NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL Week 3 recap

Episode Date: September 22, 2014

A room full of heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, Gregg Rosenthal and Chris Wesseling -- recap all of the Week 3 action and debate on which teams will have a winning season. The crew also breaks down the Super Bowl XLVIII rematch between the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks and the Sunday Night Football matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Carolina Panthers.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. Tries not to feed the hype bunnies. 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, and Greg Rosenthala. What up, boys? Hey, Dan.

Happy Sunday. And a beautiful Sunday it is. I don't know. It is beautiful out. It is better. It is better for the first time. I feel like we don't have to address 7,000 injuries off the top. That's true.

We don't have to talk about anything like super depressing that's going on in the NFL. We could if we wanted to, but we're not going to. Instead, we're going to talk about all these games. Mark hasn't predicted the death or demise of some NFL legend yet in the show. Everything's great. There's still time. Yeah. The show is 45 seconds old.

I was going to say there's a certain purity to the show right now, but that will fade over the ensuing minutes to come. You can be certain of that. So, yeah, so this is week three, the NFL season. We already went through the Thursday night game, which we'll all remember forever, is the day that the Tampa Bay Bucks ceased to be taken seriously. And they're actually, and we'll get to this maybe on Wednesday,

we might have to convene the fork committee a little bit early. Ooh, for new listeners, stick a fork in them. one of our top running series. Huge metrics monster. And the ratings just shoot through the roof. None of this could be verified. But we do decide when a team has no longer has a tangible shot of making the playoffs. We stick a fork in that team.

We struggled in our first year, which led to Greg making a sizable donation to a charity that he never let us forget. And then last season, we actually nailed it. Every team that we forked, we didn't get burned, if I'm remembering. Well, we were especially. conservative last year. Yeah, that's a good point, Mark. So we're going to go for it this year and you know, still play it smart, but maybe, just maybe we'll have our first team forked and the Bucks seem to be an option anyway. Let's talk about the Bucs some more. Another 40 minutes of Bucs talk. All right. So Sunday, yes, let's get to Sunday. And T.D. Behind the Glass,

how are you, buddy? I'm doing good. Great week for NFL podcast. Mark Sessler predicted that you know, Blake Borders will be playing in week three. Sort of got that right. Damashik predicted. Jordan Matthews have a huge game. And Daniel Jeremiah from Move the Sticks predicted that, hey, Broncos have a hard time against that Seahawks' past defense, which they did. A lot of spoiler alerts there. By the way, I really went out on limb with that. I was going to say, I also watched the Super Bowl last year. Thank you.

Move the Sticks has his new podcast in NFL.com, which is really cute. But I view him as a rival now, so I don't like him coming up during the course of the podcast, if that's okay. Noted. He's an enemy of the state now. Maybe just for me, how I take it first. TD's got his hand in 45 different shows. So it's of interest to him to promote move the sticks, you know, ably throughout this entire show. All right.

And we love the guy. That's great. That's great for you. All right. So should we get going into the games or some more Bucks talk, maybe some more Jeremiah talk, or should we just go? Let's do it. We start in Seattle, where the Seahawks and Broncos had a rematch of their Super Bowl 48 blowout in the Meadowlands in February. This game was closer.

but the Seahawks prevailed again. Marshawn Lynch scored on a six-yard touchdown run on the first possession of overtime to give the Seahawks a 2620 win in Seattle, as I said. Seattle blew a 17-3 fourth-quarter lead. Denver tied the game on a late Peyton Manning touchdown pass to Jacob Tammy, followed by a two-point conversion. However, all for naught

because the Seattle Seahawks took it right down the field on the Denver defense, won the game. Seattle back in the winning column after a loss in San Diego. Guys, what do you take away from this game? The score was closer, but the Seahawks are still the better team. But the Broncos defense is tougher. They added so many pieces in part because of what happened in Super Bowl, and they were much better today.

I put this more on the Broncos' offense to the fact that they lost. The defense is tougher, but it wasn't really the defense that was a problem in the Super Bowl. That's fair. It was the offense, and the offense still is not tougher. Yeah, you know, it's great. Even after the terrific 80-yard, 41-second drive that Denver had to finish regulation and force overtime, the Broncos ended up with fewer yards per play in this game than they did for the Super Bowl. I mean, they could not move the ball.

They were dominated for essentially 59 minutes. Their defense kept a minute, had a safety, made some big plays, and eventually Manning made a couple nice passes. But it was not a good performance by Peyton Manning. I continue to be unimpressed with Denver's ground game. You know, last year was like, oh, no, Sean Moreno, he's just a guy. We'll throw him out of the team, and we'll just plug in Monte Ball and everything will be fine, except that's not how it always plays out, and they don't really have a dynamic element on the ground. And, Greg, we talked about it downstairs in the newsroom, the idea that this was perhaps a moral victory for the Broncos who got blown out, as we know, 43-8, and in this game, they got the late touchdown to tie it.

But to me, I don't know if I buy into that because I think this was a game that the Seahawks dominated. for the most part, and they had the lead late, and they won convincingly in overtime. But they got waxed in the Super Bowl. That was an embarrassment, and it was 17-3 at halftime. And I was thinking maybe it's going to go that way again. This thing's going to be 31 to 10 or some laffer of a game, and they make a big fourth-quarter comeback.

The defense was much better. They looked like a better Broncos team. I was going to say, do you guys think this Broncos team, through three games, still a small sample, is better than the last year's team? I know Manning isn't Manning right now compared to last season, but we didn't expect that. Seems like a very different team.

me. Yeah, I think they're better on defense, but they're not as good on offense. And what happened with the Seahawks today, letting the Broncos back in the game is sort of what happened to the Broncos the first two weeks, letting the Colts back in the game, letting the Chiefs back in the game. When they were clearly the better team, they just kind of took their foot off the gas pedal. And when push game to shove in overtime, Marshaun Lynch got at least six yards in every single one of his runs. So they did what they wanted in that one drive. One quick thing with Denver, I feel like when they were last year dominating teams and going on these spurts where they'd score 21 points in four minutes.

That's fine. But in these close games where John Fox needs to be the difference, I don't like what's going on with John Fox in terms of late game management. Again, this game would have been not as close had the Seattle Seahawks had two weeks to prepare. You don't like the draws on 3rd and 10? That's a John Fox special. Not a huge fan, no.

Part of the Broncos' offense's problem is that Demarius Thomas hasn't been himself yet this year, playing through a foot injury. He was kind of in and out of the game, had nine targets today and didn't make an impact until the two-point conversion to tie the game late in the fourth quarter. Manning is upping the stakes with his whole ducts ratio. His ducts to spiral ratio continues to rise. I don't know how he's managing to pull off being the best quarterback in the NFL, which I still think he is, with all these ugly flutter balls all day long.

I mean, it just was worse than it. Dan, does Greg have a tighter deep ball than Peyton Manning at this stage in time? I think it's starting to get close. I don't know actually Greg's deep ball. I don't think I've ever had a catch with him. Dad, will you have a catch with me? At some point, we're going to nail you down on who actually is the best quarterback in the NFL between Aaron Rogers and Peyton Mani. You can't just keep vacillating every week.

