NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL Week 6 recap

Episode Date: October 13, 2014

A room full of heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling and Marc Sessler -- recap the Cowboys' upset win in Seattle, the Packers comeback against the Dolphins and every other game from Week 6 in the NFL.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. Ooh, jaunty. Welcome. Oh, man, I was not ready for that. Welcome, welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hanses, and I'm joined by a room filled with heroes, Mark Sessler, Chris Wesley, and Greg Rosenthal.

What up, boys? Hey, Dan. Best opener of the year. Dan Hansis laughing. I did not see that coming. I don't even know when Matt Money Smith rolls into the studio to drop these updated drops, but he just

nailed a jaunty on us there. That was great. It was funny. TD, yeah, he collected some from all our Twitter followers. Thank you again. Hashtag money tags for sending in your ideas. And I think TD just puts them into production

without even talking to us. But that's good. TD, behind the glass. How are you, buddy? How's it going, guys? Yes, this is some stuff from our Twitter listeners and chiming in. And I've been trying to, after every show,

I let them know if they got their money tag in the show. So people are happy. I just like, it's anytime you will not be paid out there who are unpaid are taking work off our plates. And it's just less work for us to do to the point where we're going to be doing nothing soon. Not even coming in there. Yeah, pretty soon we're going to call them for the Panthers Bengals game just to tell us what happened. Yeah, if there's a listener out there that can create a robot that speaks like me

and can get to Culver City. Let's do that. too. All right. So big week, week six. This is the week six Sunday night show. This is where we go over all the games, as you know, as listeners. And if you're a new listener, welcome to the Stitcher Award winning around the NFL

podcast. Big, big week again for the Cleveland Browns. We'll get into that mark. Very exciting. But I'm sorry, we can't start with him because... I wasn't lobbying to start there. But here's the good news. We're going to talk about the big game at the clink first.

and Mark Sessler will be happy to talk about that game. I got a feeling based on some of the conversations we had in the previous podcast. So let's get into it. The Dallas Cowboys are for real gentlemen. DeMarco Murray's 15-yard touchdown run with less than four minutes to play was a difference in a 30-23 win over the defending champion Seahawks at Central Link Field. Tony Romo wildly outplayed Russell Wilson,

who threw a game-ending pick and only threw for 126 yards. Chris Wessling, this to me is the game where we can no longer deny that the Cowboys are a potential NFC contender, right? Yeah, I agree with you, and I thought it would be a blowout. I was dead wrong. It could have gone that way at one point it looked like Byron Maxwell dropped a pick six that would have made it 17 to nothing. The crowd was all fired up. It looked like we were heading toward that territory. The game turned around.

The Cowboys took control and dominated from there. It's amazing to me that the Cowboys, who have... played with the same game plan every week in terms of their running game and possessing the ball, good tackling on defense, we're able to impose their will and really play their style a game. 401 yards, almost doubling Seattle, and they had the ball almost 38 minutes. So it was really Dallas controlling this entire game. Yeah, there's a couple things going on there. Their offensive line, of course. Seattle, Bobby Wagner missed a good portion of the second quarter, and the Cowboys, the total yards in the second quarter was like 120 to 13 or something.

Maxwell got hurt. Cam Chancellor looked like a shadow of his self. He was limping throughout the game. So there was that factor. And then third downs. The Cowboys were awesome on third downs. Romo was great. And the Seahawks, it seems like every time they get in a third down,

their offensive line gets a penalty. You made a good point that this was not unlike the strategy that San Diego used to eat up the clock and take care of business against Seattle this season. Well, that's the blueprint that the Chargers used, and that seems to be the blueprint that the Cowboys use every game. Right, which is possess the ball as long as possible and pick up third downs. Like, good luck. You have to be a really good team, but the Cowboys have been able to do that.

We're kind of bearing the lead here, though. Sessler, this is the pick of the year. Actually, I think if TD can help us out with this, I think we actually have a clip of something Mark Sessler said on the prior show. Well, I'm not saying it's logical, and you could look a million ways at this game and say it's not possible, but I have this strange sensation that the, Dallas Cowboys are going to go up to Seattle

and do what other teams cannot do. Mark, who doesn't typically seek to bring up his own glories, in this case, reached out to me downstairs in the newsroom. I said, hey, remember when I predicted that? But you deserve all the credit. Well, because if anyone that reads our site were to go look at our picks that were made sometime early last week, long before anything's known about any game,

I don't know why they make us do that. So, you know, as the weak war on, I, you, after that discussion, switched it over this morning, Sunday morning to Dallas and, you know, come on. We've been talking about this all season so far that you tend to make predictions on the podcast and then not do them when it comes to our picks. This time, this might have been a lesson that you should fall through on your dreams. So sometimes they come true. Get bold. Well, very often they do not.

So it has served me well to have, you know, a foot in both in both pools. But in this case, I went for it. Good job, buddy. And DeMarco Murray, by the way, 29 characters. carries 115 yards and that touchdown that's a six straight game over 100 yards also 29 carries again he is continuing to run the ball at an insane level they've got to slow down his workload is there any concern here about the Seahawks I mean they got dominated in San Diego for the most part I mean they got outplayed in that game they got outplayed in this game the last time they were at home they went to overtime against a team that they drubbed in February I think you can look at these five games and say that they're not playing to that level and yet you said going into the this game. You think they're a better team this year than last. I don't know. It's not really showing up. I still do. If we would

have had this conversation after any one of their losses last year, you would have said the same thing. They're not that dominant, but I think they are. I think this was just a one game aberration. You even said yourself in the Broncos game, Seattle controlled that for 59 minutes and dominated. So, I mean, to me, they

still are the best team in the NFL, in my opinion. Mike Nugent pushed a 36-yard field goal, attempt wide right on the final play of overtime in the Bengals. Cincinnati Bengals had a settle for a 37-37 tie with the Panthers. That is the highest scoring tie, gentlemen, in the history of the NFL. Cam Newton went nuts in this game. He looked like himself threw for 284 yards, ran for 107 yards, but that still wasn't enough. A stanking tie.

