NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL Week 5 recap

Episode Date: October 6, 2014

A room full of heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling and Marc Sessler -- recap every Week 5 Sunday game including the Browns' comeback against the Titans, the Broncos' big day and the Patriots return to form.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 starts now, according to NFL Media Insider, Ian Rappable. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis, and I am joined by a room filled with heroes, Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal. What up, boys? Hey, Dan. How are you? Sunday night show.

A lot of energy in here. The only Sunday night show that you will find on the Internet that dedicated to recapping all the events of the day. So we'll be ready for you. You're listening to it right now. You're like, I can't believe they already have it up. We have it up. Best Sunday of the year. Had to have been.

Why do you say that? The best games. Best comebacks, best everything. There was a point in the early games, especially, where every game, I believe, but one was within one score. So that just tells you, like, all these games, they were all nail biters. Pretty exciting. Follower, Brad Tucker, Twitter follower, a podcast listener, says that the Bills and Panthers scored their games final 10 points,

the Saints, the final 17 points, the Giants, the final 20 points, Rams the final 21 points, and Browns the final 26 points. I know when we write these things up every week, we normally each cover two games or so, and one is maybe competitive in the other as an utter wipeout, and you're basically, every game today, hair on fire, Right up till the end Brad Tucker missed one

Unless he was not talking about the later games The Chargers scored the final 31 points Against the Jets And we'll get into that a little later So TD how you doing Buddy behind the glass How's going guys I'm excited to talk about the big big game

In Cleveland Do you guys know it LeBron's first game In a Cavs uni The preseason game against the European team Don't matter Come on guys Nice try TD

That's like Greg sends like some passive aggressive of like anti-baseball shots to the group. It was not to you. Because I like baseball. I think he's taking shots that only football matters. I love football too,

but there are other sports. Don't take it personally. I'm just saying that watching playoff baseball unless your team's in it is a colossal waste of time. It's a regional sport. If your team's out, who cares? It's boring.

That's not true. To quote Michael Scott, business is always personal. All right. So how about this? Why don't we get into the games? And since you brought up Cleveland, TD, we have to start

with Mark Sessler with a glow in his eye. Let's start in Tennessee. We'll start in Tennessee where Brian Hoyer through a six-yard touchdown pass to Travis Benjamin with 109 to play and the Cleveland Browns rally back

from a 25-point deficit to beat the Tennessee Titans 29 28 Sunday. Gentlemen, this was the biggest road comeback in NFL history. NFL history! Mark Sessler! Cleveland is now 2-2.

They can easily be 4-0. Let's be honest. So I ask you guys, are we ready to believe? They could just as easily be 0-4. Don't do this, Mark. You enjoy this moment. They are one of the more unpredictable teams

I've watched week to week in a long time because nothing about what they did in that first half suggested what happened in the second half. That's how you get the greatest road comeback in NFL history. Enjoy it. You always say nothing good ever happens to Browns fans. Something good happened today. This is magical stuff.

Anybody that listens to this podcast knows I sit across from Mark Sessler. He was, I don't think I've ever seen Mark more sour than the first half. You looked like you were at the edge of your rope, like you were about to go agnostic like Wes. But you even sent me an I-M at one point. This is a verbatim quote, I hate my life, want out of here. Wait, you want out of your job, out of the newsroom, or just your life? It was grim. Listen, the way I felt about this little stretch of games that this Brown's team has is if you're going to stop being the four-win team, you've got to take care of business against a Titans team that's shown nothing three weeks in a row. So how'd they do it?

First half, they didn't do it. The first half they looked about as bad as they have in a long, long time, and the defense has major issues. They fought their way back in with everything we don't think this team can do. They threw the ball over the place. I mean, they had something like 460 yards of offense. It's guys that you, Jordan Cameron has six catches all year, and they're averaging 25 points a game. Here's some numbers. Ryan Hoyer, 21 of 37, 292 yards, three touchdowns.

Ben Tate takes on the bell cow roll. 22 carries, 123 yards. leading the way with the running game. But again, Brian Hoyer, again, showing he could do it late in games. He obviously is someone that stays cool under pressure. He's also, you could tell the team loves him. We saw that post-game locker room, seeing him dancing in the circle. I mean, there's a lot of positive vibes in Cleveland right now.

Wes, what did you think? I didn't see the game, but I can say that they have certainly exceeded my expectations. I thought their offense would be one of the worst in the NFL, so good for them. Well, when it's 28 to 3, late in the first half. I mean, Tennessee scored a touchdown with only three minutes left to go 283. We all started talking, or just people on Twitter were talking, like, are we going to see Johnny Mansell in this game? Which was a legitimate thing to ask, I think, when it's 28 to 3.

Well, one thing we should mention. Instead, Hoyer goes all Frank Reich. But we should mention that Jake Locker went out of this game. Right. Left with a hand injury. Shocker. And Jake Locker actually was killing Cleveland on. the ground with his feet and making just enough throws.

I mean, Cleveland's defense looked completely out of tune, but they closed the door in the second half. You could bring Charlie White Hirsten. He has a nice ponytail, good for him, but he did nothing on the field to suggest. You respect clipboard, Jesus, but. First two throws for touchdowns, and then he went totally dark from there.

Right, and that played a big role. When you come back from that far down, you need the other team's offense just completely disappear. That's part of the reason to comebacks like this never happened. But to do it on the road, But, I mean, this is a team. I think we could get excited about the Browns being frisky, the team that could be a playoff contender.

They seem like every week they play one of the worst halves in football and then play one of the best halves in football. They are very schizophrenic that way. Their four games have been decided by a combined eight points, which is just totally insane. It's the fourth team ever to have four games in a row decided by three points or less. And Mike Patton has not improved the defense. at all and yet the offense looks pretty good despite who is their leading receiver today

Travis Gabriel Taylor Gabriel give you a break give uh give Shanahan some credit yeah offensive coordinator of the year moving forward Peyton Manning through four touchdown passes including two to Demarius Thomas and the Broncos improved a three and one with a 41 20 win over the Arizona Cardinals manning's first touchdown pass was the 500th of his career he trails spread far by four touchdowns for the NFL record. Demarius Thomas went nuts. Eight catches for 226 yards. That is the highest yardage total of any receiver this season.

Drew Stann exited with a concussion for the Cardinals. Logan Thomas jumped in for him. Let me ask you this, guys. The Broncos rolled up 568 yards. Is this offense ready to achieve 2013-like liftoff? Chris Wessler? I don't see why it can't. We have mentioned in previous.

podcast that Demarius Thomas wasn't himself. He had been playing through a foot injury, and you could tell he wasn't as explosive as he had been. He was back this week. The buy did him good. He outran the defense for an 86-yard touchdown, and a 31-yard touchdown, and then had a 77-yard touchdown called back on a chop block that Bruce Ariens called the dirtiest play he's ever seen. Callias Campbell's going to miss some time because of that. If they didn't call that back, that might have been the best fantasy wide receiver day in the history of history. Well, and quarterback. Peyton Manning at 479 yards were a career high.