I meant in the first three weeks of this season, he has been. One of them has to start playing well. I guess Benning's been okay. He's been good. In a game that involved, a brawl, an 80-yard touchdown from Deshaun Jackson and his Philly homecoming. It's stellar quarterback play by RG3's replacement. The Eagles outlasted. the Redskins 37-34 in one of the most entertaining games of the season.

Today, Kirk Cousins and Nick Foles combined for 752 yards and six TDs in the game, but the Eagles came out ahead in this NFC East battle. Greg, Eagles won. We expected the Eagles to win, right? Yeah. But the Redskins might not be that bad. No, I think the Redskins proved a lot, even though they lost in this game. They racked up over 500 yards of offense.

when I just watched the two of them. I thought they were the better team for most of the day. Kirk Cousins played fantastic. Nick Foles had his best game of the year by far. The difference was special teams. Again, a kickoff return for Philadelphia and a missed short field goal. That's 10 points. In a game like this, that was really the difference.

But Washington, Chris Wesleyan picked them to go to the playoffs. And I'm thinking that prediction, did you pick them to go to the playoffs? I believe you did. I think I ended up backing off of that. Well, you liked them as your Dark Horse team. I'm beginning to think you might be on to something. in there they look pretty good and they're one and two right but they lost they'll come around lost a starting cornerback possibly for the season jason hatcher had a hamstring injury they've had a ton of

injuries and they had more today you're referring to d angelo hall who tore his Achilles in the game at least that's what he told reporters after the game but yeah this game had a little bit of everything the sean jackson just trolling uh philly fans by doing the fly he goes by getting in a fight what's not very car cousins we got to talk about him 30 for 48 427 yards and and three touchdowns at RG3. As we talked about yesterday, you know, I think there was a report out there

that he might be back in about a two-month time frame. But this is exactly the worst nightmare for RG3 is if Cousins comes in and plays great, he's not going to be benched, right? It's the nightmare for the coaching staff too, I think, you know, listen, if they win four games with Cousins,

that isn't. But this is going to be a headache to deal with because your owner went out on a limb to recreate this franchise with RG3 is his foundational quarterback. And then you've got this guy who was picked up in a late round completely out playing. And what happens when RG3 comes back and does one of his 118 yards games? And the whole, the nation's capital melts.

That's a long way from now. And I think the way it's tough for the coaches is if Cousins is in the middle. If he plays like this, most weeks, it's not in the middle. He's just going to keep the job because he was very calm on third down, always knew where to go, was very on point, 14 for 15 to start. at the game. And his deep ball looks ugly, but it gets there, and it's been accurate, and he hit a lot of deep balls in this game. This will be one of the most interesting stories to watch throughout the whole season, I think, because coaches work 20 hours a day in the NFL, and what

they want on Sundays is for the quarterback to follow the script. And Kirk Cousins can do that better than RG3. Now, sometimes you'll have Brett Favre not following Holmgren's script, and it works out better. But most coaches want that Bill Walsh Joe Montana thing. And Gruden is from the Bill Walsh school. He wants his quarterback to go out there and run his offense. And his confidence in Cousins is right up there because the comments he made last week couldn't have been more damning for RG3 on some level when he spoke about Cousins as a guy he can win with now that he can do anything he needs to do it. Yeah. And what he did in this game is what I wanted to see out of him as someone who doesn't quite buy into it is that he made a couple of

wow throws. I mean, he's not going to amaze you with his arm, but into really small windows, low percentage throws that he completed. And I do want to say after killing Foles for a couple weeks, he was really good, especially in the first half of this game. He's one of the big reasons the Eagles won because they couldn't run the ball at all. Their offensive line is decimated by injuries right now. They lost Kelsey in the game and Jason Peters got kicked out for fighting and they still survived. By the way, your defense gave up 400-something yards passing if you're the Eagles, that's rough. How serious is the Kelsey injury? The beat reporters in the locker room didn't think it was necessarily that serious, but it was tough to tell. He was knocked out

for the game right away when it happened. Moving forward, the Buffalo Bills were looking to move to 3-0 at home against Chargers. It did not happen. Philip Rivers threw for two touchdown passes to Eddie Royal, and the Chargers had a 22 to 10 win over the bills on Sunday. Malcolm Floyd had two catches for 98 yards. Rivers found some of his big play accuracy downfield. Danny Woodhead went out with an injury for the Chargers. That's something to watch. He could be out for the year with an ankle and leg injury.

But on balance, another nice win for the San Diego Chargers and another troubling effort for E.J. Manuel. Well, I know you were watching this game, Dan, closely. What about the E.J. Manuel experience in you like? Because actually, the numbers are fairly similar to his first two games. which they want. And, you know, I watched last Sunday, I was also assigned to the Bills,

and I got this same question, I think, in the studio. Do you want to just be the Bills beat guy? You're good for that. I don't know if I can watch E.J. Manuel for 16. I don't feel like anyone's going to fight you. Here's the thing. Here's the thing. His numbers are not matching his play to this point,

because while he's not killing them, that is not really what they use the first round pick on him for, is for him not to kill them. He's supposed to be making plays, and he just doesn't. He doesn't have a lot of confidence pushing the ball down field. He still makes too many mistakes. He took a terrible intentional grounding penalty in the end zone in the fourth quarter that cost the team of safety and really any realistic shot at a comeback.

It just feels like Manuel, and this is something I think we were all on board with well before the season started, that he might be the guy that's holding back this offense. And that's how it feels when I watch these games. I think that's our concern. Even he put up some decent numbers the first two weeks they were winning. But how long can you keep winning when you hide your quarterback? Not that long. I'd be a little worried about the Chargers,

one of my favorite teams out there this year for a team of ATL, that you lose Woodhead on top of Matthews. Woodhead, it sounds like we'll miss the season. Ryan Matthews is out four to five weeks. And Donald Brown now steps in, at least for now, as the primary ball carrier. He delivered a vintage Matt Asiata performance with a career high 31 carries for it.

Take a guess. How many yards? 12. No. 60. Wow, 62. Whoever got it is a genius. 62 yards and 31 carry. So, you know, Donald Brown is Donald Brown.

But at the same time, you know, this offense has a chance to be really good. And I wrote in the roundup post that it's early after three weeks. But I'm starting to feel a little frisky about Philip Rivers for MVP. How about that? And how about the most underappreciated coach in the league, Mike McCoy? It says a lot. Bruce Ariens is like, what about me? Fair enough, but bad teams or teams that are figuring out how to really be good teams

will go beat a team like Seattle did it last week and then not be able to carry it through. They go on the road to a tough place to win. They take care of business. I think Brandon Oliver, who Wes and I both like, he may jump into that offense and pick up some of those touches that Woodhead would have. He might, but on the aforementioned Move the Sticks podcast, LeDaney and Tomlinson was on and was just raving about Danny Woodhead's route running and this guy Oliver is a rookie he's not going to know how to run routes no when

that's not going to be able to like come in and immediately rivers can identify a mismatch and say woodhead can take that line back you can just replace danny woodhead he's been perfect for that six years the guy that got away don't bring it up uh by the way uh for us making the leap captains ladarius i don't know captains it's weird a ladarius green showed up four catches for 64 yards the charges really need to uh point me Find a way to get him in the mix more, and maybe we're on the right track. So anyway, the bills are now 2-1, the Chargers are 2-1, and Philip Rivers looks awesome. This is how we know things are going well for the Cincinnati Bengals.