There's nothing worse than ties that ruins the symmetry of the entire league. But that's what we got here. The third straight season with a tie. Nothing is more symmetrical than a tie, though. That's what's odd about your statement. You know what? I didn't mind the tie in this one because it was such an evenly played back-and-forth game. Neither team could get a big lead in it.

It was like one big play after another for both teams. It felt like they deserved the tie. Ties are on American. The kicker blew it. The kicker blew it. 36-year-olds. Mike Nugent, with the Jets, by the way, in case you forgot to invest in a second-round pick-in once upon a time. The nuge.

blew the game for Andy Dalton, who should have walked away with a win. He played very well in overtime, seven of eight, I believe. They should have walked out with the wind, but instead it's a tie. It's a tough way to not win to lose on a kick like that. But they were only in overtime. You could make the argument they were only in overtime because of Dalton. Because they're in the red zone up 1710 in the third quarter, and he throws an awful Andy Dalton red zone interception.

And in the next drive, he throws an awful floater over the middle. that gets intercepted, and those two plays really turned around a game in which Cincinnati's offense, for the most part, did what they want to. And we got to give credit to Dalton, too, for playing well in the fourth quarter, getting into OT and setting up the game winner. I had a football coach that said the ties are like kissing your sister. Now, I don't have a sister, so I can't. Not a very original coach, by the way. All right. I'm not saying that's the first guy that said that. It's like a Tony Spirano of coaching. Well, he's a coached. Speaking of which, I dug a hole in the

newsroom and buried Riverboat Ron's nickname. Oh, what happened? he they had a chance to go for a touchdown on fourth and one or pick up the first down and he opted for a field goal to tie to tie when he knew likely that would end the game in a tie it just like that's going to come back to haunt them later to season they're going to need that win well in his his defense of that was that it was too long it wasn't really a yard and that was true was i couldn't see how long it was that's not how river boat ron was last year i almost always say you should always go for it but It's a huge difference, obviously, between a tie and a loss. And the fact that if they picked up first down there, they don't win the game, they still have to score the touchdown. I didn't have a huge problem. They could have had time to stop them on defense and get the ball back. I didn't think it was that crazy to lock up a tie right there.

Even if you pick up the fourth down, it's like, you still got to go score a touchdown. It doesn't mean you're guaranteed to score. I do think it's encouraging that when you don't have AJ Green, you still go out and score 37 points. I think that the Bengals, prior to having Hugh Jackson, these are the kind of games they would have gone completely dead to the world on offense. They're able to game plan without their best player in there. That tells me something.

And how about Cam Newton going over 100 yards? He's starting to look like himself again. Yeah, 100 yards on the ground. They decided this is the week. Cam Newton is ready. He's going to start running. Read action for a ton of the game. He had a touchdown on the ground, picked up a lot of big first downs.

It was almost like they decided to do it too much. I mean, in overtime, he was running every play, but it adds such a different element. He is playing as well, I think, as, what is he, a top five quarterback now? Maybe top seven or eight, but he's playing very well right now. Give him extra credit for being able to run

after Vontes Burfick played the heel, and a wrestler distracted the ref and twisted Cam Newton's ankle, twisted at the bottom of the pile, and I think should be suspended for it. Wow. Of course, Wesley comes down with the hammer. Wow, that is some, like, sports talk radio, heat. If you watch the video, it's dirty.

I'm going to write that down right now. One, as a possible quote that we can send out on Twitter after. And then, two, we should do a post on that tomorrow morning. We should. Perfect. And I think we should suspend Mike Nugent for having now 8, 7 and 1 and a 10-5-1 at the end of the season. Gross. I can't wait until Burpick shows up at your apartment.

Pac-Man Jones pretty much indicated after his game. he'd be happy if Nugent is no longer at the team the next time he shows up. He was so upset about the miskick. He's a man of good character. Perfect shows up at my apartment. I'll just challenge into a game of Cornhole. That's fair.

As you guys can see with me in my Manchester United Jersey, I'm a soccer fan, right? So tie's a cool with me. You know what's not cool with me? An overtime and then a tie. Come on. Choose one. Yeah.

You know, decide. Choose one. That's how the game works. Soccer guys always got to chime in with their tie thoughts. Aaron Rodgers threw a four-yard touchdown pass to Andrew Coralus with three seconds to play, lifting the Green Bay Packers to a 27-24 win over the Miami Dolphins. The four-and-two Packers have won three straight, and they almost let this one get away. But, Wes, they took care of business ultimately.

Yeah, I think you could say that Philip Rivers is the hottest quarterback in the NFL, but Aaron Rogers is right there with him. He's had three straight, very good games. He was perfect on the opening drive in this game, and then had just an ideal two-minute drill it to end the game where he did the Dan Marino fake spike and then came back and hit Corliss with the touch. Oh, I love that.

On the Dolphins. Yes. You want to know who called that play? Who? A quarterback by the name of Bernie Kozar, who was a backup. You're referring to the Jets fake spike victim game. Absolutely. It all goes back to Bernie.

Hey, who cares about this Rodgers fella? Well, they're also saying that Bernie Cozars is the reason the Herschel Walker trade went down the way it did. So deeply ingrained in many histories. He's like the Kevin Bacon of the NFL. Bernie Cozar is awesome. Wes, go on. Well, Tanna Hill started out with one of the worst first halfs of his career,

bounced back with touchdown drives of 80, 80, and 77 yards in the second half with both Packers starting cornerbacks injured. So they made it a game, but the Packers came roaring back, and it all came down to that one, two-minute drill drive. I love it when a game comes down to one play. That doesn't happen enough in the NFL. And this was one of those fourth down, one play, you know, that's it. It's over.

And then who steps up? Who else? But Andrew Corlis. I'm just going to say, the biggest moment of Andrew Corliss's career. Rogers called that play on the field, pointed at Corlis right before the snap, and then threw it to him with a linebacker in coverage. Do we think more of the Dolphins now because of this game? Because they lost?