That would have given him, what, 550? Right. It's like in a relatively weak AFC, and on this Sunday in particular, we're talking about a lot of teams that mounted major comebacks, and Dan pointed out before, that requires a meltdown by one offense. If you're going to come with Denver, that's the team that this is not happening to. They, I would be honest, they bore me because they're so good. the running game's not there, but they are more balanced right now, I think, than any team

in the AFC, maybe the NFL, in terms of that their offense looks like a legitimate top five group, and their defense looks like a top 10 group. Monte Ball went out with an injury, right? Ronnie Hillman looked pretty good. Ronnie Hillman looked better than any Denver running back has looked this year. And on the other side of the ball, every time I looked up, Von Miller was hitting a quarterback. So he was all the way back. Yeah, he's back to the point where probably JJ Watt is the only defensive player who's better

than him. Was this game over when true Stanton exited and Logan Thomas came in? Logan Thomas came in and one of the funniest tweets of the day was if there was an awareness rating on Madden, he would have a zero. He got sacked on his first two plays, hit Andre Ellington with an impressive pass, threaded the needle on a wheel rat, ended up going for 81 yards, but he ended up one of eight and the offense went in the tank. That's one of the craziest stat lines I've ever seen, one of eight for 80 yards and a touchdown. Passer rating over 100, and he only completed one of eight passes. Which proves my point that passer rating is a meaningless garbage stat.

What happened to Monte Ball? He had a groin injury, and that seems to be the injury du jour. Mike Evans and Donnie Avery went down with the same. There was a non-contact injury. You could just tell that he was going to be gone for the rest of the game and probably another couple of weeks after that. Interesting place to use Dejure with a groin injury. I'm not sure I'd go down that road.

Why do we need to go down that road? Interesting. We don't need to go down the road. By the way, maybe we should just move on. What was the, by the way? I don't remember anymore because Mark threw me off with this Dejur comment. I completely forgot.

The Denver Post indicated after the game of the ball, it sounds like, could be out for a while. I would expect him to. That's what we've seen from all these guys with the sports hernia or groin injuries. So does this mean the Cardinals, not a team of ATL nominee? I think, of course they are a nominee.

That's what I wanted to ask before your Dejure thing. I got your back, by this. Team of ATL, they get doubled up in points. They kept it tight, but Wes, is it? Well, I am abandoning the lions because fan at mortality effect tweeted me and said, I am a lion's fan. Please they eliminate them from the discussion for team of ATL. They are trash and don't deserve it. Well, the Cardinals, I don't think, should not be in the mix.

This score was 24 to 20 going into the fourth quarter here with Logan Thomas, that quarterback. What are we expecting in Denver? Right. Hopefully Carson Palmer's back next week because the Cardinals could use that shot in the arm. Oh, here's a, by the way. Yes. No pun intended? Yeah.

Well, fire nerve. Fire. Logan Thomas Awareness rate in the Madden, 41. Oh, okay. For context, Peyton Man is by 98. Is anyone below 41? That's pretty low. Yeah.

Probably lowest for any quarterback. Wow. So they knew what was up. That's why TD. Basically, he can't read. Yeah. It's sad. Defense.

It's actually. I have to talk about. Dan Bailey kicked a 49-yard deal goal in overtime after he missed one at the end of regulation, lifting the Dallas Cowboys to a 20 to 17 win over the Houston Texans on Sunday. The big play in this game happened in overtime. Tony Romo hooked up on a long 37-yard reception with Des Brian, who basically just put on his big boy pants and brought down a pass one-handed with Jonathan Joseph all over him,

set it up this after the Cowboys blew a 10-point lead at the end of the fourth quarter. The Cowboys are now 4-1, gentlemen, for the first time since 2008. Are we in on Big D? Why not? Hey, when Jason Garrett is winning close games, when the Cowboys are the team that's coming through in the clutch,

something's going on. We talked about this in the last podcast that this was the classic game that the Cowboys should win, but then are afraid of their own shadow and they blow it. And sure enough, it was heading in that direction where they blew the lead, the lead late, they lost the coin toss in overtime, and it all seemed like it was heading a certain direction, but they make a stop at midfield on defense, get the ball back, and then Romo and Des get together on a big play, and Carpenter, who had a 30 field goal consecutive maid streak

snapped when he missed the 53-yard or at the end of regulation, drills a 49-yarder to end it. So it was kind of a different situation for the Cowboys and a really potentially nice sign for them. You know, the team, we're all going to see the Des Brian highlight over and over a phenomenal catch. But the reason I think we can believe in Dallas is because for all the lashing that Jerry Jones rightfully takes for his blunders as a general manager, the team quietly in the last couple years has built a very formidable offensive line. And they're running the ball, I think 15% more than they were a year ago, which was a big issue with Dallas last season was abandoning the run game

and now they've got a healthy DeMarco Murray that's a tough combination to take down DeMarco Murray went over 100 yards for the fifth straight week he also lost his fourth fumble that's something to keep an eye on because that's something he leads the leagues in fumbles but he also leads the league in rushing the other guy on the other side of the field arian foster went well over 100 yards as well

his first real work in about three weeks so he looks all the way back from his injury really good running back play Murray joined only O.J. Simpson and Jim Brown to open the season with five straight 100-yard games. That wasn't the stat of the day. You want to hear the most mind-blowing stat of the day? By the way, it's always great to be in the same company as O.J. Simpson, your mind-blowing stat of the day. The Cowboys have shut out opponents three times already this season in the first half. Wow. That's not the mind-blowing part. In the previous four seasons, that's only happened three times. Combined. Wow.

they took umbrage with mark sessler's list of descriptions for their defense i might you know i think part of our job is and this is hard for people to do is just admitting we don't know anything sometimes we are incorrect and 50 words to describe dallas's defense about 49 of them don't apply right now maybe the move now is to go the other way come up with 50 more words of description for the defense swarming just take that list and shift it over to the jets Wait, let's put a new team name on it Look at you riding high with the Browns And the thrown shots at me That came to mind out of nowhere From Mount Pius Just came to mind out of nowhere

Any team that's, you know I didn't deserve that I think it must be said before we move on What a terrible job The Cowboys fans did in this game Oh yeah That the Texans fans were louder than the Cowboys fans there And Tony Romo had to go to a silent count

At home because the Texans fans were so loud So I don't know NFL media Steve Weish reported that little tidbit. But I guess what do you expect when you build a billion-dollar country club? Aikman's killed that place for years as a non-environment for true fans. But good game, Cowboys. Always keeping it positive. Let's move on.

