think it was Parrish Cox, had an interception. He ran off the field and he handed the ball to Harbaugh and hugged him and this is for you. So there's that going on. And then on the other end, there's guys that are just voluntarily quitting in the middle of the game. So there's an interesting dynamic, certainly.

Connor, so I think a lot of people feel like Jim Harbaugh won't be back in Sam Fran next year. But across the way, it sure feels like this could be the end. for Tom Coughlin as well, which would, if Ben McAdoo also sails off into the distance, put Eli Manning into his third offense in three years, which is not what you want from a late period, Eli Manning. No. I mean, this is going to be the hardest offseason I think that John Mayer has probably ever had as president and CEO.

I mean, you know, if you look at the decisions he has to make, I mean, the problems clearly start from the way that they draft, but it trickles down. You have to do something to satisfy the fan base. you can't put that same line of coaches in next year, and it's not just a matter of, oh, we'll replace a couple position coaches again, and everyone will be happy. I mean, this is, I don't think anybody's going to accept any less than a full-scale renovation here. I mean, this is the second year in a row where they're so out of it that it's glaring. I mean, there's a lot of problems.

Maybe finding Giants wasn't the best way to go with that NFL Network series. I thought it was excellent. Well, they did find O'D Beckham. Yeah, that's true. He was unbelievable against that. You get a cookie. You get a cookie from the shadowy league figure, Connor. And a lollipop.

All right, Connor. Well, you can go back to shopping for engagement rings online. Thank you. Wow. Thank you for everything that you do. Bye, bye. Thank you. All right.

You know, just two kids. Breaking some personal business right here on the podcast. Just two kids in a big old house. You've got to fill that house up with kids. Before you do that, you got to get that ring. Got it's not. Monday. I'm plotting out the rest of his life.

That's how it works. The only man I know that cannot be tied down to my left, Chris Wesley. He won't be tied down. He won't be tied down. He's a man on an adventure course in life. I've been disengaged. All right, boys. Let's talk about the hottest team in the NFL.

They are the Green Bay Packers. Aaron Rogers threw for 341 yards and three touchdowns. And Julius Peppers had his second pick six of the season. and Green Bay just destroyed the Philadelphia Eagles and a 5320 win on Sunday. That's two straight 50 burgers for the Packers, Chris Wessling, who looks simply unbeatable at Lambeau Field. Is the message, is the mission for the rest of the NFC

to stop the Packers from getting the number one seed now? Yes, that's the mission. First time in 93 years of their franchise, back-to-back 50 burgers. And this has been like this for, since, beginning of the season in Green Bay since that Jets game in week two they've only allowed and they didn't allow a touchdown with Aaron Rogers on the field from that week two game until this game and it was already a laffer when when the Eagles scored in this game they got out to a 30 to

three lead which is part for the course for them at Green Bay they've jumped out 42 to nothing 45 to nothing and I believe 38 to three in their other home games it's you can't go into Green Bay and keep it close? And we give plenty of credit to the gentleman I'm about to bring up. So let's now put him under the spotlight when things don't work out so well. He is the great, the unquestioned genius of professional football, Chip Kelly, who got taught a lesson in offense by the Green Bay Packers of Mike McCarthy. Let's be fair, all the points they scored, the game, it was garbage time. There was only one expert offense in town in Wisconsin, and it was not the great Chip Kelly's offense. Do you know the lesson he was taught by Mike McCarthy?

What? If you have Aaron Rogers, you're going to beat Mark Sanchez. Well, how about this? We've been saying all season, especially, I don't know whose theory it is, one of the football heads. It's Greg's theory. That is that we are dealing with a quarterback proof offense in Philly. I'm not going to put all this on Sanchez, but he certainly step back his level of play from Monday night. So if you're not going to have a quarterback that can match Aaron Rogers, it's not going to work out. Well, I'm not going to put that much of it on Sanchez to start when the defense and special teams gives up 24 points in the first 20 minutes. I mean, they were blitzed. And Sanchez, you're right, isn't going to do well if he's

put in a spot where he's trailing. And then after that, it got very ugly. It seems like right now with the way that Green Bay is operating at the level that they're playing, that fill in the blank team goes into Green Bay and deals with Aaron Rogers. It's just a buzzsaw. This was 17-0 after 15 minutes. and then it was, what, 33 to 6 at one point? Whatever you game planned, whatever you thought you could do with Mark Sanchez goes totally out the window. Well, they turned it over four times, too. The Packers didn't turn it over at all.