Well, I don't know. That they should have had it. They gave them 10 points, I guess, in the last five minutes. So that's not a good thing. Do we think less of the Packers? That's three straight wins for the game. them now. I don't think more of the Packers or less of the Dolphins. It was one of those things

where the Packers looked better in the first half and then the Dolphins kind of got on a roll in the second half, but the better team came out on top. Wes, people are going to look at the box score and they're going to say, oh, Eddie Lacey 40 yards off 14 carries and without seeing, you saw the game you watched every play, is that

what was going on there? He's the same running back he's been all year. When there's holes, he can run through them, but he can't really do anything without holes. And the Dolphins' defensive line was much better than the Packers' offensive line in this game. And No Sean Marino returned to action. Just six carries got 10 yards. So not much

of them yet. Pretty much absent in the second half they decided to go with the hot hand and Lamar Miller. And you're falling in love with Jarvis Landry. I am. I love what he can do after the catch. He's really good on kickoff. He turns two. To me, he already looks more dangerous than Brian Hartline. Dolphins are a little

I don't know. Their story is yet to be written. I feel like they've got enough there that they could still be a little dangerous. I'm not sure some of the people there will be there for long enough to write the end of that story. Tom Brady continued his hot play, throwing for 361 yards at four touchdowns and a 37-22 win for the New England Patriots

over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. The Bills have lost three of their last four games, and Greg Rosenthal, Tom Brady, and the Patriots offense. Back on track? Now they are. I think this was more impressive than what they did against Cincinnati, offensively,

to go to Buffalo and face that deep. defense, especially from Brady's perspective. I feel like the worries about Brady early in the season can calm down a little bit because he threw for 361 and four touchdowns on a day where he didn't have great protection. He got hit a decent amount. They didn't have a running game at all. It looks like they've lost Stephen Ridley for the season. The fear is that he tore his ACL. He was their leading rusher with 23 yards. And yet they still lit him up with a lot of deep plays down the field. They were right away they wanted to go deep on Buffalo, test their second. secondary and it worked. Makes sense. I mean, they have a banged-up secondary right now, but I want to ask a question. We, Wesleyan, talked about Sammy Watkins. He's looked like he's going to be much better with Orton at the helm. What went on with that passing game with Darrell Revis on the other side? Well, they are using Revis like they should now, not in zone some of the times and man some of the times. They're locking him up against the opposing number one. He locked up Watkins today. There wasn't a target for the entire first half of the game.

Watkins made a nice 20-yard play that almost was a touchdown, but other than that, basically didn't do anything. And Revis, you know, he's maybe not the Revis of old, but he's a high-quality starter. I mean, he shut down Greg Jennings for a game. Now he shut down Sammy Watkins. I'm seeing some promising things here. Brandon Lafell, four for 97 and two touches,

including a 56-yard touchdown reception. And Granc, 7 for 94, did not find the end zone, but it looks like he could be getting back to his old self. I think he's looked a little better the last two weeks. He had a couple big drops in this game, a couple mental mistakes. A touchdown got taken away from him. I was a little more excited about Brian Tim's. I didn't even know how to say that name.

Undrafted third-year player. It was once on the 49ers. Played really well in the preseason. He was suspended for the first four games. They need someone who can go down the field. He made a gorgeous 43-yard touchdown catch right after Aaron Dobson made a mental mistake to give them a third and long situation. I started thinking maybe that's the moment.

Dobson stays on the bench and Tim starts playing. and C.J. Spiller had the third highest number of carries on his own team. That's bizarre. What do you think about C.J. Spiller right now? I told Greg last week for my position rankings this week, I want to do top ten guys in need of a change of scenery, and C.J. Spiller would be tops on the list. That makes sense.

Is he the next Marshawn Lynch where Buffalo doesn't know how to use him? He goes somewhere else and becomes a star? I absolutely think that. I mean, we saw how Chan Galey was able to get him in space consistently. and he was one of the best running backs in the league two years ago, and now he just doesn't fit this offense that they run. Right, they had Anthony Dixon playing a lot early. It wasn't like he came in late when, you know, this was a very close game.

You have to give Orton and the Bill's offense credit because they kept it close, they kept scoring in the second half. Orton's helped that offense a lot. I know they lost this game, but ultimately I think they're going to be, I don't know. I think they're going to be pretty good. Where's Mike Williams? Mike Williams was a healthy scratch. Really?

It might be something to that. 7-11, cut five passes. There you go, always open. And, by the, Greg, you're feeling better now, right? You had all that adversity as a Patriots over a couple weeks, like five days where there was a little bit of doubt in the air. But now, back to heaven on earth. And so, Dan, they play the Jets, what, Thursday night? Oh, yeah, on a short week.

Let's go to Foxborough. Have we got into that inevitable territory that happens right around mid-October every year where this embattled New England club rips off 10 straight wins. puts to bed the troubles of late September. They're four and two now. They're already in first place, right, I guess? Yeah, yep. And they're basically, you know, they're five and two when we wake up Friday morning.

Yeah, they'll be 12 and 4. Like, they always are. That's really hard to do with a washed up quarterback, too. That's true. I didn't even mention, by the way, this was a painful victory. Not even kidding. Two of their key players, Jared Mayo, the leader on their defense, has a serious knee injury. Sounds like that could be a long time, if not the season.

Ridley's out for the season. They don't really have another guy like him. Just saying, tough times for you. Not all, these are tough times for Greg. This is when Brandon Bolden rushes for a thousand yards. Yeah. I also can't believe that Rob Yonkowski made a mental mistake. That's a stutter.