Cam Newton threw two touchdown passes to Greg Olson and the Panthers defense forced four turnovers wiping out a 14-point deficit to beat the Chicago Bears, 31 to 24 on Sunday. Jay Cutler went 28 for 36 for 289 with two TDs, but had three turnovers for the two and three bears. Same old story with Jay Cutler, it seems. The Panthers get back on track. Thoughts, gentlemen?

I thought the Panthers defense looked like this season was slipping away, and it looked not like a group that we ever saw last year. And then when push came to shove in the fourth quarter of this game, they put together about as good a quarter as you could have five drives for the Bears in the fourth quarter. They got 27 yards combined and the Panthers forced three turnovers. The defense took the game over. Cam Newton cashed in on some short fields. He played very well once again throughout the game and it finally showed up for them.

So how about these Panthers not lying down here? Can't figure him out. Former Bears general manager Jerry Angelo said this week there was a big mistake when he traded Greg Olson. He regretted that one. you don't trade Greg Olson No Greg Olson was huge in this game A huge first down on a third and long

Cam I believe has Thrown the ball better this season Than he ever has in his career I don't know I don't really buy into the hole Well he's stuck staying in the pocket He's not running anymore So that now he's better

I don't know that doesn't make you better But he's just been more consistent In the first half of this game In the second half he was dealing On the other side You said in your write-up That something is not quite right with the Chicago passing attack.

I don't know what it is. Last year... Goldie locks Cutler. You think? I don't know. It was two interceptions in this game. Both were high and late over the middle. One was tipped, though, or one was really because of pressure.

But his bad throw, I believe it was picked off midway through the fourth quarter, really turned the game around. They were up three points at that time. And he's been bad, but they're not as explosive to the outside right now. Brandon Marshall, when he's going three for 44, just by looking at the boxer, you just know he's probably still not himself. Jeffrey went six for 97 in a touch. Matt Forte, 12 catches for 105 yards on a touchdown.

Checkdown City. Yeah, well, they were killing the Panthers in the screen game in the first half. It was like the Panthers had never seen a screen in their life. And no matter who they were throwing it to, it was working. And the Panthers couldn't tackle and just, they were out-schemed. It just looked like Mark Tresman was killing Rivera. In the second half of the game, they took away the screen pass, and it was like the Bears had nothing left.

They only scored three points after half time. And let's, yeah, let's give some credit to Cam Newton or more credit to Cam Newton because he's playing very well, and he did it. We know about the ankle injury, which he led on, said it was more serious than perhaps it was made known in the newspapers or in the media. He has the fractured ribs.

He got crushed today. What's a newspaper? Yeah, it's like this thing that used to be something. And then he had his wisdom, like, 14 wisdom teeth taken out. I don't know how many wisdom teeth humans have, but I think he had all of them removed earlier this week. He played through it. That's pretty impressive. He was nailed in this game.

He hurt his elbow, and his ribs must be fine because he threw a nasty block on Lance Briggs on a running play. Cam Newton's not only their best thrower. He's their best blocker right now. Does Chicago Bears any good? I think these are two midling teams. Tough to get a read on Chicago. Yeah, I agree with that. I think the Bears, they can look good one week, but they're not a complete team,

and their quarterback has a tendency to throw back-breaking interception. There won Gino Smith meltdown on that Monday night from being one and four right now. So it looks like another frustrating year in Chicago. Andrew Luck threw one touchdown pass, ran for another score, and the Indianapolis Colts held off the Baltimore Ravens 20 to 13 on Sunday. Luck was 32 of 49 for 312 yards. Did throw two interceptions, so he cooled off a little bit from his scorching hot play the previous two weeks. But his 13-yard scoring run with nine minutes to play sealed the win for the Colts.

The teams combined for seven turnovers. And Flacco got sacked four times. He had been sacked three times all year before Sunday. You know who the player of the game was, Greg? Joe Flacco? Wait. Bjorn Verner. Oh, nice.

Two sacks. The Ravens really missed Eudine Monroe at left tackle in this game. This was the best defense I've seen out of the cult since last year, since last December probably. Were they just more aggressive? Yeah, they were pressuring Flacco throughout the afternoon. He never got a chance to get comfortable in the pocket, and he kind of looked like he did in the first week, whereas in weeks two and three, he looked really good this week he was off.

I think you always learned something. when a former defensive coordinator goes up against a quarterback that he used to be on the same team with and that's Pagano against Joe Flacco and I read something just their blitz percentage today and you're saying they sent pressure was crazy so clearly Pagano who's been with Flacco thinks

look that's the way you go after him you send pressure at him he's not going to react well and sounds like it works I guess Ray Horton didn't learn that lesson in Cleveland Colts should have won by possibly three touchdowns it seemed like they should have ended this game 50 times. Mob Bradshaw fumbled inside the Ravens Tang Yard

line. Luck threw an interception in the red zone. They had a touchdown. Luck to Hilton called back on a Reggie Wayne pick penalty. So this could have been a lot more of a blowout. Colts, for the last three weeks, granted against two cream puffs before this one, have looked

as good as any team. Yeah, they looked good. If it wasn't for that stupid loss to the Eagles, which I still don't accept, as someone who picked them that night, where They looked like the better team. They would be four and one. We'd be talking about them as one of the big AFC powerhouses.

A glance at the box score tells me Trent Richardson had nine carries for 37 yards. That's 4.1 yards per carry. He did it, baby. He looks like a serviceable NFL back this year, I think. I will say no player could do less and receive more compliments for just simply doing what an average guy comes in. Oh, you had nine carries for 36 yards. That's how low the bar is. You know, I do see through this a little bit, though, Mark,

because I know as a Browns fan, you want that trade to be as historically lopsided as possible. No, actually, that's not... No, I think that Trent Richardson, let him succeed, but I just do find that we're looking for anything that tells us, yes, he's a successful back that's going to go on and flourish. It's like, all right, actually, he just looks like a very average back statistically. Yes.

What about Mark's boy, C.J. Mosley? Oh, he looks like, to me, the defensive rookie of the year. He should be the favorite. He was all over the field today, and 15 tackles. Luke Keekley, 15 tackles. Levanti David, 14 tackles. It was a 15 tackle type of game. If you're into tackles, you're going to love this game.

Kikley, by the way, had one of the best games I've seen by a linebacker all year. He was 2013 defensive player of the year, Kikley. Is it hard to win that award, though, when you're an inside linebacker that isn't making giant head-turning highlight real plays? I wouldn't say that. Mayo won't it. You can rack up tackles. Mayo won it without being flashy at all.