I mean, we did a video for NFL now, our top takeaways of the week. You should watch it. Wesleyan thinks the road to the Super Bowl is going through Lambo. And if it is, people are in trouble. Well, look at their schedule. They're tied with the lines now. They're unbeatable at home And their three road games are Minnesota, Buffalo, and Tampa Bay

And then they have the Lions at Lambo for the season finale So they have the edge in the NFC North And to me, they're probably the best If the Cardinals don't lose a couple of more games That will be, I guess, they're big, Could be their Waterloo having to go to Arizona But to me the Packers look like the best team If you're Detroit, it feels like you're just hanging on

to what was the sweet spot of your season that's now fading away as Green Bay is going to overtake you and win that division. Detroit's not a complete team. We've already talked about it. Green Bay may not have the greatest defense on the planet, but they don't need to be when they're unraveling 47 points a game. Their defense is very much improved, and I think they play a lot better at home. And they have a lot of players now.

We saw it with Peppers today. Clay Matthews is playing better now. You know, Sam Shields was back in the lineup. Micahehyde's making plays. Clinton Dix has been great. They have a lot of guys that can make one-on-one plays. It's almost like Dom Capers, you can't screw this up. Julius Feppers has been one of the best free agent pickups.

He's been great this year. And on the other side of the ball, Jordy Nelson needs to be a first-team all-pro. What fictions will Casey Matthews come up with this week about Green Bay's defense and his brothers rolling it? That's a good question. This was the most Matthews I've ever seen in one game. Both Casey and Clay, the brothers,

plus Jordan Matthews, the Eagles receiver. Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb, best 1-2 combo in football right now? Manuel Sanders, Demarius Thomas would be the competition, and who else? Megatron. Megatron Gullin-Tate. I would put Nelson and Cobb up there. Greg and I have noticed that Cobb plays a wide receiver like a punt returner. He always gets extra yards after the catch.

And Nelson, to me, has been the best receiver in the NFL. His stats aren't as good as Antonio Browns because the Packers are always up by 30 to nothing at halftime. All right. So we just talked about a team that moved into a tie for first. place. Now we'll talk about a team that fell out of first place, the Cleveland Browns. Mark Sessler. JJ Watt caught a two-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Mallett. That was Malt's first touchdown throw of his career. And Houston got a dominating effort from their defense in a 23-7 win over the Cleveland Browns in Cleveland on Sunday. The Texans are now back to

500. The Browns drop a game after that great Thursday night win over the Bengals. Mark, a very highly unproductive effort from Hoyer in Cleveland's offense. Should Browns fans be worried? I think so because this is the kind of game that, you know, when you don't have a history of success like this Browns team that dates back beyond a couple months, tops, then when you lose a game like this, it will bring all the doubters back out.

And for good reason, it's not unfounded. I mean, they look completely, you know, a lot of times when we all sit and watch these games, and I have a longtime Browns fan, I have a pessimism towards the team. And when I say sometimes five, ten minutes in, this thing is over, I can feel it. It's not going to happen today. Well, that comes from years of seeing that actually unfolding games.

And that is how I felt right away just something was off. Their passing game was completely unproductive from the start. Brian Hoyer played his worst game of the season. Here's a weird stat or a bad stat on Hoyer. He became just the fourth NFL quarterback since 1988 to attempt at least 50 passes with the completion percentage of 40% or lower. I mean, they really missed any sort of a playmaker today. And after what we saw in Cincinnati,

when they can run the ball and they can eat up the clock that way and he gets into a groove, then that's fine for him. But when they leaned on him today and they couldn't do anything on the ground for much of the day either, it exposed him. He had as many incompletions as Ryan Mallet's had attempt. Yeah, and Mallet looked good, I thought. And he didn't look outstanding.

He was a little, he was throwing some wobblers early on, but he's got a big arm and that opened up their offense a little bit. And here's the one thing about Mallet. He just looked much more comfortable. He knows Bill O'Brien for years. He looked, they ran the no-huddle a bunch, completely more comfortable than Ryan Fitzpatrick. They played with pace and they tired out Cleveland's defense because it didn't matter that Arian Foster was in there.

In comes blue running for 156 yards. I mean, they killed Cleveland's run here, my boy. They killed Cleveland. There's no Phil Taylor. They had a couple guys get hurt during the game. they were running against nobody on Cleveland's defense and just shredding them. I'm going to say it's a bad sign when Alfred Blue and Jonathan Grimes run the ball 49 times against you. Not good.

You are a factory of sadness. We're over 200 yards, like effectively. That was easy, TD and uncreative. Yeah, TD, shame on you. Well, let's give us the JJ Watt report. He was all over the highlights today. He was. It was a mixed bag early because, A, you got the touchdown,

which everyone's going to watch that highlight a thousand times. he caused Cleveland to get into a couple holds and, you know, off sides. Obviously, they were preoccupied with him the entire time. But he hit punter Spencer Lannning on back-to-back drives. Spencer Lannning. The second, it led to Cleveland's only touchdown. I mean, he had two big penalties, but he also was playing with his hair on fire, recovered a fumble, caused a fumble on Hoyer.