He's the only guy who was ever celebrated after recovering a fumble. That turned out it was an incompletion anyways, that he screwed up three different times. He's the best. The rising Cleveland Browns flip the script on the Pittsburgh Steelers, dominating, dominating their longtime nemesis and a 31-10 route in Cleveland on Sunday. Ben Ralthusberger falls to 18 and 2 in his career against the Browns,

who improved a 3-2 on the season. I got a lot of tweets as I seem to be getting every week now during games on Sundays. What's Sessler's reaction right now? And once again, let me explain how this is we're talking about this downstairs for people that are curious. When the Browns are playing poorly and when the Browns are down and everything's going to hell,

Sessler looks like a guy that wants to crawl under a rock Like when a dog gets said like a tip by a car Sometimes it will go And we'll find like some brush to lay under to go die That's kind of where Sessler looks He's in pain He's a lot of rubbing his face And shaking his head

And he's not talking to anyone When the Browns are playing well You would think there would be a hide to that low No, when the Browns are playing well It's just complete radio silence But there's no pain in his face So I guess that's Mark's celebration Well, I want to make one distinction here

Yeah Soon as cool in the gang Settle down Yeah Part of the issue is You know, we are working during these things And while I'm

Inside of me is in turmoil Over what's happening over the Browns game I am, you know, out of the other eye Trying to piece together a readable Review of what happened in a Titans Jaguars Fest That when I looked at the story seven hours later Had one comment

so it's like I am involved in the game the most boring game of Sunday we'll believe that no because no that would only check out though oh you're checking on the comments oh I'll be the stat boy

I'm correct this would only check out you're right it really old doesn't only have what we are not no longer covering the titoons that's it it's over this team but seriously that wouldn't check out because you you are upset

when you're losing no I think you I think anyone that's followed the team that's struggled, especially for so long in its own division. Like, it just, it doesn't even, tonight, maybe when I get home, I'll have a nice glass of wine. I'll be like, wait, we just knocked the Steelers off at home. Ooh, you're going, we.

I like that. That's good. So let's talk about the game. How did the Browns dominate the Steelers? How did it happen? You know, it was more of what's brought, they've been very skittish in games. They've been dominated for a half, and then they'll come back, and they don't abandon the run, and they'll make Brian Hoyer, who makes a certain amount of throws,

every game, make some big throws. What happened today, and they just didn't get down early. You know, they looked completely lost halfway through the first quarter. I think they had negative eight yards at one point after a series of drives. And then Hoyer only completed eight passes in this game, but they were completions of 51, 31, 31, 24, and 17 yards. Made some big passes. Jordan Cameron got involved. And you know, they had Terrence West, the rookie running back as a healthy scratch. But, Kate and Isaiah Crowell, they ran well. I mean, they lost Alex Mack early in this game

for what we think is potentially a season-ending, broken lower leg. And they shifted a few guys around that offensive line. It's not, I'm not talking to comparing them to Dallas, but they're good for one similar reason is that they finally have a good offensive line, and you're kind of in every game when that's the case. They overpowered Pittsburgh.

And the bigger question I have is looking after what I watched the Pittsburgh Jaguars game last week and saw them today. I don't understand what is happening with that offense. It's so talented, but they're not, they couldn't do anything. Cleveland had four starting defensive linemen not in the game today and essentially controlled the line of scrimmage for, at least terms of big plays. What was the problem with the Steelers' offense? They could not convert big third downs.

Watching Big Ben go 18 and 1 before this game, it could be 3rd and 10. It could be 3rd and 22. he always finds a way to get down the field. They just continued to get Pittsburgh off the field. They were 103 in the red zone, and Cleveland was 3-3, and you figure that stuff evens out, but that's been happening to the Steelers, that they're bad in the red zone,

that they're getting a lot of yards, not getting a lot of points, just like very costly penalties or turnovers at bad times. They also went away from what was, they opened the game in a dominant fashion. They ran the ball 15 out of the first 18 plays, and it looked like it was going to be a 20 to nothing steam roll right over the Browns. But no, it did because Pittsburgh was on its game.

But they kind of, it all fell apart. Cleveland started to turn the tide. I'm remembering a moment early when it was zero zero. And the Steelers were driving. And Mark was already saying something like this game's over. Not this game's over, but you were saying like, well, I lost this game. I was saying something like, now we're all on team Browns because Dan and I picked them too. So we were with you, and you're like, well, it was a bad pick.

You were convinced they were going to lose when it was zero. I was. Well, it was because of those when they had three defensive linemen out, and then a fourth one out, and Pittsburgh was just running up and down the field on them out of the gate. And this is part of the Browns culture that is going to start to fade away when they continue to win games like this. There's something going on.

There's a sea change right now with this franchise. I don't know. I know that this has happened before. We've gotten a little into the Browns, maybe, early in the season, then they flame out and lose 11 or 12. I don't think it's happening this year. This is a good, look at the schedule, Jacksonville, Oakland, and Tampa Bay. We've got to get used to talking about the Browns as a playoff contending team

because they're going to pile up some wins in those games, and then they'll just be in the mix. We'll see. Oh, jaunty. Axel Foley. Peyton Manning threw for three touchdowns, and Julius Thomas collected his seventh and eighth touchdown reception of the season, a 24-17 win for the Broncos over the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium. Manning, by the way,

504 touchdowns, two behind far for the all-time record, and the Jets. Oh, the Jets have lost five in a row with the New England Patriots coming up now on a short week. Not at an extremely thrilling game when you gentlemen watch it.

You're not going to be blown away by how the Broncos played or necessarily have your mouth agape about how terrible the Jets are. But it was just clearly the better team. The Jets actually got back in it late in the game. game and got it within a score, but then Gino Smith, who would, to that, through the whole

game basically for 55 minutes, didn't have a turnover, which was a minor miracle, but then he throws a pick six with less than a minute to go, which makes the game look a little more lobsided. But bottom line is the Jet Stank. They're brutal, and D. Milner, the first round pick, who they counted on so much, they counted on him so much to kind of make the leap this season, and it's not going to happen. It looks like he tore his Achilles tendon during a field goal attempt a kind of fluke play in the first quarter so you don't have him to kick around anymore and the jets are flaming out and the broncos are great i don't get one thing with new york the leading rusher is gino smith with 11 yards oh they tried they tried to run the ball this was

a bad game for the jets offensive line which has been a beacon of hope on an otherwise lost unit this year uh chris ivory couldn't run the ball chris johnson shot so you don't expect him to do anything. And so you don't have that. Eric Decker's back in the game. So it's not a coincidence that when Eric Decker is playing and making contributions, Gino Smith looks better just because the Jets have no skill level talent beyond that. Jason Maro had a pretty decent game. But on balance, it's again, when you look at the team right now and Rex Ryan already announced that Gino Smith is the starter against the Patriots, not a surprise there. Michael Vig's a non-factor, but the Jets are really now, I feel like heading towards a transition

where they're going to play out this lifeless season, they're going to fire Rex, they're going to draft a quarterback, it seems heading in that direction now. It's like Rex Ryan, obviously known for defense. They've given up 24 or more points in their last four games. Not only that, they're supposed to have a shutdown run defense. They give up two straight 100-yard rushers. The whole thing's starting to break down.