Sometimes depends on the year. Mostly week one to now, every week he's gotten better. Blake Gordles through two interceptions, including one that was run back for a touchdown by Bryce DeCain. That's a great name. And the Steelers held on to beat the winless Jacksonville Jaguar 17 to 9. The Steelers got middling performances from Ben Rafflesburg, Antonio Brown, and Levi-on-Bell.

but still took care of the 0-and-5 Jaguars. Guys, I thought in our preview podcast, I thought that this was going to be a wild blowout for the Steelers, but their offense didn't really deliver a nice performance here. So the Steelers get the win, sure, we expected that, but still not a performance that makes you think, oh, they're bounced back after that awful loss of the bucks. You know, it was like looking at Jacksonville's defense,

by far their best effort of the year, and that doesn't say much because they've been, lashed weekly, but held Pittsburgh to 10 points on offense and put some good pressure on Big Ben. I think the problem for Jacksonville this season, and the reason they're not going to win more than three games or something, is because there's a lot to like with Blake Bortles. Forget the numbers and what you see in the box score. You just can tell that they have found their quarterback, but you've got an offensive line that absolutely tells defense is right out of the gate.

We're not going to be able to run the ball, just go after our quarterback. and there were four rookies on the field for Jacksonville's offense and these receivers, they're going to grow and get better too, but they are dropping the ball. And Bortles threw a critical pick six, the one you mentioned, and he admitted after that he checked down out of a run play into a pass that caused a mistake. They're a team with a rookie quarterback with a lot of promise,

but a lot of issues. I think that's one of the upsets of the year that the Steelers' offense only scored 10 points in Jacksonville. They're another team that's hard to figure out. The Jaguars, I actually, it shows how little I think of the Steelers' defense that I'm kind of stunned, Bortles, and the Jaguars only scored nine points against them, too. Yeah, Damashek tweeted at one point about a team with Big Ben, Levyon Bell, Antonio Brown, Heath Miller, and Marcus Wheaton

should score a lot more points than they did today. Come on, player. What's up with that? Fair enough. Pittsburgh, you know, last week, Tomlin got all up in arms about the fact that they're not a very disciplined team at times. They're making stupid penalties. That didn't show up in the first half, but it did in the second half.

And it really kept Pittsburgh from doing more in this game. Kyrie Robinson's 18-yard touchdown run in overtime lifted the New Orleans Saints, a New Holland Saints, to a 37-31 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. It was a game in which Drew Brees through 57 passes, including three interceptions. Two of those interceptions led to Buck's touchdowns. But despite falling down on this game,

the Saints come back and then take care of business in a game. Let's face it, if the Saints lost this game in their building to a bad Buccaneers team, the sky would be falling and there would be a reason to be saying that. But even still, perhaps, again, we were expecting a better effort from the Saints. There's just a malaise following the Saints around this season. they need to snap out of it. Maybe in the fourth quarter and overtime, they finally did.

But Drew Bree's numbers looked decent today. He did not play well. He threw a pick six. He threw another interceptions that led directly to a touchdown for the Bucks. And to me, it seems like maybe the oblique injury has affected him more than we've led on that summertime oblique injury because they're not, they haven't done anything deep all year. Nothing beyond 25 yards. There's a column in the New Orleans Times Pick.

Giyun after the game. A newspaper, by the way. Yes. Also, nola.com. With the title, with the headline, is Drew Breeze in decline? Shaky play against Tampa Bay opens debate. Now, this smells like an article that was written halfway into the fourth quarter when the Saints were down two scores and it looked like the sky was falling.

The season was over. But that's an amazing thing. It's not just in New England with Tom Brady. We can't ever accept that quarterbacks go through slumps because of injuries, to themselves or because of surrounding talents not playing well. We have to always be about a decline, not just a slump. Well, he is 35, and it will happen eventually for all these guys. And you're saying the offense through five games, I don't think it's just Breeze.

I think Breeze has been solid. I just think they're not making explosive plays, and that's a trademark of the Saints, that they are an explosive team, and they don't get anything downfield, which is similar to what Tom Brady's done this year. You and Brandon Cooks is someone that we talked up a lot, leading into the season and still has a ton of potential. But speaking to your point, he had nine catches today for 56 yards. And two more rushes.

They did a good job of getting him the ball. He just wasn't in space enough. We should give the buck some credit, too. When we watched that Falcons game, we would have never, ever thought that they would go to Pittsburgh, win a game, and then go to New Orleans and really have this game in hands. I mean, they're kicking themselves because they could have been right in the middle of that NFC South race, and they kind of blew this thing.

Instead, when the fork committee convenes this week in our conference room with all our pastries and coffee, they're going to get brought up, Greg. That's all I'm going to say. I'm not saying they will be chosen to be forked, get forked hard, but they're in the conversation. At one in four, it's a tough spot. Let's also be fair. 27 teams in the league, what they do this week almost seems to have no bearing on what happens next week. I'm just saying, I mean, they've put together two really good performances, but you also have to think the Saints eventually might get it going.

And this is one of those games we'll kind of forget about. December, but it's going to be huge. They'll get it going next September after they make a fool of Wesleyan and I for picking them as a Super Bowl team. They've already done that. Jaunty. O'Dell Beckham, Jr. has finally played in an NFL game. It took until October, but he made the most of it his first effort. He had the go-ahead touchdown catch a 15-yard touchdown reception from Eli Manning with 10 minutes to play. And that helped give the Giants a 30-20 win over the Falcons, a comeback win. Manning was productive for the third

straight week, throwing two touchdowns and no interceptions. The Giants, who looked about as bad as you can imagine after two weeks, have now won three straight. So, I think it's time we give Eli Manning and the New York Giants a little bit of credit. I know it's hard to do around here,

but a little bit. We all picked them. No, not this. I did not. The only person that likes that is TD, that commercial. TD, we got to get rid of that drop. I don't like it.

It's just Eli being not Eli. Yeah, I don't know. The Manning. It's done. It's done. I retire. That one's been killed. It's been killed.

Maybe that little song, though, brought about the new, you know, confident Eli Manning, not making any mistake. Do you really think that Eli ever lost confidence? Eli, I don't even know if he even knows what confidence is. He's just kind of like meandrous through life. Oh, through an interception. He's not. throwing interceptions, though. Eight touchdowns, one interception in the last three weeks. These two teams, it really struck me today. It's one team in the Giants that are doing exactly

what they want to do. Now they have Becca back in the mix, and you have Randall and you have Cruz, and even when Rashire Jetting goes out with a knee injury in this game, you have Andre Williams, who looked like he was shot out of a cannon and running people over, and it's kind of exactly what they want to do, whereas the Falcons are so limited by their lousy offensive line, and Matt Ryan played really well in this game, but they can't throw anything deep. Everything is short because they don't trust their offensive lines to block for long. Greg, as the boss, let's just say, because I like this O'Dell Beckham narrative and the way he approached this season so far. Let's say one of us just totally bowed out for the first

month and then rolled in week five. Let's say you're Daniel rolling. You're right one or two stories. You're back in the mix. Would that work for you as a work plan for us? Week five? I don't know. Let's say we hit the witsu. We disappear for a month. month. Go on a journey. But then show up and contribute right in the mix. Would you be willing to forget that whole month that happened before? It all depends on what you do when you get back. I mean, Odo Beckham came to his first game with a touchdown celebration planned

and then he got a touchdown and he let the world see it. A story. No spelling mistakes. Gets a number amount of hits on the website. I'm going to need a little more than no spelling mistakes. What your boss just told you is it's perfectly acceptable to take a month off. That's why I heard it. Come back and your gangbusters. That's what I'm hearing. I sent Sessler's desk cleared out. in the morning, and then he comes back with a giant beard in mid-March. I'll see you in Thanksgiving time, roughly.