Andy Dalton caught a touchdown pass on Sunday. The first Bengals quarterback to ever do that, and the Cincinnati Bengals wiped out the Tennessee Titans Titans 337 on Sunday on Sunday. Bengals are now 3-0. Their best start in eight years. Get excited. Chris Wessling, the Bengals are 3-0. Why would that excite me?

Because it's in you. It's deep within. It's buried within. What if the Bengals went 16-0? Would you become a fan again of them? I've told you before it has nothing to do with the outcome on the field. Here's the thing, by the way. Wes, I know, and it's been something you've said repeatedly since the season started,

the regular season doesn't matter. You know, once January rolls around, we're going to see the true Bengals. But this team feels a little bit different. They can flip the script. I do think that the regular season doesn't matter as much for them. They have to win in the playoffs. Now they control that, too. They could start winning.

I mean, it would help also if they were playing a NFL team, right? Who are these titans? Dan, this is a team that was when you were youth, the Houston Oilers. Do you remember them? That rings a bell, yes. They at one point in the franchise, mid-90s, made a really, location to on Nashville and became the Tennessee Titans.

See that? I don't remember that. They were in a Super Bowl. None of that rings a ball. Jeff Fisher was their coach for many years. Oh, the Rams coach. How did Jake Locker look in this one? We were up one week. We're down the next. When Mark and I are doing a bit, you just It was over with it. You don't stomp on it.

Comic Genius is at play. I thought it had reached its end. You got to know what to wrap it up. It was about to crest. It was about to die of its own volition. All right. What was your super fun, exciting question. It was for Mark. I want to know what Walker looked like.

Everyone heard it. He's a handsome guy. He's all right. His play on the field. It was, well, Lockers is an enigma to me because he continues to make these plays with his feet where if he could compliment with some accurate passes, there was a play, a couple third downs where he couldn't connect with the receiver. One of them was that moment in the game where you found out either Tennessee is going to

stick around in this thing or this thing is going to go south in a hurry and everyone it looked like Justin Hunter dropped the ball shocking well no but no actually what it is this happens with locker a lot he's throwing behind his receivers on certain throws making it a real tough catch for Hunter who would have had it with a nice pass and it would have been a first down game continues on Tennessee couldn't get anything going Cincinnati is the best team in the afc north oofa I have no problem with that there's no other team that stands out and can do what they do at this point in the season. They don't have a weak spot. I mean, the Broncos, they don't seem quite as dangerous as last year.

The Patriots who were going to get to a little later, they barely beat the Raiders today, and they don't look great, at least offensively, they don't look great. This AFC is wide open. That was one of the big takeaways I had from today. Don't the Bengals seem like one of the most complete, well-coached teams in the NFL? And that's what people said last year about their talent, that they have as much talent. But a chip was missing. I think that the Hugh Jackson effect on this offense is dynamic.

They're a much more intriguing team, tougher to stop. But on defense, too, where's the weak spot? I agree with you. Paul Gunther doing a great job on this defense. By the way, Mark, we talked up before the show, maybe skipping this next game. So we will give you an opportunity to maybe excuse yourself, but you're also welcome, obviously,

to stay and talk about this next game we're about to talk about. Let's see it through. Since you've had the courage to take on the Buffalo Bill's beat writing job for the rest of the year, I'll sit in the room. I know. I got to work that out. Joe Flackos, 32-yard past the Steve Smith, with 128 to play set up.

A field goal, 32 yards by Justin Tucker. As the gun, as the gun was shot, they shot the gun. Ending the game, the Baltimore Ravens, a 23, 21 win over the Cleveland Browns. I don't know what's happening. The Browns. There was guns involved. Listen, there were guns. We should have led the show with that.

There's gun play in Cleveland. It's a sensitive time for the NFL, and I didn't want to lead with that. But anyway, so going, I'm not done. We could bring the music back. The Cleveland missed the field goal, also had one block. This is a game. They probably should have won. And now both Cleveland losses have come as time expired.

A 2321 win for the Ravens. We're done with that. Mark Sessler. You said, oh, they could easily be 0.3. But I'm looking at this team. could have been 3-0 with a little bit of help. Instead, they're 1-2, kind of where everybody expected them to be. Well, they're not a potentially 0-3 team the same way they have been for the last 15 years.

I mean, they've come to play each week. I think we looked at this early schedule and thought if they can get out of here, one and two, that would be fine before the buy. But, you know, they were very close to 2-1. The problem with Cleveland today, because they took the Ravens right down to the edge, was they had a chance twice in the final five minutes. to close this game out by just simply getting a couple first downs. And this is a team that's run the football real well over the first two weeks

through part of today as well. But they had their first drive with that chance. Three plays, 59 seconds ticked off the clock. They got it again just outside the two-minute warning. Three plays, 21 seconds. And that gave, that's what let Baltimore back in. And, you know, they did a good job against Joe Flacco, but you can't just keep giving the Ravens,

a chance to get back into it over and over. And sputtering out late, Mard and otherwise strong performance from Brian Hoyer, who went 19 to 25 for 290 yards of a touchdown, which is some upper-level quarterbacking, but I guess not able. Did he look different today? I don't know if maybe it's just, he really essentially is a rookie in the fact that how many weeks of practices he's had where he's been the starter.

He was 17 for 19 at one point. They've got a pretty rag-tag group of receivers, but the chemistry between them is, is in a different place than it was during what was a pretty awful preseason. You know, I don't think Jordan Cameron is fully healthy. He only had one catch today. It looks like it's Andrew Hawkins who has become Hoyer's go-to guy early in the year. You know, he's had his third straight game in a row where he's been real productive.

But he's throwing to a strange group of wideouts, and he moved the ball with some big throws. Plus, the whole gun play had to have been in the stretch. That was disturbing. I don't think we should talk about that. It's a sensitive time right now. By the way, let's talk about, I'm sorry, Mark. We're going to talk about the winning team a little bit. First of all, Dennis Pitta, hip injury, same hip injury, the right hip that he went down with

last summer. So I don't know if we're going to see him again. And you have to wonder if his career is in a little bit of jeopardy at this point. And then Chris Wesleying got to give some props to the mailman who wrote before the season started that Steve Smith will not only fit in well with the Ravens, that he might end up being their top receiving threat, five for 101. and as I said during that beautiful intro, the big catch that set up the game-winning field goal.

Steve Smith is the number one wide receiver for the Rangers. Especially with Pitt out of the mix. Yeah, TD, just put that down for the count signal in here. Tori Smith is down for the count. Hang on. Yeah, Tori Smith was invisible. One last thing on the Ravens, Lorenzo Talia Farrow, the rookie. He, you know, he hasn't done much,

but with Rice and Bernard Pierce out of the mix. That's what I want to know, in your opinion. Does he send Bernard Pierce to the bench? Well, he looked better than Pierce says. Yeah, and actually here's the thing. They made a good point late in the game that when Justin Fawcett was in there, it was often a passing down,

that they weren't leaning on him on the run. They were leaning on Lorenzo for the run down the stretch. But this was a game where you've got Isaiah Crowell, Terrence West, and Lorenzo Talia Farrow, all good rookie running backs, good class. What was this Manzel Malarkey I saw on the field, this playground stuff? What is this stuff, man?