To Ronnie Hillman and Brandon Oliver. It comes back to, I think, the first round picks at cornerback. Wilson and Milner, killing them week after week for the last, I mean, for Wilson, it's been a few years. It's been devastating. And Calvin Pryor is a safety. I mean, he has not had a breakout rookie season at all. So everything they've tried to do in that secondary hasn't hit through the draft.

We know it's well documented that they didn't make an aggressive play in a free agency. So the back end of the defense kills. Everything is set up and predicated off that back end. So it's not surprising that the run game is breaking down now as well. There's going to be a forking committee. Whoa. I want to give them one more. Really?

just Rex. I have so much respect for Rex in the way that this team every time you counted them out under Rex has at least made a rally to respectability that their season's on the line Thursday. I know you guys think their seasons is over. But if they win that game, let's say they get to two and five, they're only two back of the Patriots

in the last column. They can at least start to convince themselves or whatever that they're in the mix. The for the parking committee is you're making an argument for the Jets as a playoff team. This is what we got in trouble with last year. T.D. you brought it up a couple of shows ago.

Well, we'll see. If we're going to do this fork thing, we've got to do it, right? You've got to have, you've got to get the stones out. It'll be like the overtime rules. Right, but it doesn't mean that you just think every team with a bad record is done for the season. No, but there's certain things about certain bad teams. Yeah. They just lost 31 to nothing last week.

That's pretty bad. They're a bad team. I mean, by the way, Dan, yes. A lot of Twitter listeners have me called in saying, hey, we need to change that factory sadness job for you and the Jets. And I've been holding them all for a while. But if this keeps happening, the Browns keep winning. Uh-oh. I don't care.

Like, that doesn't bother me at all. All I'm going to say is the- But you're my boy, though. Hey, listen, you're my boy. Wait, am I not your boy that you've been dropping factory of sadness on my team for like 18 straight weeks? I'm glad you picked up on that mark. But honestly, as a Jets fan, there's, we're so deep into pain and misery that that's not going to bother me. But that's a Brown's thing.

You don't want to co-op that onto the Jets. We have enough stuff you could do it. I mean, you could find something that you can. find something that we could use for the Jets. That's up to you. Joe Flacco went nuts today, throwing five touchdowns on the first half on the way to a way too easy. 4817 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a win for the Ravens. This is the second time in four weeks that Lovie Smith's team has been horrifically embarrassed.

The Buccaneers stank West and Joe Flacko is playing like a highly paid quarterback should. Well, the real Joe Flacco, please stand up. He was awful in week one, great in weeks two and three, awful again last week, and today became the first quarterback since the 1970 merger to throw five touchdowns in the first 16 minutes of a game. Wow. They had their way with the buck's secondary. I think for the most part, the real guy has been there this year.

He's played on balance pretty well, and Flacco's never going to be Brady or Manning where he doesn't throw in a stink bomb every three or four games. I think that's just kind of who he is. Where's Flacko on the AD scale? Oh, he's way in front of Dolton. He's well above it. I was just asked to where he was. I just want to see where he was.

I just want to know where he was. He's always... TD, you saw that. That was absurd. It was, but Dan, I have to let you know, even before I produced the show, it was always funny to me how you never understood the AD scale. I don't get it.

It doesn't make sense to me. I'm saying how far from the middle... Andy Dalton's in the middle, right? Yeah, for any new list here, the 80 scale is the average. is the after Dalton scale. It's the way to measure all starting quarterbacks. You're either after Dalton or you're not.

And I would assume if you have a Super Bowl. But that won't work either because you would, West, see, this is why it doesn't work. I'm telling you. Eli Manning, I'm sure, is way beyond past Andy Dalton, right, on your scale? He's in front. He's before Dolan. Oh, he is.

Eli Manning's better than Andy Dalton. All right. Okay. I didn't think you would ever say that, but you really don't like Andy Dalton. I don't. Is there a list where I can look at this, too? maybe that's why I can't conceptualize it. I have no dislike for Andy Dalton, but I know what he is. So is Flacco like the 12th best quarterback in the league?

I'd say somewhere between 12 and 16. Okay. What about Steve Smith on the receiver list right now? Steve Smith. They made a concerted effort to get Tori Smith involved. He had two first quarter touchdowns. And then Steve got loose for a 56-yard touchdown. He toasted Alter on Werner. And then Mark Barron got a little chippy for the bucks. So they kept going Steve Smith and he'd start pushing Mark Barron just to set some tone there. I got to tee up West because I heard West where I said, sometimes I can't see him, but I could always hear him.

A lot of Mike Lennon shots were being fired, so I'm going to tee you up, West. Why is Mike Lennon not the answer for the bucks? Mike three and outs Glennon? Ow! Nailed him. Because he doesn't move the offense until the second half. You killed him for last week's game, though, and you were watching two games at once when that game is out.

I swear if you went back and watched his performance last. he played fantastic against him. He's had a lot of really good moments. He didn't, though, because of protection and because of factors that were out of his control. Right, but when Josh McCown doesn't move the team, everybody kind of just rips on him and gives Mike Lennon a free pass. Hey, two wrongs, don't make it right, my friend. Glennon just isn't as good as everyone says he is.

He has a big arm, but he's not that good of a quarterback. I don't know if you heard it, Mark Schuer, in the glow of the Browns, but there was some legit heat between the scientists over this. It always concerns me when that happens to our team, and I was, I could hear it. But I have a question, or actually, maybe I have a statement. I think the Ravens are this AFC North's best team. I agree with that. They're a complete team.