This game also had another chapter in the craziest storyline ever, which is Anton Smith only scores 70-yard plus touchdowns, or whatever it is. Another 74-yard touchdown. All seven of his career touchdowns are over 38 yards. The big play machine. He averages 20 yards every time he touches the ball. The Giants and the Falcons and all the Baltimore,

and Detroit and Buffalo and Houston and Dallas. It's just me or is every team going to finish 8 and 8th this season? It feels that way. It does. I think the Giants are better than that. I think this is a game that will show up at the end of the year when they're battling for the playoffs. I think they're getting in.

Who could have predicted that we would be saying, and after week five, the Falcons lost because they didn't get the ball to Devin Hester and Anton Smith. Or the three NFCs teams might make the playoffs. No way. Easy there. Easy there. Speaking of NFC East teams, Nick Foles through two touchdown passes,

and the defense and special teams of the Eagles both scored. That's a second time that's happened in as many weeks, and the Eagles held on for a 3428 win over the St. Louis Rams. The Rams actually fell behind 34-7 in this game before Austin Davis rallied the team back, cut it to 34-28. They had the ball, got it to the 50-yard line, but things kind of puttered out. out after that. So the Eagles hold on and get the win. Another win for Chip Kelly's genius

outfit and the Rams lose again. Gentlemen, your takeaways for this game. The Eagles have more touchdowns via defense and special teams over the last three weeks than by their offense. Five in the last two weeks alone, which is crazy. Six over the last three weeks and only four on offense. The offense still, by the way, the offense still doesn't look great. And Nick Bowles, again, It's going to, the box score will tell you that he threw one interception, but he, you know, especially early in the game, he was doing that thing again where he just kind of floats the ball in the middle of the field, got away with some bad throws. So continue to see this, and you can't help but think that this is eventually going to really catch up to him. He's thrown five interceptions now. He threw two all of the last season.

So to his credit, he did make some plays. They put some points on the board on offense as well, but Foles remains kind of an enigma. One sneaky negative for St. Louis. So you spend all offseason evaluating. your quarterbacks listing them one, two, and three, and wait, it's your third quarterback that's by far the most productive passer you have on the roster? Come on. Know your own team. Oscar Davis looks good. He didn't look good in the first half. The whole Rams team was completely adrift in the first half, but once he heated up, he got him back in the game. He threw for 375 yards and three touchdowns. He did lose two fumbles. So he took a little and he took too long to get going in this game. But Davis gives the Rams reason for optimism moving

forward as they look beyond San Bradford, you'd assume. Was he able to move the offense before garbage time? No. No. So I think that's where you kind of... Well, let's not ask too much. Yeah, you got to keep it in perspective. You know, the team, and he was taking some nasty shots. They had the ball, though, down six.

But he, yeah, I mean, to his credit, like even, you know, they got another score to cut it within seven, that was not garbage time. I mean, once he got cooking a little bit, he was hitting on all his throws. He just, he seems comfortable. He knows, he's throwing at a better level than Nick Foles right now, for sure.

The Eagles are one of the strangest teams I've ever seen. Like, especially strange four-in-one team. I can't tell if they're an absolutely terrible team that the roof's going to cave in, or if they've somehow scraped out four wins in five games despite a million things going wrong for them on offense, and they're going to, like, switch into some juggernaut. Like, their games are all bizarre. You guys want to LaShawn McCoy update? Sure.

Speaking of mysteries. Lashon McCoy's having just a miserable season was a little better this week he had some more holes he had some positive plays but he also had one play that was I'm sure they'll show it in replays of this game that's kind of emblematic of his season

where he caught a pass in the backfield just got ridiculous trying to make too much happen and ended up going negative 10 yards and then held the ball out like a loaf of bread and it got stripped for a fumbles you know it's just the kind of stuff that's very frustrating and it does also it tells you something interesting that when

the Eagles were trying and failing to run out the clock in the fourth quarter. Darren Sprouls was getting a lot of touches, and neither of them were able to, you know, move the chains. So the running game is just not there, and you have to wonder, like, how much longer this is going to go on, or if this is an offensive line issue, there will be a season-long issue. Yeah, I guess I don't make too much of it compared to where they were last year. They have no offensive line compared to last season. That's the reason this is happening. And I keep on seeing, and they talked about on the telecast, how important.

Jason Kelsey was because of his athleticism with what they like to do. So I think he has a sports hernia, something like that. So once he gets back in a few weeks, that could be a big difference. Dan Carpenter hit a 58-yard field goal with four seconds to play. The cap, a Buffalo Bills stunning

come from behind 1714 victory over the Detroit Lions on Sunday in Orchard Park. Kyle Orton, who replaced E.J. Manuel It's a great fanfare this week. Went 30 to 43 for 308 yards. Had a two-yard touchdown past the Chris Gregg and a 20-yard completion to Sammy Watkins

that set up Carpenter's bomb to win the game. And now to discuss this game, we have the man, the myth, the legend. Kevin Patrick are coming at you. What's up, buddy? Fellas, fellas, fellas, what's going on? How are you doing? This, I would imagine, Kevin Patra,

always coming at you, big Lions fan. and this one had to sting. You know what? They've been losing an 8th inning all week in Detroit, so why would Sunday be injured? I mean, seriously, rank this day in Detroit sports history. You watched your tigers go out in baseball for the season. They're done.

And you watched Jim Swartz get carried off the field by the Buffalo Bills at Detroit. Yeah. You know what, the tiger. Good. I'm glad the tigers don't have to stop watching that to box. and stop watching that debacle. And as far as the Schwartz thing, that didn't really bother me, you know, it's the NFL wins.

If you don't want them to get carried off on your field, win. You know how you win? It's not that big a deal. Kick a field goal for once. Lions kickers are one for nine in field goals over 30 years. That is an incredible stat for the year 2014. That's worse than high school kids. It's crazy.

I truly believe that between the four of you sitting there, that one of you could probably beat that. People always say that. In a real game. In a real game. There's always a guy in the newsroom or probably an office that's like, oh, I get a 30-yard field goal. No, you can't, and you're a fool, sit down.