I mean, he was all over the place. Literally, literally on fire? Or metaphorically? Metaphorically, Chris. Mark, there is an anger inside you as you speak right now. Also, we saw it again downstairs. You seemed very fired up watching this. I don't think I overreacted to it, but the only hope for them, I mean, tomorrow...

Let's look at the schedule. How about this? The quiet storm, Mark Sessler. Let's look at the schedule. What are they now, Mark? Six and four? Six and four. Okay.

All right. At Falcons. How about this? Wes, you're not partial enough. You're going to give them a loss everyone. No, I'm completely unbiased. You go through the schedule, ready? Win or loss?

At Falcons. Win. Lost. Seven and four. At Bills. Loss. Seven and five, home to Colts. Lost.

Seven and six, home to Bengals. Loss. Seven and seven at Panthers. Win. Eight and seven at Ravens. Lost. Eight and eight. I can't get behind that.

I can get behind that. Feels right. The one caveat. Seven, maybe, you know. Yeah, and I wouldn't have an argue that, but tomorrow, in rides Josh Gordon. on a pony with a saddle, hemp-strewn saddle. Hempstrum.

Into Berea. We'll see what happens. All right, I like that. I'm annoyed because we can't knock the Texans out of the playoff picture yet. There's 12 teams hanging around the AFC playoff picture, and now they're one of them. Well, and also because I think they're a different offense with Mallet. I mean, coaches will get tape on them, no question, but they are not as dull as they have been. Maybe they should have made this change a while ago.

Wes is in a tough spot because you've been down on the Texans all season, mostly Fitzpatrick related but also you got the browns going down you you don't like the browns we all know that where are you at right now emotionally yourself uh i i'm sitting on a cloud as somebody fans don't realize this but my basic bias is part of a big part of our job is watching game rewind and that's what i do in my off time so i like teams that are interesting the texans are eminently more watchable with ryan mall than they were with ryan fitz that's fair they were today all right Fair enough. So the Browns are out of first place.

And guess who is in first place? Andrew Dalton. Andy Dalton. Bounce back from his Thursday night football horror show by throwing three touchdown passes. And the Cincinnati Bengals dropped the New Orleans Saints to their second straight home loss, 2710 final. Not even close on Sunday. Chris Wesleying, give Eddie Dalton some credit. Recovers from his personal butt-fumble moment and delivers one of the best.

best games of his career. That's heart on that orange head. Absolutely deserves credit. He went from the worst passer rating of his career, two. That was his passer rating two. Two. Two. Two. Two. And then today he had the best passer rating of his career. 143.9. Researcher Bill Smith confirmed for me that that's the biggest weekly vacillation in the history of Van of it. Well, since 1960. Hey, easy there. It's the kid, you know. I don't know.

It's an adult program. That's the biggest swing. He stuck it up everyone's buttox. That said that Dalton was going to be done after this game. He bounced back with a big performance. And you know what? I'm not going to, I'm not all the way back in on Dalton. I was hurt a lot by that Brown's game.

But I am not stunned that he bounced back. I didn't realize you had such a stake in Andy Dalton's career. It's built. This is exactly what he is. This is why he's in the middle. We don't say he's the worst quarterback in the league. He bounces back from this, these bad games. And there's no reason to think he'll keep this good.

You know he's going to circle right back down in the darkness. Perhaps until that magical January run in 2019. That takes us to a, well, no, this year we're going to get another Saturday playoff game. Everyone that's so excited that Cleveland fell out of first place in the AFC North. You know what you're going to get? Gift wrap for you in the middle of January, Cincinnati on a Saturday playoff game. You're going to get the Ravens and the Steelers in the playoff game. That Bengals Saturday playoff game has replaced Christmas as my favorite holiday.

Not for, I thought you like watching good football, West. Come on. And I love watching the Bengals Collapse. But let's talk about, let's talk at the Saints, a team that we've given the benefit of the doubt all season, including one of our recent podcasts on Wednesday

when we forked the entire NFC South and said, oh, we believe in the Saints. We think they're going to be okay this season. And then they let us down hard. And, you know, makes me think of that Sean Payton postery at hanging when he's suspended, do your job. Saints, do your job.