Well, it never counted. He had a 39-yard reception because he came in and handed the ball off, and then he sort of flitted off to the sideline. And, you know, they're following his every move. It looked like Kyle Shanahan and this other assistant were dressing Mansell down for doing something wrong. They were shouting at him, and I thought, I'm going to have to write some post about Mansell getting yelled at. But instead how... You saw the gears turning in Greg's mind.

Shanahan just goes, he goes, go, go, go, going, pointing with his finger down the field. And Mansell takes off, catches the thing, and runs. but an illegal shift or illegal formation penalty wiped it out. No, I know, it was on Terrence West. Way to go. You are a factory of sadness. You know what? Only glass separates me from dealing with you one-on-one, TD.

Wow. I like how with each drop of factory of sadness, Mark gets a little more closer to the edge. And TD just laughs. It's not accurate. How many movies have you seen where, like, the evil guy thinks he's safe behind the partition? and then all of a sudden he's not. No holds barred comes to mind.

I can just walk through that door. That door opens. If Kay Rich is back producing fully. I see her back. For the rest of the week. She's here tonight as well. Hi, K. Rich. Then the listeners will know why.

And Mark will also be taking a leave of absence. That will because Mark has murdered TD. That will not happen. Wow, this has been a dark show. Okay, let's go. So the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions met in Detroit on Sunday. I guess a lot of people. people thought, at least I thought it would be a big shootout between two top

offenses did not work out that way. Don Carrey returned to fumble 40 yards for a touchdown and Aaron Rogers was not able to get anything going against the Lions front. A 197 win for the Lions. Aaron Rogers, who we all were pretty big on, threw for only 162 yards and Eddie Lacey's struggles continue. The Packers don't look right. One and two. What's wrong with the Packers, guys. Good question. Super Bowl picks from a lot of us, at least Greg and I, and they can't, they're not explosives on offense.

They barely beat the Jets. They're lucky they're not in 303. What's going on with Eddie Lacey? Well, let's give old Kevin Patra a call and find out. All right, he's younger than all of us, but okay, call. Kevin Patcher, are you there, buddy? I am, fellas, what's going on? All right, so we're, well, what's going on?

Everything's great on our end. How's everything with you? Fantastic. Great day. Phenomenal day. You don't sound too far away, so I don't think you're in a pub restroom. So it sounds like you're not. Okay, good.

You sound like a man that watched the Lions somehow beat the Packers when Matthew Stafford didn't even play that well. Give us a little context on how this could happen. How did this become a situation where the Lions took it to Aaron Rogers and Eddie Lacey and the rest of that Packers' offense? You've got to give it to Terrell Austin in the defense. I mean, we've been killing them for how many years, the defense, and they stepped up.

Aaron Rogers was pushed off the spot by the defensive line. The Packers' offensive line looked awful again. And the defensive backs didn't give Aaron Rogers his first look. Darius Slay, I'll have to go look at it again on all 22. But from what we saw, he looked great against Jordy Nelson. The defensive backs didn't give away a first look. I mean, the defense was what the story was, the whole game. Patrick, Lacey looked, I thought, pretty good in the opener against the Seahawks,

before the concussion. and then last week faced a jet so I didn't expect much, but I'm seen on Twitter today that he just didn't look like himself? Well, he also didn't get any room, and they pulled him out after the first drive of the game. He fumbled. He was stripped, and then he didn't really get any action until late in the second half.

He had 30 or 40 yards. They didn't bring any holes for him. They weren't going to him. And the Lions' defensive lines per the stats so far had been better than the Jets had stopping the run. and so that was a pretty steep task. DeAndre Levy was in the backfield all day wrecking those runs. Can we get a Pro Bowl for him?

A little bit to do. Can we please get a Pro Bowl for DeAndre Levy? It should have been last year. I mean, if he doesn't get the credit now that he deserves as one of the top linebackers, there's something's wrong because he played phenomenal again today. He was all over the play. This is one of those games, I don't know.

Are the lines just getting you all excited early in the season again, or do you think this team has some staying power? Well, I think if their offense plays the way it did today, they won't, but I think that they'll get better. I mean, I can't believe Matthew Stafford have as bad of a game he had today. I mean, you turn them all over three times by yourself, and you usually lose those games. So if the defense plays the way against other quarterbacks the way it did today, we'll see. But they haven't done it on the road, which is what we killed them for early in the preseason. So it's still up in the air, but this is an encouraging performance by the defense.

I guess that would be the one kind of drawback for the Lions is that after that amazing week one performance, we're possibly seeing another season of inconsistency from Stafford rather than him having his season where he takes off, right? True, and the right tackle position, which they're on their third right tackle of the season, was a mess, which was surprising that they didn't give him more help. Julius Peppers looked phenomenal today. That's two weeks in a row for him. Yeah, he looked great. The Packers' defensive line looked great until the fourth quarter

when they were just on the field so much that the Lions' run game just finally got to him and Reggie Bush finally bounced one out. Packers' offense has basically had one good half this year. Yeah, all these weapons they're supposed to have. Boykin's already basically been benched, right, for Devante Adams. Richard Rogers hasn't done anything at tight end. I think beyond Jordan Nelson, they really haven't played well.

Right. Randall Cobb didn't look like you could separate today for some weird reason against fourth string. and guys they just picked off the street which was weird to me um so that it was a big surprise and i think once the packers weren't able to go no huddle and that really would have been a weapon against the lion's defense we would have thought coming into the game all right so the other game you watched oakland and new england a 169 win for the patriots uh in which tom brady threw a touchdown pass uh but they needed to make a goal line stand at the end Vince wolferk of all people uh with the

interception to clinch the win for the Patriots, but just by, on paper, this does not look like a game that you would mark off as an impressive win in Foxborough for the Pats. Well, far, far, far from it. I mean, I think from the Raiders were probably happy with themselves in a moral victory sense after that they stayed close with a Patriots team that couldn't move the ball on offensive dink and dunk all day. They didn't get their first play over 18 yards until the, you know, Two minutes left in the third quarter.

Brady was harassed all game by the Raiders front. The offensive line troubles continue. They couldn't really get the running game going. It just didn't look good from the Patriots perspective at all. Patriots, Greg, winning ugly now? Is that how it's going to be? It's been a different sort of Patriots team, and they've been consistent. Each week, they haven't had explosive plays.

They had 9.8 yards per catch today, which has become typical. They're winning with defense and special teams and trying to move the ball. It's a little old-school Patriots. It's not a great sign, but they're never a very good September team, so I hesitate to put too much stock into it. And I'd be curious what you thought about this, Patrick. I read this after the game. Dorel Revis struggled against Derek Carr.

Here are the numbers. Carr completed five of six passes for 63 yards against Revis, who was also called for a pass interference penalty. So did you see anything out there? Is Rivas not Rivas? right now? Well, yeah, he got beat by James Jones several times. Derek Carl was clearly not afraid to target him. He started following James Jones around in the second half. James Jones had completions of 12, 13, and 18 yards in man coverage.