What? Cessler, come on! What? He's trying to underplay his own Browns. They beat the Browns. With a very... The Ravens are good on. They whip the Steelers and beat the Browns. By the time this podcast gets to listeners, I'm betting the Ravens have a top five offense.

No betting allowed. I'm guessing that they have a top five offense. and they entered the day third in defense. There's not a real weakness to Baltimore. I think that's what we're saying. Yeah. You know the funny thing is I completely agree with you. I think the Ravens are the favorites.

I was convinced they were going to beat Indianapolis last week and they didn't. Well, they have your favorite player in Justin Forsett. That's not my favorite. You love him. I'm just saying no one wants to admit that he's actually, if you just didn't know what name it was on the back of his jersey, if it was Darren Sproles having the season that Justin Forsett was having, and people would be putting them on the cover of magazines and things.

Averaging six and a half yards per carry. That's pretty good. I think actually now that I think about it, going back to Glenn in a second, Wes champion Josh McCown, and he's a making lead candidate on our list. Wes wants full circle. He wants Glenn out, McCown back in, and then the Buccoes win five of the last seven games, and McCown has a nice stat line, and Wes wins.

Yes or no? Well, that wouldn't bother me to see that happen. I just don't like quarterbacks who can't move the offense for quarters at a time, and that's what Glennon does. I mean, just to be fair, you had to feel a similar frustration with McCown in this. So it's not just the quarterback's problem in this offense. The offensive line can't protect the quarterback. The receivers are slow, and the defense doesn't stop anybody.

I think this buck season so far hurts Lovie Smith's reputation more than anyone. He's got players on defense. They got to be forked. We should have forked them two weeks ago. They're an awful football team. Wes has been pushing for this, and you're right. We shouldn't have waited until they got embarrassed again. We should have known.

Well, they beat the Steelers, and that put us all on our field. I should have beat the Saints. The Jacksonville Jaguars had a golden opportunity to win their first game of the season, and they blew it. With Jake Locker sidelined by injury, the Jaguars couldn't find a way to get past Charlie Whitehurst. Charlie Whiters, Clifford, Jesus. 1614 loss for the Jags. Josh Kobe, 55-yard field goal attempt on third down, was blocked deciding the game.

Mark, you were watching this game very closely because that's why you weren't able to. to celebrate the Browns, as you're saying, according to you. I want to ask you why, on that kick, Josh Gobi, going for the game-winning field goal, it was on a third down with 12 seconds to play. Why did they not try to get closer? Was there any explanation for that after the game? Number one, I have no explanation because there was obviously time to try to get maybe one more pass out to the sideline, cut that 55-yard attempt down to something more manageable,

and bang, you'd have your first win. That's one of the more mysterious moves. of the day. Such a, like, a loser team. That's the type of stuff that. You never see Bill Belichick do something like that, or a Jim Harbaugh team. It's always a team like this that ends up making a decision. And this is how you lose games.

I wanted to, like, the same, I thought the same thing to a lesser degree in the Bengals game, that why in overtime didn't they try to get a, I know it was a 36-yarder, so everyone's going to say, well, you should make one. Well, what's wrong with trying to make it a 20-yarder? Like, what's the problem with that? And this Bradley one, though, it felt like it was just a brain fart. Like he didn't consider, I don't know what the thought was. I don't have an answer.

And it is, you know, Dan, you make a good point because I think before this season, there was a lot of optimism around what Jacksonville was so-called building. And none of that's present right now. And part of the issue, and we talk about quarterbacks that are hard to really get a read on, I'll take Blake Bordell's over Mike Lennon or anyone else that we have questions about. But he is on an offense with five rookies and an offensive line that gave up six, sacks and five quarterback hits today. I mean, it's hard if you're a young player to really develop or make plays in that scenario.

Yet, he continues to throw. I think if you're a Jaguars fan and you want to say there's something here to cling to in terms of hope, you have found a quarterback in Blake Bordels. I mean, he was not perfect today, but what's around him is disastrous. 27 first downs to 14 for the Titan. So in a lot of ways, the Jaguars controlled the game, and yet they were down two scores for most of the fourth quarter. I mean, the Jaguar.

Well, the Titans are exactly what we think they are in terms of you've got Charlie Whitehurst is your quarterback. He didn't make major errors today, but last week, you know, Wes, you pointed out that he couldn't find a first down marker on third down passes. A little bit better today, but really just playing a defense that was not ready for prime time. I just want to do a little 0-16 heat check here. I'm just going to take a look at the schedule. over 0-and-6 through six weeks for the Jags. At home to the Browns and Dolphins in the next two weeks. It's going to be tough to win those at Bengals,

home to Cowboys, and then they're by at week 11. Owen 10's in play. Gus Bradley hasn't caught any heat yet. He's been kind of skating free. That's fair point. He's going to start catching some heat after that field goal call, and I'm really looking forward to his explanation. The Chargers found themselves in a dog fight

with a Tony Sparano led Oakland Raiders. In Oakland today, Derek Carr threw four touchdown passes. That's something David Carr never did. But Brandon Oliver's one-yard touchdown run with less than two minutes of play gave the Chargers a 31-28 win. That is a game that was ended or sealed when first round picked Jason Varet. Intercepted Carr with 1-13 to play. It was his car's only bad mistake.

He forced a throw into coverage downfield when they were at about midfield with Janikowski-Seabess warming up. This game seemed like it was going to be heading to overtime. It didn't get that way. But I would just want to say Tony Sperano deserves a little bit of credit. I think we around the NFL and everyone else that covers football seemed to have some fun with his Barry the Ball technique on Monday. But the message must have gotten through because this team played a really good game. I mean, the Raiders, it's not that the Chargers were stumbling and really just kind of took the team lightly and weren't playing well.

Chargers played like the Chargers, but the Raiders played like a different team. car look great as I said four touchdowns and they even got contributions this name let me know if it rings a bell Darren McFadden ring a bell anybody a faint bell I thought he looked good earlier in the year too oh so you know him yeah I think he's been running well this was by far the best I've seen him in multiple years he ran great ran for 80 yards on just 14 carries

even got a little bit of a pop for Morris Jones Drew so you're going to need that with this team you're going to and need the running game to help the rookie quarterback, but there was some reason for optimism for the Raiders in this game. I think it's the case of the Chargers. You know, probably inside the organization, word leaked out through a couple different channels that the podcast here picked them as team of ATL.