Win this horrible division. You're tied with the, Falcons in first place? The Falcons stink! You stink! Are they the most disappointing, at least NFC team of the entire year? They have to be. They're the most disappointing NFL team

by far. I don't think there's anyone even remote. I mean, you guys, you mocked me at one point for not having in the top five of like the preseason power rank. I mean, we thought we were there. They were the best theme in the league. It's one of a thousand things we were wrong about, but it still stands out. They've been playing in a stupor all season and today

it was perfectly encapsulated. by the play right before the end of the first half, a complete defensive breakdown. Jeremy Hill breaks off a 62-yard run to give the Bengals a free field goal with one second left on the clock. Wow. I mean, when they came back from that Thursday night game,

everyone was excited because, okay, we got three straight home games. This thing's over, and then they lose the first two home games. The next one's against Baltimore, and then they have to go to Pittsburgh. I mean, this is, they got to get this turned around. That's a great Monday night game next week, Ravens Saints, just because it means so much of the Saints. And just a bad year for the Saints'All, and their fan base, that jerk in the first front row after the Jeremy Gresham touchdown,

goes to toss it to a nice blonde-haired woman wearing an A.J. Green jersey, and the guy snags the football away from her and then refuses to give it back. That's another snapshot into this season. Not only refuses to give it back. The girl is pleading with him, like almost on her knees begging, and he won't even acknowledge her presence. Wow. It's a bad job back-to-back weeks by Saints fans in the front of the crowd.

because there was the guy the Joker last week where he grabs a big hunk of Jimmy Graham's ass What's going on over there? His buttocks. What are you too much buttox references from one show?

I wonder if the people in New Orleans Would this be untoward or uncustomary for them to have a drink or two before the games get underway before the unleash this awful behavior? I think what that gentleman today did was pretty typical of your average Marty girl crowd.

Just stealing? Just stealing? Yeah, no law. There's no ill behavior. Easy there. Now I'm going to have to stand next to her for the rest of the game. When Greg starts talking about his two lane days, can we just have Springsteen's glory days playing in the background in the future?

Greg's glory days are from his middle school goth band when he was the lead singer. What was the name of that band again? Delaware was not a got. If there's anyone out there that is savvy in the ways of computer history searching the internet, if you could find a band. This is pre-internet, basically. It's out there. There's got to be.

some type of video uploaded. Wait, you said there's a guy in your band whose mom and dad recorded everything. Yes, so there is footage somewhere. Delaware, the group was formed in western Massachusetts sometime in the mid to late 90s. Heavy goth leanings. Heavy goth, heavy gothleaning. It had to be before the mid to late 90s. Probably played a couple talent shows or things of that nature.

So if you can track that down, we will give you all the toasters in Culver City. All right, so, yeah, so the Saints lose again, and that left the door wide. open for the Atlanta Falcons who take care of business against the Carolina Panthers. Matt Ryan threw for 268 yards on a touchdown. Matt Bryan, a perfect four-for-four-four on field goals. After blowing a lead, the Falcons get it back and then get some help on a couple of missed field goals by Graham Ganoe, including a block as time expired. And it all adds up to a 1917 win for the Falcons who are now a 4-and-6 team.

but in the NFC South, the lumpy NFC South, as I wrote in my recap, that is good enough for a tie for first place. So the Falcons are tied for first place. The team that has been bad all season, we remember what happened in London, one of the great meltdowns for a team, and yet they're right in the mix to play in January. And you can't even make the case that they're playing well

because all they really did was win an ugly game in Tampa Bay and beat a decrepit Carolina team with a missed field goal. Yeah, basically this was a 16-3 game in the fourth quarter. Cam Newton getting booed out of the building, the whole offense just playing terribly in Charlotte, come to life, two quick strikes, two touchdowns to take a one-point lead. And then to the Falcon's credit and to Matt Ryan's credit, who doesn't feel like he's had enough big moments in recent seasons.

He led them down the field, got the field goal, and they were able to hold on. They got help from Grand Gnomus to 44-yard or the next possession. But, I mean, a win is a win. They took care of business, and now they're right in the middle of this race. In Matt Ryan's defense, I believe he's had more come from behind victories than any quarterback in the league since he entered the NFL. If they do wind up winning this hideously ugly NFC South Division,

they will be the second team in NFL history to survive a five-game losing streak and still get to the playoffs. Your 86 jet stand or the other. 10 and 1 to 10 and 6. Yeah, call me crazy, and I'm not, I can't be loyal to the Saints on any level because they continue to let us down. But I'm still not crazy nervous about our forked decision because for some reason I think the Saints are still going to win the division,

but I'm not as confident anymore by any stretch. It's a shame the Bengals aren't in the NFC because the Falcons are one team they could beat on that first Saturday in January. It took me a while to understand all of that, but I like where you're going, baby. Anything else about that game you want to talk about? A call for realignment from Wes. I mean, the Panthers are one of the worst teams in the NFL.