It's harder than people realize. Wes? I've kicked a 50-yard field goal. Yeah, but not with Kyle Williams. No, not with anybody rushing at me. That's a fair point. You're also a specimen. I am not a specimen.

And the greatest core and whole player I've ever seen. But, yeah, it's a disgrace. The thing is, two of them weren't even close. The second, they weren't even within a mile of being close. So I don't know why you even tried the last one. But here's one word, and it's not even a real word, but I'll say it. Kick-Alicious. Get him in the building.

Not going to happen. How about the offense? I can tell you why, but a second. How about the offense, though, didn't score a point after the first quarter? I mean, they get an interception return in the second. So they were held scoreless for the final three quarters. We've got to give the bills a little credit here. And yeah, and that's one reason why Jim Schwartz deserved to get carried out the field.

People are going to talk about the kicking woes, and that is true. But for the last four weeks, Matthew Staff and its offense have not looked good. They just haven't. And today, the offensive line got destroyed. Marcel Darius had three sacks. He was under pressure all game. And the secondary made him look off his first couple looks. Calvin Johnson clearly wasn't himself again.

If it wasn't for Golden Tate, this team would have like two yards of offense. New York Jets offense. Greg's theory. What? Former defensive coach facing his old quarterback. Oh, yeah. He shows the way that you should attack him. But this is a lion's offense without Calvin Johnson, essentially.

He had one catch, and then he left the game. It's without Reggie Bush who left the game. Without Joke Bell. Without Joke Bell. George Wynn was their starting running back here. Patrick, what's going on with their offensive line? Yeah, that's the crazy thing. They were so good last year.

Sims in the middle is just getting destroyed. I couldn't imagine if Kyle Williams actually played the bills in this game, what would have happened. The interior is just getting destroyed. The right tackle position has been an issue all year that Adrian Waddle returned and he struggled from a calf injury. He had multiple penalties. They just can't keep the interior intact for Stafford.

Wait, Patrick, so they bring in Caldwell and we have about 512 posts on NFL.com and the offseason saying how we've fixed Matthew Stafford, his footwork is better. He looks good so far before this week. Hold on. But this whole offense, the whole problem all last year, was an interesting. inability to live up to their talent. And so where are we? What is your grade for Caldwell coming out of week five?

Boring. Three and two, right? I can't kill Caldwell for Calvin Johnson's ankle injury. Wait, did we get a grade? No. Three and two? What is that? No, not a record.

I'll give them a B. A grade. That's 60%. Yeah, I would say B minus. B. I mean, the offensive line wasn't supposed to be a concern coming in the season. They kept the offense, washburn, the offensive. line coach from last year, Little Washburn. And this wasn't supposed to be where the issue was.

And Stafford, to his credit, he isn't forcing balls. And I think that was what came into play today. It was a couple of the facts. He was holding the ball longer, not forcing it into play, trying to avoid that stupid interception. Patrick, I'm disappointed in you. For what? You said that Jim Schwartz deserved to be carried off the field?

What an egotist. He tells his own guys, I want to be carried off the field to, like, stick it in the face of the team that fired him. I'm like, that is ridiculous. It's a disgrace. Whatever. That doesn't bother me one bit. Not even for a second to that.

He's doing a great job, though. What an egotist. We thought Mike Patton leaving there and shorts coming in would be a problem, and they lost a lot of talent. And that Bill's defense is one of the best in the league, and they deserve, they kind of deserved another win. They've been an impressive team so far other than their quarterback. We haven't even talked about Kyle Orton. I need some Orton analysis here.

What's up with Orton? He actually looked good. I mean, he completed just a hair under 70%. he threw a terrible pick-sticks early, and you thought, well, here it goes, another backup quarterback sucking. But he turned it around in the second half, and the difference between him and E.J. Manuel, if he wasn't afraid to stretch the field, he made a phenomenal deep ball on the tying touchdown drive, and he found Sammy Watkins multiple times. Sammy Watkins was unguardable in the second half, and that was the difference. That was completely different, the difference. And, Wes, that's something you had said, that Sammy Walker.

Hawkins, maybe have the most a gain from E.J. Manuel being out of his life. Kevin Patcher, thank you very much, buddy. All right. I appreciate that, fellas. All right. You know who deserves to get carried off the field? The Big Tuna in Pasadena in 87. You know, you've got to win something substantial to get carried off the field. I agree with that. This total age of entitlement where you've set something up three months ago for your players to carry you away from a game.

How about get to the NFC? I like it. Oh, I do. I don't like it at all. Finally, good things happen into good people. The likable Jim Schwartz sticking it in their eye. Buddy Ryan, that's a D-Corporinator that gets carried off the field. I think also Patcher's going to disagree with me.

He's going to say, he says this is what he wants. That's a hurt Lions fan right there. He doesn't like that one bit. He's too brave. He's too proud. That's why he's been in many fights because he keeps it all inside and then he explodes on his enemies. The New York Jets became the first team in the end.

NFL to be shut out this season, dominated in all phases of the game. And the 31, nothing lost to the Chargers. Philip Rivers continued his lights out play. And Brandon, Oliver, an undrafted free agent out of Buffalo, looked like a evolutionary Lidania Tomlinson with 182 total yards and two touchdowns against the Jets' defense that had previously Stonewalled the likes of Matt Forte, Reggie Bush, and Eddie Lacey. And the big takeaway on the jet side, Geno Smith benched after two quarters.

Michael Vic went in, played the second half, did not do any better. Rex Ryan announced after the game that Gina Smith will be the start of week six against the Broncos. I'm sure that will go very well. Guys, the jets were outgained by the Chargers, 439 to 153. They didn't get the ball past midfield until late in the fourth quarter, midway through the fourth quarter, and that only happened because of a penalty. one of the low points of the Rex Ryan era today in San Diego. They didn't cross midfield until deep into the fourth quarter.

That final total yardage thing is misleading. They had 63 going into the fourth quarter. I can't remember the last time I saw that. They had 20 passing yards going into the fourth quarter. Right. I mean, this was as bad as it gets. Gino Smith was on the field for six possessions in the first half. Four punts, a killer fumble by Chris Johnson.

that set up another touchdown for San Diego and then Gino threw an interception kind of a desperation heaved at the end of the first half and Ryan had seen enough he put in Vic and Vic frankly looked extremely rusty he looked like a guy that wasn't necessarily ready to play and he didn't do any better I mean he was one of 10 for seven yards

going into their last possession I believe I'd be concerned up with 2.5 yards for 10 I'd be concerned about the Jets because well you should be Mark well no because last year You're going to lose a sandwich on him. You said they were going to have a winning record. I did? I'd like a lot of pork.

I don't know. You know what? At this point, I'm not even sure why I'm getting a paycheck because it's all going to sandwiches. They're going out the door. Mark hates the sandwich game so much. They're so bad at it. Here's the thing.