And that's a lot to saddle, lots of carrier with you into the game. And, you know, maybe they were a little rusty because of that, having to live up to those expectations. This is a very special honor. Here's an interesting tweet from Mike Jurecki of Fox Sports because it's the time of the podcast where we give a lot of love to Philip Rivers who deserves it.

The Chargers quarterback has posted a pass rating of 120 or better in five consecutive games. That is now the longest such streak in NFL history of Philip Rivers again. Just killing it every week doing it. He's having the season I thought Drew Brees was going to have. Yep, and I'm going to owe some sandwiches. I thought, this is I went out on a limb on this one. I said Andy Dalton would have a better passer rating in the Philip Rivers. And by the way, Andy Dalton's hovering around 100, I believe.

So it's not that Andy Dalton's not putting up a decent season, but Rivers is just playing beyond what anybody could even expect it from. I would like to see Mike McCoy get more notice because he's a big part of this. And everywhere he's gone, quarterbacks have succeeded. And he's, for me, the big reason that Rivers' career is where it's at, now after some troubled seasons. He's number two right now in my coach of the year rankings behind Tony Spirano.

Sprano turned this thing around. Burry the ball. If we bury the ball, we bury the pass. What team has it proved more than the Raiders under Spirano? Let's see if all this emotion they spent up was just a one week thing. The worst thing I could happen, by the way, is that the Raiders play okay, and then they hire Tony Spirano. Yes.

Yeah, you're right. If you really hate a friend that's a Raiders fan, root for a lot of games like this, and then Spirano for 2015. How about the Chargers level of trust in Brandon Oliver, touch the ball 30 times in this game? Yeah, I think it's his fourth start or fourth game of his career. They really found something. I don't know how much credit.

I give him credit for him being in their organization, but he got uncovered through several injuries. But once it's happened, now they know they have a guy. He's way better than Donald Brown. Yeah, when does Ryan Matthews get back? Soon. A couple weeks. That's a really nice pairing, those two guys.

Yeah, it is. We were worried about the Woodhead loss because he's so good in the passing game. but, you know, Oliver could be better than Woodhead. Team of ATL. You bury the ball. If you bury the ball, all the mistakes in the past are gone. Well, we just need to rebary another one to get this mistake out of the way, and let's move forward.

A good effort. Andy Dalton, by the way, 100.3 pass a rating. That's great for the Dalton family, but I'm still getting my sandwich out of Rivers Passer rating. You're a monster. Carson Palmer was a surprise starter for the Arizona Cardinals, who bounced back from a blowout loss to the Broncos last week with a 30 to 20 win over the Washington Redskins.

The Redskins are now 1 in 5. Mark, after you calm down from your internal glories of the Browns, you watch this late game, can you tell us how did Carson Palmer look? The nerve firing on all cylinders? I thought, you know, well, I think he's a good fit for this offense, and Bruce Ariens trust him. I mean, I want to go back and rewatch this again, but his arm didn't seem to obviously be as strong as it has in the past.

You know, he did make a couple throws, though, and a couple beatwriters pointed this out, some across-the-body throws that suggested that he's not as limited as he might have been even a week ago. I mean, he did a nice job. I saw a few tweets where his passes were described, oh, a laser to Michael Floyd or so-and-so. So I guess he was doing some things,

but I did see, I saw another tweet after the game that perhaps he's not out of the woods yet. He said it himself that he has to go get more treatment. So it's not like this is a done deal now that he's back. Well, what? He was only throwing at, what, 40% velocity or something? A couple days ago, whatever that means. So he's not all the way back, but he was capable enough to come in and he hit 10 different receivers for 250 yards. Average, like, 5.7 yards per pass. I mean, but they've got a lot of weapons in this offense.

They're an interesting team. They kept completing really difficult third down throws on the sidelines and over the middle and diving into tight quarters. Like, the receivers can make a guy like Palmer or Stanton look a lot better when you have Larry Fitzgerald, John Brown, and Michael Floyd putting up highlight reel catches. Yeah, I think that they also, with Ariens, he doesn't, in a very, very good job with the route combinations. You saw them in these bizarre bunch formations all over the play. Larry Fitzgerald benefited today at his best game of the year. First touchdown.

On the other side, Kirk Cousin hasn't been an abject disaster, but haven't we seen enough by now, to say he just turns the ball over too much? He feels like, to me, when he gets into a bad place, he does not climb out of it. He threw four picks against the Giants, and some of those, by the end, it was like, this guy's in the wrong place mentally today. He melted down. I mean, he and Deshaun Jackson had a good thing going on early, but then he threw a costly interception, and then down the stretch through two more, and it just, Washington could not recover.

They had four turnovers in the fourth quarter, and yet they got the ball back down three. I mean, they move the ball pretty well, and it's weird. Like Chris said, Cousins does the same thing game after game. He shows you enough that you actually think he's pretty good. He's going to get you excited, and then he turns a ball over three or four times. Well, I think, but Chris's point is that haven't we seen enough to realize that this is not someone we want to center the offense around? I would agree with that. I think that this guy is still a project.

RG3 will get his job back. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, there's no way that they can keep them in. The Detroit Lions delivered another dominant defensive performance, holding the Minnesota Vikings to 212 total yards in a 17-3 win in Minneapolis. The Lions took care of business without Calvin Johnson. A very good sign for a rising team in the NFC and a team that's getting Chris Wesleying excited. But Wes is going to share his thoughts on the Lions.

But before we do that, we want to get a man on the line who also is probably pretty excited about this Lions team. He is our Chicago around the NFL correspondent. He is a on the starting team in that the metaphorical starting five basketball scenario, T.D. cooked up. He is Kevin Patra coming at you. How's it going, fellas? Big day. Big day. I can tell.