They went from a, I mean, that's not even a controversial statement. It's just a bad thing. They won their first two games, but it won one of the worst teams in the NFL. Well, I said that last week, and then you called me out for looking at the next season. You were way, you were ahead of your time. You win the gold star today. A seer. That's what you are.

All right, so let's stop talking about that bad team. We'll move on to the San Diego Chargers. Philip Rivers threw a 22-yard touchdown past the Malcolm Floyd on the game's third play from scrimmage. And then Chargers, they kind of just held on from there. It wasn't a good effort by any stretch. They beat the worst team in the NFL. The Oakland Raiders 13-6 on Sunday.

Mark, you drew the short straw. Actually, no, you actually called Greg shortly after Sunrise. to say that you wanted to work this game. Well, yeah, I did not. I texted him, but you're exactly right. You said, please let me watch this 0 and 9 team, try to get on the board against the team of ATL, and they could not do it.

Well, I wanted basically Mark Sessler in a nutshell, though, waking up really early, thinking about his job, texting me at 6.30 in the morning, and then for some weird reason, falling on the grenade that he wants to watch the Raiders. This is you in the nutshell. Let's not forget something. We were foolhardy enough to nominate

as a group, the Chargers as team of ATL. I'll try to change the subject. No, but that's, I wanted to find out. Unusual behavior by you this morning. It was unusual. You know, my house was a glow early with young children. It's not unusual for you, though. I've gotten a lot of texts which somehow are in line with this.

Well, I apologize for thinking about my job outside of the hours that I'm in my seat. Kiss, buttocks. Anyways, listen, the Chargers do not deserve right now to be the team of anything. They are a team that went out there today and look completely. discombobulated to me in the past you got a buy week after getting thrashed by the dolphins you go away you come back today and from the start philip rivers just seemed to be in a miscommunication maze with his wide receivers couldn't hit passes she was shouting at keen and allen on the sideline at one point and for good reason i mean i want to go back and watch this one again because something just was not right

wow you love watching the radio this is the team that we nominated you said it was like the worst game you've ever seen. Well, and it looked like at one point they were going to just wind up winning 30 to 7 or something, but instead they just couldn't do anything down the stretch. Ryan Matthews comes back and he helps on the ground. They have their best day running in a month. But in general, there's no... He looked healthy? He looked healthier to me. He didn't look like he was last season. But health is a major issue here, right? We have Philip Rivers dealing with an issue, right? Well, he hurt his knee at one point, and then later on, we found out from Antonio Gates after the game that he's been dealing with a rib injury.

He's had a severe rib injury for a while, which translates to he's playing with broken ribs. And that would explain some of what's going on in the passing game, but he got sacked by Khalil Mack and looked to be in a lot of pain at that point. I don't know. This was, you're playing the worst team in football that couldn't get out of their own way and you barely win. No style points. They won.

The Brown struggled against Raiders. They got the job done. Yeah, but we just called the Browns in 8 and 18. This is the team of ATL and the team we thought was soaring into play that. All this talk about changing the team of ATL, let's, come on, this is our team. We can't bail on them now. Speak for yourself. No, you signed off on it, sir.

I dumped them. Three weeks ago or four weeks ago. You are, it has not been formally recognized. You are a part of this unit. Are you part of the around the NFL podcast? Then you are in on the chase. We can't get up on them now. I dump them.

If you guys aren't going to follow me, that's your own folly. You follow, no. You get stuck watching a boring team now. You agreed for them to be the team. You were very anti-Cardinals. This whole thing was wrong from the beginning because we insisted on not making it organic, and that defeats the whole purpose of the team of ATU. Well, we got it wrong by not nominating the Cardinals.

This is getting ugly. Look, it was a wrong-headed notion from the beginning that we have to appease our fans by picking a team at a certain joint. How dare we try to appease our fans? Because that's not what the team of ATL is about. The team of ATL is about us. I do think we should think of our fans right now. Now I know how Mark and Dan feel when they say,

they're hearing Chris and I are like listening to their parents yell because right now there's a lot of around the NFL podcast listeners cowering in a corner wondering what's what's happened to the love of their group that's all coming apart I'm just disappointed that we west gave us his word and his word was supposed to be as good as oak and now he's talking about walking out into the darkness with his own team maybe that's why I'm unmarried because I can't commit I just dump people out of habit like just leave them on the side of the road yeah and actually no it's a great point point because when times get hard, you don't bail. You have to see things through.