Yep. And it just seemed like he was boxing him out. And Revis just wasn't in good position to make plays on the ball. Kevin. Have fun watching the Raiders, by the way, next week. Sorry. London. I'm just saying, hey, London. Greg is handing out assignments, ugly assignments. to a variety of people. Dan will be covering the bills for the rest of the year, and you just got the Raiders. Speaking of the Raiders, Derek Carr, I mean, you know, week to week, is there a hope that they found someone they can hang their hat on? I don't even know if you can go week to week. It's drive-to-drive. Some drives he looks pitiful, and other drives he makes throws. You're like, ah, that's the guy that we saw.

Like, that's the guy that you want. He's just so inconsistent. I mean, he'll have a checkdown that'll spike at somebody's feet, and then he'll put one over the top in the perfect spot. You couldn't complain about it at all. And I, it's just, he's just very inconsistent. And I believe Rod Schreeder, who is the nominal number one guy in Oakland, his season is done, isn't it? He was in a boot after the game, and it didn't look good. And they were talking about him flying back. So, not going, not being overseas.

So, yeah, he seems to be out. But Derek does do a good job of spreading the ball around. We'll give him credit for that. Ooh, I like that you call him Derek. It shows a level of a kind of personable Patra-derick-car friendship bond. A lot of parallels to lifestyle and going. They'll be talking about the future of the book industry soon. Yeah, for sure.

Did Khalil Mack look a little friskeyer this week? He did. He did. You know, and I meant to mention that. He did. He was in the backfield quite a bit. He was one of those guys. Justin Tuck was in there, a ton of anything.

He had three cubic hits. The Mac looked a little bit. He was taking advantage of that bad Patriots offensive line. He was in the back field quite a bit. I did notice him on several plays. One time he blew right by aided Soldier, which is good to see. Kevin, it is always great to hear your voice.

Very masculine. Thanks, buddy. Appreciate it, fellas. We move on. Andrew Luck threw four touchdown passes, and the Indianapolis Colts beat up on the woeful Jacksonville Jaguars 4417 for their first win of the season. The Jaguars, you know, stink fell to 0.3.

They were down 30-0 at the half. That's Buck's level futility. Talking a little bucks, Greg, a little bucks. And Chad Hennie got benched, and I guess the big takeaway for the Jaguars, if you want to look forward, is Blake Bordles. Name the week four starter. So the Blake Bordle's error begins. And for those that were tweeting at Mark and the rest of us, Mark, although Bortles came into the game today, Mark said that the sandwich proposition was that he would start week three. So still owes a high-octrine.

I meant start his career. Yes. But however, very close. and you deserve kudos for almost. Oh, yeah. Moral victory. Yeah. There were no moral victories for the Jaguars, though,

who, you know, we thought maybe they'd be better this year. They are not better. They seem to be just as bad as they were when they started last year, 0 and 8 or whatever it was. Congratulations, Blake Bortles. Now you're a sitting duck behind this offensive line. Oof. That's why.

Yeah. He came in. They had a punt, a field goal. He throws an interception. And there's a play in the end zone. where Bjorn Werner gets around, I think their tackle was Sam Young, a Bills reject, gets around him, strips the ball right out of Bortle's hands, knocks it away, gets nullified by an illegal contact penalty.

But they were in his grill the whole game. He allowed fewer sacks than Henny did because he plays a lot differently. He gets rid of the ball faster, takes more chances. But it was a comedy of errors, really, until the Colts were down. The Colts were up 37 to 3 and just really stopped trying at that point. Still, when the Colts are getting four sacks, a team with no pass rush, four sacks and seven quarterback hits. I thought maybe that's why you hit the brakes on putting your rookie quarterback in there until maybe next season, because this doesn't look like a very correctable problem for this line.

You know, the other thing is they go out and they get this so-called bell cow workhorse running back, and we're going to continue to get these lines like we did today from Toby Gearhart, which is nine rushes for 32 yards. I think like maybe this time next year or next summer, we should all try to think sometimes we get wrapped up with a player. And I think Toby Gerhard is a perfect example of someone who might be entering a better situation and we see some good things on tape. But Toby Garrett, his name is Toby, first of all.

He was never a big time back with the Vikings. And now he got this big opportunity. But is it the line or is it Toby Garrow? It's definitely the line. I don't think there was any problem with saying Toby Gerhard will be good. We don't know how good the line will be in the off season. I don't have any problem backing Toby Gerhardt. He's not the problem there.

Underrated storyline here is Chris Wessling's ever-changing pronunciation of Bjorn Werner. I've been really excited. Haven't I said it at the same time? No, I don't know. Maybe it's not changing, but it's just. It's a major storyline to this podcast. Can you say it again? Bjorn Verner?

I don't even know. It's kind of like when you hear the newscaster and they put on a special like accent when they say like Hispanic. from Germany, and that's how I pronounce it in German. What was Mike Myers' character in Sprockets? Was he Sprockets? I'm not sure that individual was given a birth name. It was Dieter. I took us way off the track.

I know, that was the monkey, wasn't it? Oh, this is the time on Sprockets when we don't. Attempting to get back on track here to some degree. Jai Ruse, Byrd. Yeah, can we talk about what the major storyline in this game was? Andrew Luck had one of the best. games in NFL history. Tell us.

Only so many guys have done this. The only other Colts player to do was Johnny Unitas. 75% completions, 350 yards, four touchdowns. Peyton Manning never did that. He's all right.

With no interceptions. And he should have had five touchdowns, but Kobe Fleener dropped a perfectly thrown pass right in his hands. This game could have been 50 or 55 to nothing at one point. Does it help when Trent Richardson is running for 4.1 yards per care? There was a room. that I heard in the newsroom, obvious hoax

that he had a 27-yard run today. And that's why he got the 4.1. Oh, I see. Because of that 20-s. He didn't look that great. Bradshaw always looks better and looked much better today. And Bradshaw's the guy they turned to in the red zone, definitely.

Were they smart with his touches, Bradshaw? So they've got to be careful there. Yeah, and I think that's the only reason why Trent, well, not the only reason they invested a first-round draft pick in him. But I think if if Ahmad Bradshaw had a body that wasn't continually breaking down, he would be touching the ball a lot more than he is and mark i know that you said downstairs that you believed in

gus bradley and david caldwell uh they go two and fourteen or something they're going to be in trouble i don't know if they're going to be able to see this through if they have a nightmare season that's certainly how it's started i think they inherited and and it comes you know how patient is the owner he seems patient to me they inherited one of the worst rosters we've seen in a really long time and the rebuild to get out of that is harder than assumed i don't think they could lose their jobs no matter what happens this year i agree I think they're safe. Moving forward.