New York last year saved Rex Ryan's job by being frisky down the stretch and doing what Rex Ryan does well. The opposite's happening right now. And now you've got to go and deal with Peyton Manning and the Broncos coming in. When you've got utter chaos, it's just not going well here. They're not a good defense. That's getting lost in the mix. This is that this team is about.

I mean, they have a great front line. We know that. They have no quarterback. They have two quarterbacks, but really no quarterbacks. They have a bad secondary, not a professional grade secondary. And frankly, and Rex Ryan's in deep trouble now because they have the Broncos at home next week. Then the Patriots on the road on a short week, they very easily could be staring at one in six. something I don't think Rex will survive.

I think at the end of the season, you'll see him set his way and be a successful defensive coordinator somewhere next year. I think, or maybe, maybe somebody will hire him. But, you know, I think we're heading down a very bad place. And this was just the bottom point for the Jets. There's really nothing. Everything that John Idzik failed at has come to the surface immediately, including their inability to get playmakers.

Eric Decker was inactive, and without him, that offense, nobody gets open. I was just going to ask you that. Is Eric Decker a jenga piece? On this team, I guess he is, because he got hurt in the third quarter, I believe, against the Packers. And ever since that moment, I know he played last week a good deal, but he hasn't been the same guy since the offenses went downhill. And, you know, Gino Smith will start next week. But I think he's basically used up all his rope now. So he's on a quarter-by-quarter basis, I would think, at this point.

He wouldn't have helped today, Eric Decker. He's not tackling Brandon Oliver But by the way, easy with the Lilladian Tomlinson Everybody calmed down to Brandon Oliver too You just called him the evolutionary Latvian Tomlinson That's what they made him look like is what I'm saying That's not who he is

I like Brandon Oliver We said it here a couple weeks ago Mark Sessler had some intrepid reporting this summer On Brandon Oliver I'll just let it sit out there on the internet I don't know we mentioned it a couple weeks ago Or something No we talked to Chargers players

When we went to the Cowboys Chargers game and they said... By we, you mean, you did, Mark. They said he's the hardest working, most impressive guy the whole summer. So he's got a big effort guy. Yeah, well, I would like this Jets team, it looked like they quit in this game. So I'd like to see it. Don't quit on them either, though. It's the early, the division's bad.

Crazy things happen every year. Are the Chargers, the team of E.T.L.? Look, I'm off for it. Do we want to have a vote? Yeah, what's not to live? All right, I call to order a vote for the team of ATL. Here, here. I don't know.

What's next? Thank you. T. Scambling on the laptop. Greg, yay or nay? Yay. Dan, yay or nay? Yay.

Wes. I'll go along with it. Is that a yay? You got to enjoy it. You got to like it. You got to get on board with Philip Rivers. I'll go along with it. I won't hold it up.

Formerly, because this is an active session, you need to say yay. There are rules. Is it yay and an A? Okay, yay. Mark Sessler. Yay. The team of ATL, ladies and gentlemen. This is a very special honor.

Wow. The San Diego Chargers. So they'll be a big ballroom celebration where Ron Rivera will hand over the Scepter, the team of ATL Scepter, to Mike McCoy. That is the team that we will get behind and get excited about this year. This is one of the teams I would have gotten on in week one, week two. So what are you, Dan, I know. Oh, I nominated him, buddy. So that's good.

And they've lived up to what we thought, and now, Chris, you can enjoy the ride. A couple quick facts about the new team of A.C.L. Man and Oliver, looks just like Darren Sproles, where it's his numbers, same body type, all that jazz. Kenan Allen, as you know. Not really a fact, but. There seems to be a little bit of a body language. Yeah, yeah. He's his great.

How's this for a fact? Keenan Allen almost retired in his rookie year because he wanted to pursue a Korean music and rap. I didn't know that. Dwight Feeney. Wait, is rookie year in the NFL or freshman year of college? He said after two games in the NFL he hadn't played, and he was thinking about retiring, concentrating on his piano or whatnot. And Dwight Friy, also a producer.

Not a selling point. Same thing with that. Same thing with that. Seiji Atirotutu. See? They got a band there. Maybe they could make some jobs for us, yes. That's very good.

So congratulations, Chargers, I'm sure, once Word gets to the San Diego facility, there won't be a lot of sleeping tonight. Put it that way. Colin Kaepernick threw for 201 yards in a touchdown. Frank Gore, the inconvenient truth, still alive, ran for 107 yards in the San Francisco 49ers, held on to beat the Kansas City Chiefs 2217 on Sunday. Alex Smith, San Francisco Homecoming, ended on a sour note when he threw a game-clinching interception that he was grabbed by Parrish Cox in the final minutes. A little kicker-love, a little shout-out.

Detroit Lion fans will not want to hear this. Bill Dawson won five of five on field goals, including two kicks from beyond 50 yards. That's how you win football games. The Niners getting healthy. Let's give a little credit to Jim Harbaugh with the Stones to call a fake punt early in the fourth quarter. I think it was about the 20-yard line, his own 20.

80 yards to go there, calls the fake punt. They pick it up. And then third down on the ensuing series there. Brandon Lloyd makes one of the best catches in the year to keep the drive going. They go ahead on that very series. How did you find Andy Reid's coaching today? Oh, he was a joke.

He blew this game for him. They kept calling throws on third and one. You're just sour, by the way, because this was your hero pick and you were pulling hard for it. I was. I wanted, of course, but it has to be frustrating. Third and one, you got Jamal Charles

averaging over five yards of pop. You keep calling these complicated pass plays that get deflected at the line of scrimmage. You punt the ball. on the 36-yard line on 4th and 4 in the 4th quarter. That makes no sense. On the 49ers. Congratulations, you've got 16 yards of field position there, Andy.

That's outrageous. And that was in the fourth quarter. And then the defense finally made a stop. The 49ers are going to attempt another 50-plus-yard field goal with about five minutes left. And there's 12 men on the field for the Chiefs. And that penalty just destroyed Kansas City because they lost all their timeouts. They lost three minutes of game time. They set up a chip shot.

At that point, it was desperation time for Smith, and he didn't come through. Colin Kaepernick, what did you see? He was good, for the most part. Same thing as we've seen all year, where he'll miss a couple big plays and not see the receivers there, but the running game's really going. I mean, we said inconvenient truth is back. He's back.

I thought this was overall the most impressive game that the 49ers played all year, because I think they got the Chief's best shot, and they sort of took it. I think it was a well-played game by both teams for the most part, and they came through. Greg, the boss, Rosenthal, three out of five weekends when you've come into the newsroom

and Kevin Patcher and I've been in the mornings, and three out of five, we've written damaging, disturbing reports coming from NFL Media Insider, Ian Rappaport, basically saying there's so much chaos and disunity swirling around this team that it doesn't matter what they do. He's not going to be around after this season.