My heart wasn't in this. This was an arranged marriage. It's like the Chargers got pregnant and you felt like you had to marry them. It's like we were born in the 13th century, and I was given a cow by her parents. It's a pretty good analogy with Philip Rivers being their quarterback. It all makes sense. I'm not accepting the dowry. I'm giving the cow back.

Yeah. Anyway. So, yeah, the Chargers won, though. That's the thing, though. It was not a great effort. The Raiders, while, are 0-10, and by the way, if not, it's going to go a full calendar year-no without winning a game, but they're not such an in-app team.

They're better than the 2008 Lions, as an example. They're a competitive team, and their defense is a little frisky. Well, and you like whether or not the Chargers played well, they saved their season, because you're six and four and your one game back behind the Broncos and Chiefs in the West. You would have been out otherwise. And we talked about how they're going to get defensive players back. And their defense had a great game.

I mean, I know it was against the Raiders, but a lot of teams have done a lot worse against the Raiders. They did what they needed to do, the win. And you would think maybe if Philip Rivers can get healthy, then the offense can get better. One question about the Raiders, Mark, do they have to play Latavius Murray at running back? You know, they have to do something. Their running game is an abject disaster. Why not give the next guy a shot? All right.

So let's move on to a game. Let's just bury all the bad blood, you know, just move on as a group. and talk about a game that really doesn't matter. Jay Cutler threw for 330 yards and three touchdowns. And the Chicago Bears, they won guys. Only the second time in seven games. They beat the Minnesota Vikings 21-13 on Sunday. It's all a little too little too late for the Bears, of course.

Though a nice win that I would imagine helps Mark Tressman's job security at the very least. I don't think Tresman's going to save his job with just one win, but at least this was a game where they completely dominated Minnesota. I took the Vikings in this game, and the Vikings, it was a miracle that they were within one score late in the game because the Bears went up and down the field, they threw the ball vertically, Teddy Bridgewater couldn't do anything in the cold weather and the snow.

It looked like it was an eight-and-two Bears team going against a two-and-eight Vikings team. All of these rookie quarterbacks that are playing right now appear to be regressing. I think it's a long season, and some of them just seem to have hit a wall. And they're also, if you're the Vikings in your car, for example, or your Bordels, you don't have a whole lot around you. Right. They didn't really attack the bear secondary either deep down the field. Like, you would have thought they would have been fairly aggressive, but it was just Dink and Dunk. Hope you could break a couple running plays, which they really didn't, and that was it.

You want to talk about someone regressing. Cordero Patterson, our number one making the leap guy. Come on, what's going on with this guy? Week after week. It's over. season was a loss and now they got to figure out if he's a guy that they can actually keep as a main part of their game plan because there obviously is a huge disconnect with him he has no role in his offense it it's kind of hard it's hard to know what to say

about this team when charles johnson led the team in receiving with six sketches i'm sorry who seven years your boy two charles johnson oh yeah who charles johnson chucky jay what you love him right yeah well and here we go 87 yards 14 point five average oh Everyone's freaking out that anyone would even name him as a potential wide receiver with any promise. And it's like, oh, put him on the field. Charles Johnson is really making Greg eat his words right now. Yeah, I have no idea what this is grape even was. You just were so fast.

I knew this had something to do with something. At some point, Greg did tout Charles Johnson. I mean, Mark N. West touted Charles Johnson as a sleeper on the Brown's roster, right? It wasn't untrue. I think if he were in Cleveland, he would have been making plays for them soon. They don't have any wide receivers. Now you do. Oh, that's right.

Josh Gordon. Oh, yeah. Speaking of great young wide receivers, rookie Mike Evans had 209 yards receiving and two touchdowns on Sunday. And the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they ended a five-game losing streak with a 27-7 win over the Washington Redskins who stink. Robert Griffin, the 3rd. He continues to look extremely rusty.

I don't know. How long can you be playing the rusty card, by the way? When there was a bi-week, they already played one week, he still looks rusty. coming back from that ankle injury. And the Redskins in general look like a team that is very, very, very far from contention on any level. I stand in all of your transition. Oh, thank you. That was smooth.

Your transitions tonight have been unbelievable. I am professional. But about the Redskins. That's Robert Griffin III left his talent on the operating room table. It's it. I think Wes and I have both been very patient with Robert. That's true. We talked him up in the off-season.

We talked him up as a comeback player of the year guy. We had genuine hope. We loved the player he once was. But that guy's gone. I don't know. Maybe he's coming back. Maybe eventually, maybe it would take another coaching step. Maybe it would take another year.

Maybe takes him to move to another team. But this version of Robert Griffin, Jr., third, I tweeted that the biggest difference, there are a lot of issues. He's not maybe as physically great. But there's a complete absence of mojo with this guy. There's just the way he carries himself now, He doesn't have any of that swagger, that confidence. Even when he's in the pocket, he's not comfortable.