The New Orleans Saints, New Orleans Saints are off the Schneide. Drew Breeze passed for 293 yards and two touchdowns. And the Saints took care of business with a 20 to 9 win over the Adrian Peterson list. Minnesota Vikings. Another quarterback situation here, Matt Castle suffered a toe injury,

multiple fractures, I believe I read, replaced by rookie Teddy Bridgewater, who had some success or a little bit of success in this game. Are we ready for the Teddy Bridgewater era? It's Teddy time, whether ready for it or not. He came in and gave them a little bit of a spark, made a few plays with his legs, got a few screen passes that went for 30 or 40 yards,

and then they kind of settled into a fog over the rest of the game and didn't do much. But this was kind of an odd game. The Saints jumped out to a big lead, 13 to nothing, didn't do anything for the second and third quarters. It seemed like Zimmer made some really good adjustments and was starting to put pressure on Breeze. The Saints missed Mark Ingram

in the running game. They couldn't get anything going for a couple of quarters there and then they just took over again in the fourth quarter. Any concern that the Saints could only score 20 points at home? A little surprise there. Yeah, they seemed a little disjointed and I'm not sure what's going on with Marcus Colston. He had a fumble in the opening game

that basically cost them the game. Last week he was held without a catch. And this week he was held without a catch until he had an 18-yard touchdown late in the game. He's not giving them much on offense. It seems like their attack centers, and this is what it looked like last week, Cooks and Graham are going to trade off big, big days. I mean, it's – but if you don't have Colston, that removes – and we're stills. How's he looking?

They've been using him on shorter routes, which is odd because last year he was the deep threat. And we know he has that kind of speed. He can make plays down the field. but they didn't really go down the field much I think Jeremy Hill the third string tight end had the longest play 34 yards Sorry, why is Cordero Patterson running the ball once

Is that not happening for this team anymore? I cannot tell you why he only ran it once But I need an answer from you I can call the place You have to check with Norville This was your game, right? And you still don't have an answer I don't know why you're a little eyebrow raising

hours after the game, no answer. You know, Bridgewater comes in, Castle, it sounds like he's going to be out for a while with the broken bones in his foot. I still don't give up on this team being a little feisty. And this performance kind of speaks to that, that they were in a one-score game in New Orleans, in a tough spot.

I still think the Vikings are going to be a tough out despite a couple tough weeks for them. I don't. You know what would help? Good defense. What else would help? The best running back in the world being back on the team. That would help a lot.

Asiata's 12 for 35. That's such an Asiata. That's, yeah, that's as Asiata as you get. Classic Asiata. Moving forward. Ooh, jaunty. Moving forward, the New York Giants are in the win column. Rashat Jennings blows up for a career high, 176 yards and a touch.

Eli Manning looks like he played good for the second straight week through two touchdown passes. And the New York Giants took care of the Houston Texans, 30 to 17 at the Meadowlands. The Texans were with. Without arian Foster in this game, and the offense did not look good. Victor Cruz, salsed, his first touchdown in almost a year. What is the plural of salsa, salside, salsai? Salsas. Deploriled?

Yeah, salsas. He salsas? Deplorable, this whole conversation. I don't know. What is, who watches this game? Yeah, come on. I got it. All right, so go.

Let's roll. I was on fire. So was Victor Cruz moving his feet very quickly. He has no long. He's salsied. He has no. long speed anymore. He had a 61-yard catch that could have been a touchdown. Why not? He's like 27-year-old. I guess he never really had his long speed. He's not a guy

that was going to win a big 40-year. As a Jets fan, I could say that he does have... Didn't he have a record for the most plays of 70 yards or more in the first... Hey, I'm just telling you what I saw. He got caught from behind pretty easily, but he's one of those guys Mike Mayak would say he's quicker than fast. And he, his footwork was working well on, I think it was a 26-yard touchdown catch. I just looked at it like the Giants offensive of stars, or whatever you want to call them, Eli Manning, Cruz, Rashad Jennings took this game over. When the Texans made a little run in the second half, Jennings took it over, their running

game was terrific. And it could have been a lot worse than the score. They dominated. The offense played well today. And Eli Manning, I find it interesting if Bruce Arion said last week before the week two game that it could take a veteran quarterback half a season to pick up the offense. And after a terrible week one, it seems like Eli is on the right track now. that fair? I think he's played three games, one terrible game, and two decent games. He played

pretty well today. Like I said, it could have been worse. Larry Dinell dropped or fumbled the pass that was in the red zone. There was another drop on third down. Eli played a very controlled game. They would have had 50 points if it wasn't for J.J. Watt. The only drives that were stopped were drive, stopped single hand for you by Watt. They gave up 176 yards to Rashad Jennings. So this defense has nothing behind J.J. Watt? That's what it looked like. It's pretty disappointing showing by the Texans. And I heard the real Ryan Fitzpatrick showed up.

Right. At halftime, he had two interceptions, three completions, and 23 yards. So that was the reason it could have been a lot worse. The Giants, it was how you dial it up. Hankins, Pierre Paul, they were in the backfield quite a bit. Prince of Mukumar and Rogers Comarty had a really nice game. I mean, if you had just looked at this game alone, you would have thought the Giants are a 3-0 type of team

and the Texans are an 0-and-3 type of team. It was an all-around great play. performance by New York. Is Newk Hopkins making the lead? Ooh, why not? He's been pretty good. You said it was the best catch that didn't matter that you've ever seen or something like that. DeAndre Hopkins, go look it up.

You probably have by now if you watch the highlight shows. But if you're an NFL fan, you're watching that highlight and you're listening to the show. Well, maybe an NFL fan was busy today and hasn't had a chance to log on long. If you get it together, if you could, the play was called off due to an illegal procedure. But D'Andre Hopkins, 50 yards down the field, falling backwards onto his back, catching it with his left hand, one-handed outstretched. Did it count? It was the best catch in NFL history that didn't count.

No hyperbole. Then it doesn't matter. And he made it another great place. Hopkins, your boy, has looked pretty good. Didn't matter. They lost. Next. Jontie.

The Axel Fully were version. Terence Williams scored the go-head touchdown. Late in the fourth. quarter for the Dallas Cowboys, and Bruce Carter had the big play on defense for the Dallas defense at 25-yard pick six of the St. Louis quarterback Austin Davis. The Cowboys rally back from a 21-0 deficit in the first half to beat the Rams 34 to 31 at the Edward Jones Tomb. Very nice. I'll tell you what. I'll tell you what. The Cowboys aren't synonymous with Hart typically in the last 15 years or so, but this was a nice win, a team that was getting spanked.

tanked on the road. They could easily just, you know, turned it in and said, all right, we're not going to win this road game. They chip away, chip away, make some plays. Tony Romo gets it together after an early pick six, and they steal the game. They win it, so the Cowboys pick up a victory. This is the kind of game Jason Garrett typically absolutely will lose.

And I am surprised to see them turn it around. Cowboys 2 and 1. Did Romo make any throws beyond 10 or 12 yards? Romo, okay, so yes and no, because a lot of his throws are very, very short in nature, and he seemed to be kind of wincing, not wincing, but protecting himself from contact and not falling through in some throws. I'm still not convinced he's feeling great physically. On the other end of it, he had a 67-yard touchdown, I believe, to Des Bryant, not a contested throw. There was a blown coverage, and Des was all alone.

So that accounted for the big play, and it helped everyone's stats along the line. And so I don't think we're still seeing Romo at full capacity, but I would say after a terrible pick six in which he threw an out that didn't get there and it was jumped for the touchdown, he did play better. So this was a step in the right direction for Romo. Last week against the Titans, Dallas, their defense did not look half bad. Today, though, I'm just looking at the sheet. They gave up 448 yards.