I mean, do you, can he, is that nonsense? Not that it's nonsense, but can he change his fate? I tend to believe Ian and everything swirling around that he's not going to be back. But I don't think that means that they'll have a bad season necessarily. But isn't that – that's gloomy. It's weird. Winning solves everything, though. I love the way he talks, though.

They asked him about – you know, Jay Glazer and Fox today said he sees no scenario, even if they won the Super Bowl, Harba wouldn't be back. They asked Harba about that, and he said, My destiny is in this locker room with these men. And I like that he just speaks in like aphorisms from like a J.R. Tolkien novel or something. I mean, it's insane. He's like a crazy ninja or something from like an 80s B movie. Well, and they have to shut out the world like that to even get through a season no matter what's going on.

If you read the excellent Harbaugh piece by Seth Wickersham. Yeah, awesome. None of that would surprise you. This guy, it reminded me of Gary Smithel feature on Mike Tyson. If he gets too comfortable, he has to create chaos for. himself. You can't allow yourself to get that comfortable, and Harbaugh doesn't. Right. He seems to thrive in it, and he seems to love this total insanity. And who knows? I mean, they're going to get Alden Smith back. They're going to get Bowman back. They've survived this stretch against some

pretty good teams and starting to play a little better. Yeah, I wouldn't be shocked if they went on a roll and won a bunch of games. I think maybe the talk of their demise could be premature. I think this Chief's team is a pretty good team, but now they're in a division with the team of ATL, the Chargers and the Broncos. They're in a tough spot. And today kind of showed it because Smith played really well, but they play with such a small margin for error. If he makes a couple mistakes, which he did in the fourth quarter, he missed two big

throws, then they're sunk because they have no big plays other than that. All right, that takes us to Sunday night football. A lot of talk this week, all week about the Patriots and the potential demise of the Patriots and Tom Brady. We can put that all on pause at least for a week. Oh, listen, society was talking about it. Doesn't matter anyway. Tom Brady stepped up, delivered a great performance,

threw for nearly 300 yards and two touchdowns. Gronk looked great, had his first 100-yard game since it's coming back. The Patriots jumped out to a 14-0 lead early and cruised to a 43 to 17 win over the Cincinnati Bengals at home in Foxborough. A nice win for a Patriots team that really needed it after a tough week. and Bill Belichick said on to Cincinnati, they went to Cincinnati, or they hosted Cincinnati, and they dominated them. Patriots are live, Greg.

They ain't dead yet. You're the one that said that we're saying on this podcast this week. Oh, the Patriots Dynasty is over, the demise. If you remember, I picked them just like I picked 13 out of 14 games right, Craig. Nice job. Hey, we're going to hold a press conference tomorrow to announce Dan's great picks. That's the big takeaway from today. That's for me.

My big takeaway is that the Patriots two tight-end offense is back. Yeah, your boy, Tim Wright, finally in the mix. They had gone from 74% in 2011, two tight-end sets, to 26% last year. They had basically gotten rid of it, and then they decided since our wide receivers can't separate, why bother throwing them the ball? And they also ran the ball really well, almost entirely up the middle, finally just gave Stephen Ridley the ball. We were talking about downstairs.

I never understand why they don't just rely more on Stephen Ridley because he's the second best runner they've had in the Belichick era behind Corey Dillon. He's just a naturally talented, powerful runner. They only have so many guys that have plus athleticism. He's one of them. Just give him the ball. 27 for 113 and a touch for Ridley.

And, you know, Tom Brady in his press conference, he came to the podium in a weird sweater, but a nice glow. A glow to him. And as Greg, as much as you're saying, saying that maybe I was somehow driving the narrative about a lot of pressure on the pages. No, this was something that was all around, Brady. He was being asked if he was on the decline at one point. I saw a news conference.

And this, you could tell his attitude on the field, he was excited about that fast start. He was pumped up on the sideline. This was a big game for him. It was doubly impressive coming against the Cincinnati defense that was so good that they ranked number one in football outsiders total defense, despite being 32nd against the the run in their in their in their metrics they couldn't have been any better i think that was the most surprising thing in this game how well they protected brady sometimes had extra offensive linemen or tight ends but even when they did dial up some plays down the field a lot of them two tight ends

uh you know he got protected really well and to me it's just one game it just shows they're capable of that sort of game a 500 yard performance against the quality opponent they've had four weeks where they really haven't had one good offensive performance. This show is kind of like the Pittsburgh game that they had last year. They are capable of being explosive. We'll see how much it lasts, though. I mean, on to Buffalo. I don't know if they'll do that again.

I don't think they will. And then, on the other side of the ball, Cincinnati, Wes, you know, you talk about it a lot. It's all about what happens in January with them. They have not stepped up when it counted in the playoffs. But they've also, this continues a troubling trait

that when they play in prime time, as well, even in the regular season, they seemed to lay eggs, and Andy Dalton was not good today. He patted his stats a little bit in the back end of the game just a bit, but he was not impressed. Didn't play well. Our overseas listeners will recognize Dalton as a flat-track bully to cricket turn for picking on easy teams.

Well played. Dalton is two and eight now in his career in nationally televised games. That's not just him. That's the Bengals. He was far from the biggest problem tonight, but there were throws that he missed, and they couldn't convert third downs. So I just want to see this team beat a good team.

But it was also far from the reason they were 3-0 because what you saw tonight is what I saw in the first three games, which is they're going to ask them to make 5 to 8 to 10 tough throws outside the numbers deep down the field, and half of them don't even stay in bounds, and half of the rest of them don't get completed, and he struggled with those tough throws again. All right, so that's it for Sunday's action.

Went through all the games. We have one more Monday night game coming up, Seattle, heading to Washington to face the Redskins. So that should be interesting. We will be back on Wednesday with more goodness, football goodness. TD behind the glass reminded us that we need some more money tags. So if you want to be part of the show, hashtag money tags. Hashtag money tags. Send it to at producer TD.

And also if you're interested in battling for a toaster, Greg's toaster, formerly West's toaster, also reach out to TD because we need some. contestants we're going to have How about we ask people to put a hashtag on that as well? Okay, you tell me. Yeah, hashtag Greg's Toaster. Two Gs, by the way. Don't mess that up.

And, West, this doesn't even feel good, doesn't it? Three Gs. That rankles me. That's a rankler. You should have thought about that before you stepped in the ring. I am uncomfortable in the middle. I will have my justice. All right, so that's it for today's show.

Greg has insisted that we carry him out of the studio, Jim Schwartz. style. What a nightmare. Dan Hansa signing off for the mailman and the boss and TD behind the glass. And once again, big achievement. Congratulations to the San Diego Chargers, the 2014 team of around the NFL.

This only one team can learn the right. Now's the time to shine a light. On the team, R-R-A-T-A-T-A. This is a very special honor. This is an I-Hart podcast.