When he runs with the ball, he doesn't seem like a dangerous weapon anymore. And the accuracy is a major issue. He overthrew Deshawn Jackson twice, which is hard to do. And, you know, he couldn't even find Jordan Reed, who was a guy last season. The one thing you thought you could take out of last season was the connection with Jordan Reed. And injuries on both ends have really short-circuited that.

Reed hurt his hamstring again today. So, I mean, I haven't watched a ton of Redskins this year, and I found it to be a real arduous chore. They are a bad, bad football team and a bad organization right now that really has to start thinking about blowing the whole thing up. Well, this is their worst game in a really bad season, by far. Losing at home to the Bucks, Jay Gruden called it horrific. RG3 said all six sacks were on him, and he called it a travesty. Is there any scenario where he's... not on the team next year?

Yes. I believe they have an 18 million option on him. Wow. Well, I just wonder if Jay Gruden's still the coach, which I assume that he is. I'm going to miss Jay Gruden. No, I assume Jay Gruden will still be the coach. And, yeah, I don't think it's that crazy to imagine that they could trade him. I don't know.

It seems better for both parties. Let's talk about the good quarterback in this game. Oh, big day for us. Josh McCam, 137.5 quarterback. Besides the disgraceful team of ATL's stuff, been a big day for Wes on the podcast. Man's lost, Josh McCown. sliding into place for West.

Or in the Saints losing. It took 10 weeks, but now you finally have a good Josh game to talk about. Josh McCown was good last week, too. Mike Glenn has never been as good as Josh McCown was today. He was legit good, and he has some real chemistry with this rookie receiver, because I think Mike Evans is the front runner for offensive rookie of the year now. I think it's a crowded field, a lot of us talented, especially at the wide receiver position. But this guy is the real deal.

I mean, he was Dominique. He went over 200 yards on seven catches, making big plays, getting behind the secondary. This guy is a potential to be a special player. And we talk about duos, it gets lost because it's Tampa Bay and they're, you know, the bucks. But Vincent Jackson and Mike Evans have a chance to be a real dangerous coupling if they keep them together. I know that you're right. McCown has looked better than Glenn and he's. and he's a, I think he's a Lovie Smith type of quarterback in a lot of ways.

That's not accomplished. Well, I just think that he's a veteran. I don't think Lovie Smith wants to take. A bad one? No, he doesn't want to take some young guy that he has to spend four years on. He doesn't have time to do that in Tampa. But if you're a Bucks fan, after suffering through the horrors of this season, do you want Josh McCown as your long-term answer here?

I just, I think it's like, yeah, he's playing well, but that's not an answer for this team. Look, this is going to sound crazy, but the Bucks are not out of the NFC South Rage. No, they're not. They could win this division. They could also be another team that lost five straight and joined the 86 jets to go to the playoffs. Was this the same team that was losing 56-0 to the Falcons on a Thursday night?

You also said they were the worst team in the league by far. They were. But that was pre-McCount. Oh, my gosh. I don't think he made that big of a second. Let's, come on. Be careful here with this McCown stuff. Everybody in America has trashed Josh McCown,

and I said a few weeks ago, I'm not willing to write this guy off. I still believe in him. Fair. And we didn't know maybe how good Mike Evans was. 450 yards and five touchdowns in three weeks. Maybe he's good because Josh McCown is helping him be good. Well, some of those stats were with you, boy, Mike Lennon. The worst answer in the NFL. And that takes us, gentlemen, to Sunday Night Football.

Where the New England Patriots look every bit the Super Bowl contender. Greg Rosenthal was expecting this season, and they did it not because of Tom Brady on Sunday or some magical play by Dorel Rivas or something gritty from Julianna Edelman rather Jonas Gray goes nuts, runs for 199 yards and four touchdowns leading the Patriots

to a dominating 42 to 20 win over the Indianapolis Colts on the road just a really a thorough win for Bill Belichick's team Greg you are now all alone atop the AFC, a full game out ahead of the Broncos. I haven't done anything. You personally have done this.

Nice blocking today up front, by the way, with the tiebreaker advantage on the Broncos, too. So now the Patriots are in great position to go into the playoffs as the one seat, as long as they don't mess it up. Well, they have a lot of tough games left. Lions, Packers, Chargers, Dolphins, so I wouldn't

give it to them right now, but it's kind of shocking that they not only beat the Broncos and Colts in back-to-back weeks, but they did it convincing and they did it really with their offensive line. I mean, this was the big problem early in the season. The offensive line's changing players every game and they're getting dominated. And I mean, they just steamrolled Indianaapolis up front.