Was it as bad as it looks on the stat sheet? Yes and no. Austin Davis is not bad, by the way. Did he do enough to keep the job from Sean Hill? I think he did more than enough. He played great. He was 30 of 42, 327 yards, 3 touchdown should have had a 4th, and this was kind of an interesting subplot of the game.

Jared Cook drops a wide open pass in the end zone that would have put the Rams up by, I'm not sure with the score, but they had to settle for three. And then on the sideline, Cook, who was upset about it, he got up and he's walking and he kind of pushes Austin Davis out of the way when Davis went to console him led to a little brouhaha amongst other teammates. To Cook's credit, he apologized profusely, both to reporters and then on Twitter. So that was an interesting play.

But Austin Davis looks really good, and I think he's going to keep the job. But overall, this is a nice win for the Cowboys. And DeMarco Murray, by the way, three for three now in 100-yard games, he is a real candidate to win the rushing title if he could stay healthy. I think he's the favorite maybe right now. I'm trying to think who else would be. Levy on Bill? I wouldn't put him up that.

I think Murray's the favorite. Don't sleep on Benny Cunningham. I'm just glad we got through today with a Jared Cook apology being part of the mix. So many Jared Cook apologies. I check that video, because you don't see, especially with a quarterback. And when you have Austin Davis, when it's a kid that doesn't have a lot of respect maybe at this level, what is he going to do? He couldn't really do anything, so he was a little stunned.

But that was interesting. But the Cowboys are two and one. Great day for the NFC East. Redskins look better. Of course, they lost to the Eagles. The Giants look pretty good today. Maybe the NFC East is back. Lord help us.

Ooh, all right. So the San Francisco 49ers go to Arizona, NFC West game. No Carson Palmer again. But Drew Stanton does some work. He throws two third quarter touchdown passes to rookie John Brown of making the lead candidate

and the Cardinals rally to beat. No, is he not a rooking the league? Rookies cannot be a making league. You know what? Next year he'll be a making a league. and the Arizona Cardinals beat the 49ers 23, 14 on Sunday. That is a 3-0 Cardinals outfit, a team of ATL nominee, and they outscore the Niners 17-0 in the second half.

The Niners, gentlemen, are playing terrible down the stretch of these games. What is going on with the once-mighty 49ers? Yeah, the 49ers certainly look like a Jekyll and Hyde operation on offense because very strong in the first half, and that's what happened today, and have not scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter and been outscored something like 52 to 3 in the second half over three games. You know, today, the big note for me with Colin Kaepernick

and the entire offense is they got away from what they are under Jim Harbaugh. Like they were second half running a ton of five wide receiver sets. Kaepernick had 13 rushes. That's more than the rest of team combined. They kind of, Frank Gore finished with six rushes for 10 yards. By the way, So they just decided that they couldn't run?

I don't know if that's what they decided, but looking at the flow of the game, they got into a bunch of third down situations in the second half that didn't go the way. And the story of the game was Drew Stanton for the Cardinals. Not perfect, but he made some big plays. I'll just circle back real quick to Frank Gore, our fantasy team, Kate Mara.

Maybe we got in a year too late on the inconvenient truth. Well, we might have. But yeah, Drew Stanton. He looks like he could be. We don't know how long Carson Palmer will be out. He wasn't even active for this game. He's got the nerve issue. Is he, in your opinion, Mark, a guy that can carry this offense for however long he has to?

What I saw today was that Bruce Ariens trust him. He didn't, they haven't slimmed down the offense with him in there. And they're using, he did a nice job spreading the ball to eight different guys. And guys like Michael Floyd and John Brown made some big plays. That is an offense with a lot of speed at wide receiver. And they've got Ellington out of the backfield who, I'm a little, Well, Ellington is a little underwhelming in terms of the role

they boosted him up for, but he made some nice plays around the edges today. And they're the team that kept making big plays when they needed to. The 49ers did not. And how about this Cardinals defense?

Give it up to them. How many guys are they lost? They're tough to beat. And now they lost another guy this week and John Abraham, who was a key pass rusher for them. He's out of the picture for the season. And yet they shut down the Niners,

down the stretch. They're playing great. Three and O. I know, Greg, you threw me under the bus on Twitter that I didn't give the Cardinals enough credit. But now I'm all in on this card. When did I do that? You know what you did?

And I'll pull up the tweet later and you'll see it. Todd Golds is auditioning for a head coaching job. Yeah. I mean, every week this team loses another defensive pillar that they were going to base their whole season around. And you just expect it to keep falling apart. And then when they show up on Sunday, they're just a little gang that could, Chris. And that's a team that you should be pulling for for the team of ATL. A team that you can injure them.

Oh, it doesn't matter. a team that's been underground for so long. It doesn't matter. Three and O. The Arizona, what more do they need to do? Team of ATL, Wes. By the way, there's no question that Bruce Ariens trust Drew Stanton. Last week, 30 seconds left in the first half the Cardinals get the ball deep in their own territory.

And Ariens is dialing up go routes and having Stanton take shot plays down the field. And they're making some of these plays. They were going for it on fourth down at midfield today. He's been the coach of the year through three games. I love me for whatever that's where. He's your cool uncle. And guess what? It got a little heated downstairs in the newsroom, some team of ATL talk.

A little heated. They are gaining. They are gaining heat. That's one of your nominees, Greg. What more do they need to do? And, yeah, Bruce Ariens, great coach you can get behind. They got a bi-week coming up, so they're going to be staying on the beach. Look, I don't want to pick a team and then see them go on a four-game losing street because they're just not good enough.

Do you think that's what's going to happen I'm not convinced yet that they can avoid that They don't look like a team That's going to drop four straight games to me From what we've seen so far I've got two words for you Chandler Cada Zero

Cotanzaro The kicker That's the key to the Cardinals That's why they're in trouble Is our team jump on board A rookie kicker is the key to our team Greg potentially not a wild selling point there You want to try that again

This is a very special honor Referring to being the team of ATL. It is a very special honor. Anyway, moving forward. That soundbite definitely led to probably two or three car crashes. The Miami Dolphins and Ryan Tannenhill headed for divorce? That's how I'll open this. Alex Smith threw three touchdown passes and the Chiefs.

Went to Miami and beat up on the Dolphins for the 3415 win. Smith easily outplayed Tannahill who finished gentlemen in the Gabbard zone and he as well as the entire offense heard booze from the home crowd Nile Davis filled in for Jamal Charles ran for 132 yards and a touchdown and I'm telling you gentlemen

there is an issue in Miami with his offense Tannehill is not progressing and he came out and said on Wednesday this past Wednesday that he needed to be better so it's not a great sign when he comes out and plays just as bad as he's been all his season. He just, he struggles to move this team on offense. Was it third downs again?

Third down was a problem. I mean, he has issues with accuracy, as we know, and also some vision issues. There was a third down play in the third quarter, a key play near midfield, third and short, I think it was inches even. They call play action, and Daniel Thomas rolls out from the backfield is open for the conversion. Instead, Tannhill never sees him, pushes it, takes a sack, and the drive is over. I mean, it's just stuff like that that continues to add up.

And it also happened, and it makes more distressing for Miami that Tannahill is struggling like this when you have a running game. Lamar Miller played great for 115 yards. It's his first 100-yard game since last Halloween. And they made some plays on special teams and defense. And Tannahill was the only guy that really wasn't getting it done. Greg, that's your boy, Ryan Tannahill.

You've went to the post room many times. It's a time to walk away. Well, no, I'm sticking with it. Pro football focus. I've already gotten an early look at their rankings. They've actually said this was the best performance any quarterback that's had all season. He's going to be number one on the rankings. That's a little me and PFF.

Football Focus, Bunsen burner blowtorch right there. Yeah, it's a big concern. He hasn't, he's not looking good. You aren't kidding, Dan. They were four of 15 on third downs. And one thing that you keep hearing over and over out of Miami is that Bill Azzer, the coordinator, has pushed his players very. hard. And you got to wonder if the rest of the culture in Miami is doing the same thing.

There were reports after the game that the defensive players were absolutely furious with the adjustments in the second half that there was a bunch of players that left the locker room basically before the media even arrived. They just bolted. So they had to go to London now and handsome Hank Henry Hodgson's downstairs had a weird prediction. Well, I don't know. What was it? He basically, he is a Dolphins fan. for life, signaled doom for this organization saying that Philbin won't be even allowed on the plane ride home. I'm sure I love that being broadcast.

Bill Laser, he has a theory that Bill Laser takes over as coach and leads the Dolphins to some ridiculous, foolish glory in Henry's eyes. But, I mean, Laser needs to show some things on offense before they think that he is the answer, right? Wow. I don't even know if those are lasers. Those are lasers.

How about that? How about these? It is interesting to me because when I talk to Laser over the summer, he was not one of these guys that just poured glowing comments over Tannahill. He basically said he has a lot to work on, and he's not there yet. And I wonder if maybe they wouldn't be afraid to make a quarterback switch at some point. You've got a decent backup there. Name dropper.

I was on the phone. It'll be a laser. Part of my job description during the very quiet summer. I think we're burying the lead here. Joe McNight. He's been alive for what? 25 years, never scored an NFL touchdown. Today, he scored two.

Joe McKnight was a superstar. That's not the right stat. What is it? An offense. Oh, yeah. He scored on a kickoff return. On offense. Just tried to unlock that offensive power in Joe McKnight forever.

He just was vomiting on the field. That's what he's most known for. I'll be honest. I had no idea he was even on the Chiefs roster. Yeah, I found out today when he crossed the goal line. They needed that game. The Chiefs, you know, we make a lot of first impression thoughts off of week one. The Chiefs have played well two straight weeks, and the Dolphins have played as bad as any team.

And Alex Smith is a very good quarterback. All right, which takes us to our last game. Wes and I will take it home. Wes, you ready to do this? Absolutely. All right, Sunday night football. Pittsburgh Steelers coming off that ugly loss last Thursday. Bounce back in impressive fashion in Charlotte, deliver a 37 to 19 thumping over the Panthers.

The Panthers who looked so good to start the season were really no match. West. The Steelers ran for well over 200 yards on the ground, got a big performance from Levyon Bell, your boy, and Ben Rathlisberger, who heated up as the game went along. So the Steelers back in the wind column, 3719, as I said, what do you take out of this? Greg's favorite defense, he tweeted this today, is the Panthers defense. They're commonly viewed as the best front seven in the NFL. They laid an egg. The Steelers had their first pair of 100-yard rushers since Ernest Jackson and Walter Abercrombie in 1986.

I worry that this will be, as far as the 100-yard rushes, this will be something that's used as a major narrative. Ligari Blunt basically piled on 100 yards with the game was already over, but that doesn't change the fact that Lavian Bell looked tremendous. They ran the ball with ease against a nasty front seven. Of course, no Greg Hardy, but Laveon Bell had an 81-yard run, really did whatever he wants. And this guy looks like his star is just.

just taking off now, right? That 81-yard run, he wouldn't have made that last year. The lost weight has really helped him. He was coming off the foot injury last year. He has another gear in 2014, and we saw that. He already has more 100 games this season than he did last year. Wow. And I would say to me, the biggest play of the game was in the third quarter, the Panthers back in it. After getting a three-and-out from the Steelers, they punted away. The Steelers punted away to Philly Brown, who makes, and I wrote it in our piece, one of the most destructive special teams plays you'll ever see he muffs the punt picks it up gets it stripped away the ball kicks around into the end zones the Steelers fall on it all of a sudden it's a close game becomes i believe

31 14 and it's all over 31 13 and uh that's how the game got away but at the same time while the panthers had a chance to get back in this game the Steelers were clearly the better team tonight And, you know, one thing I think, West, that we both noticed was Cam Newton getting hit a lot. Cam Newton limping by the end of the game, replaced by Derek Anderson, not a benching or anything like that. I think they were just saying this is enough. This game is gone. Cam's taken enough heat. But coming off the ankle surgery, not moving maybe the way he has in the past, he can't be taken this many shots.

Yeah, I think you've got several issues with the Panthers right now. Their offensive line, we were concerned about them entering the season. It's still a concern. They haven't opened up holes in the running game. Jonathan Stewart got injured tonight with a knee contusion. And with his injury, yeah, his injury history. DeAngelo Williams wasn't even suited up. They have major problems in the backfield, offensive line.

And the front seven is supposed to be the harder of the team. Didn't get it done tonight. One bright spot was Calvin Benjamin, who it seems like we have a different rookie every week who shines at wide receiver. It was Brandon Cooks the first week, Sammy Watkins last week, and looks like Calvin Benjamin this week. He looked great tonight. And then the one maybe downside for the Steelers is in the injury category.

Ike Taylor suffered, it looked like a pretty bad arm injury. They showed him on the NBC, showed him on the sidelines in the fourth quarter. He had the arm in the sling and a hard cast. So that could very easily be a break and that could be an IR trip for the veteran cornerback. Also, your boy, Wes, Ryan Chazier, he left the game. I believe he was carted to the locker room. I'm not sure how serious that injury is, but he's a guy. Is he a janga piece on that defense, Wes?

I don't think we can say that he's a Jenga piece yet, but he definitely adds a speed dynamic that they haven't had in the past. He's going to make some plays that other players won't make that can't make, but he's also going to be out of position once in a while. But definitely a guy, we hope he's not out for a while because we counted on him improving throughout the season. Anything else was? I think we covered it all.

Good. And it's just you and I in the room. Anything personally you want to talk about, just you and I, bro to bro, talking about bro stuff. It was an interesting weekend all around, but I've had many interesting weekends lately. Things are kind of looking up for me in L.A. Ooh, I like the sound of that. Fun is being had.

I'm basically taking Tabi Island into L.A. right now. And that is the greatest combination possible. So, super. That's a super development. So that is it for Sunday's edition of the Around the NFL podcast. We will be back, Wes, on Wednesday where we're going to do some team of ATL talk. I'm sure you're happy about the Steve. dealers here keeping in the mix and we cannot dismiss them anymore after this performance

and all the other NFL talk. Dan Hansa signing off for the mailmen and although they're not here, the sizzler and the boss, Tadie behind the glass and the beautiful Kay Rich even further behind the glass. Until Wednesday.