And the Colts are too easily bullied by quality opponents. It's the same thing that happened to the playoffs this year with Jonas Gray playing the rule of LaGarrett Blount. Greg, I mean, honestly, are you surprised on any level that New England? Of course I am. They won 402 to 20. No one expected that. I picked the cold. This is the first time, by the way, I got a Patriots game wrong.

I thought, I knew they were playing great, but I thought this was a perfect spot for them to cool off a little bit, still be in good position in the AFC. But instead, they dominated this game, really. I mean, the game is closer. The final score doesn't quite indicate it. It was a game for most of the way. But at the end of the day, they were out playing the Colts throughout.

They are clicking on a level now that Tom Brady did not play particularly well in this game. He missed some throws. He threw two interceptions, including a terrible one at the end of the second quarter. But it didn't matter because you had this dominating performance by a gray and the offensive line and another crazy special gronk play. This team is clicking big time. Well, this is why when you give Bill Belichick, you know, he gets a lot of credit. One of the reasons he should get it is because he does things like he came into this game with the plan

to go six offensive linemen, almost half of the snaps, and just that was what they were going to do. They hadn't done that all season. That's exactly what they did, and the Colts had no answer for it. It was striking the contrast between Gray, who was a month ago on the Patriots practice squad and Trent Richardson acquired for a first-round pick and was the slowest player on the field tonight. This Trent Richardson thing. I hope that the Colts finally just cut the court on this. They could not run the ball at all.

They can't cut the cord because last we saw Ahmad Bradshaw, he was limping off the field with no cleat on his foot. They had four yards on 14 carries. between Bradshaw and Richardson. And, you know, Mark, I want you to know in Wes that Greg is very happy right now. Patriots fans again, they're like, to the moon. These are new times. They have to be Patriots fans haven't been here.

I just wait until February 1st, when Tommy's walking off that field, another loser in the Super Bowl. Then you won't be so happy. If that's the best that you got, that's all I got. This team's going to make it to the Super Bowl. That's all I got. Get revenge in the desert. that your pipe and smoke it.

In all seriousness, yeah, as Greg, you said this week, if the Patriots make the Super Bowl, the Giants won't be standing in their way, that's good. But honestly, it's not too premature to talk a little Super Bowl talk for the Patriots because they're probably, barring now a late season stumble, going to be hosting in Foxborough in January. And that's huge. And the Broncos, who a couple of weeks ago,

we were all on the same page with no team look better, now really needs to scramble to get this one. seat. I don't know if they're going to. And when these teams inevitably meet again in the AFC title game, it will be in New England. And if it's anyone other than Denver, you look at the round of the AFC, you can't find a team that's consistent from week to week.

Didn't you have a Sessler that Brady would get injured this year? Oh, how do you? Okay, I was to say that's the only way this team's getting derailed right now is a Brady or Gronk injury, really. And I hear you, and I'm not trying to make the case that they're going to fall apart or anything, but six games. You know, we talk about the end of the season like it's right

around the quarter. Six games is an eternity. Six games ago, they were two and two. You know, the Chiefs were two and three. We thought they had all sorts of problems. Things change. The Broncos are fully capable of going on a crazy run. Patriots have some hard games. This Colts team, I think, is still going to be heard from by the end of the year.

Denver, absolutely. But New England, unlike other teams that are just learning how to succeed. I mean, this is what every year they have shown that they're capable of going an 8, 9, 10 game win streak. So I'm not that worried about them crumbling down the stretch. Give me a break. Very impressive win, though. This is a very impressive win.

By the way, Al and Chris and NBC, they cannot catch a break. I was doing a little quick research after the game. This has been nine straight weeks now where a game has been decided by at least 18 points. What? Yeah, long, you know, a long drive home? Nine straight weeks. I don't know if that could be fixed or what, but that is unprecedented. That's an especially long trip home to the, like, cream-colored mansions they live in. All right.

Jamie Collins, by the way. We got that one right. Another big game. He made a leap. What a great life you have, right? Greg just sits on the throne of ease from morning till night. The throne of ease. From morning till night.

All right, let's all retire to our thrones of ease. At home, this is another around the NFL podcast ending. This is Dan Hansis signing off for the sizzler, the mailman, the boss. And TD behind the glass and Weezer. Gray. Oh, good call. Tid has never heard the song for. I am liking it though

That is Good part If we were doing a podcast A half a decade ago We could have played Rudy Can't Fail by the clash For Rudy Johnson Ah, too bad

Missed Opportunity I know I think we officially owe wheezer money At this point To Wednesday This is an IHeart podcast