See, I hear it in your voice. There's so much joy around me. I feel nothing. I'm dead inside. Wes is agnostic, so he's just taking the NFL straight on. He's really all, he's a Josh McCown fan, basically, at this point. But Kevin Patcha, unabashedly, a line supporter. Kev, what did you see out there today from this defense, which is really playing well?

Yeah, they just completely dominated this game. They had eight sacks, 12 cubic hits. Ezekiel Anza, one of our making the leap candidates, was just all over the field, just making McLeal look silly. How did you describe it? The Vikings left tackle. How did you describe it in your write-up? I think it was an 18th century stone gargoyle.

Stanton, I think he was just going right around him. Teddy Bridgewater had no time. This is the best I've seen the Lions play defense literally in my entire life. That's the best analogy game I've ever heard, too, out of Patra. I mean, our social media correspondent heard that little quote, and he just, his eyes lit up, and he thought that's going out to 5 million followers on Twitter. I think we need him to repeat that again. This is the best the Lions defense has ever played in your life?

Well, I mean, I was around for the Lent Barney era. You had the Scott Mitchell era and the Charlie Batch years. I mean, yes. They're number one in the NFL, I think. In my memory. Pardon? They're leading the league, I think, in defense. Yes, they are.

And they only gave up 212 yards or something today, total offense. And Bridgewater literally didn't have time to get to a second check. Was he moving well? Was Bridgewater moving well? You know, he was. Actually, he did, that was the best point from him. He still has good footwork, even when he has to move in the pocket and get out of the pocket. He just wasn't on target, and he didn't have time, and the Lions threw a lot of blitzes at him,

so he didn't have a checkdown back out of the back field. There was a lot of five-man rushes today, and his offensive line just failed him completely. I think the fantasy football world was thrown for a loop when Matt Azata was a non-factor. How did Jerich McKinnon look? He was their best offensive player. He didn't, he had 3.6 yards per carry, I think. He had 11 rushes, about 40 yards. But he was their most dynamic.

He beat DeAndre Levy a couple times in space out of the backfield on catches. He led him in both receiving and rushing yards, but he only totaled 82, which tells you how the Vikings did on offense today. But I think he took and taken, he's going to be the number one guy. Osteata had two carries for negative yards. He had an 18-yard catch out of the backfield near the end of half time, but that was about it. He didn't play many stats at all. This is McKinnon's job going forward. And Corderell Patterson, you know, it's no longer a search and rescue mission.

It's search and recovery, at least for his fantasy value. It's over. Anybody that was excited about Cordarell Patterson having a nice breakout season, obviously the Browns have no – or obviously the Vikings have no idea how to use him. Again, basically a zilchoid in the stat com. And Greg's looking at the box going to try and trying to figure out how to sugarcoat this. But there's nothing every week. week after week after week

it's like you're seeing five yards and two catches from this guy or zero to one carries. Enough, what a nightmare! What's your phone for drafting him? No, come on, it's not about that. Maybe it's a little bit about that I drafted him, but also the fact that number one in our making a lead count.

Have they stopped giving all of his plays to Jerry's right? Yep. That's it. Kevin Patra, always good to talk to you. Stay warm. I imagine it's getting close. colder in the Midwest.

Getting there. All right. Later, man. All right, fellas. Thanks. The Chicago Bears remain one of the toughest teams in the NFL to figure out. Mark Trussman's team went into Atlanta and left with a 27-13 win over the Falcons, who have now lost three straight.

Both Alshan Jeffrey and Brandon Marshall went over 100 yards. Wes, excuse me, Greg, you watch this game closely. It appears that we got the good J-Colour today. We got the great J-Colour. He put on a show. in the first half of this game and then sailed to the finish line, 381 yards and a touchdown on only 38 attempts, and some of the throws were just beautiful.

But this was kind of the Bears' offense. I've been waiting to see the one we saw a lot last year where Brandon Marshall is 100% healthy, and him and Jeffrey are going down the field for some vertical bombs. It was fun to see, and it was a convincing performance. I left this game thinking these are two teams really needed to win, and Atlanta's a team that you can't really take serious. as a playoff contender anymore.

Yeah, Dan said the bears are hard to figure out. You sounded in the newsroom like you definitely have the Falcons figured out. Well, I think so. I think they're one of the worst teams in the league if it wasn't for Matt Ryan. I mean, he has no offensive line. He has no running game. The defense is terrible. Today, Julio Jones and Roddy White dropped five passes between him,

so that's not going to happen most weeks, but that's all they have is a quarterback. I mean, when you get pushed around, the score could have been a lot worse than 2713 in this game. When you get pushed around like that by Chicago running the ball, I mean, I just feel like it's over. And I think I saw a tweet from you, Greg, where you mentioned a really transparent part of the season premiere of Hard Knocks this past summer. And then it came up in subsequent episodes, this idea that the Atlanta Falcons weren't going to be pushed around anymore. And they were going to be tough SOBs and things were changing. No. No.

I mean, that's all they talked about that. They wanted to be tough. And they're one of the least tough teams in the league. I mean, they get- I mean, they get pushed around up front on defensive line and the offensive line each and every week. I think Wes was trying to set me up for that, and I didn't come through. And then Dan, save the day. I think we're all big Thomas Dimitrov fans.

I was just about to ask about this. I look his hair. It seems like there's a better chance that Mike Smith will take the fall than Dimitrov, but this is not a good roster. Well, and Dimitrop has been touted as one of the brightest young general managers year of year, and he's done enough to... I think we believe he is. Well, I think we believe he is, but part of it is what you do in terms of when you become a successful team like they were sustaining that, and they've got one of the weakest

lineups on both lines, disastrous, and you got outside of a couple sexy skill position guys, what do the Falcons have that's special? I mean, that it falls on Dimitrov. And there's got to be urgency when you have a quarterback as good as Matt Ryan is, and he's in his prime years, you don't want to burn him with a team without any talent around him. So they got to go back to the drawing board. This is what, we agree.

It's like a six to eight win team tops at this point, what we're seeing. Yeah. I mean, it's a lousy division, so they'll convince themselves they're in some sort of race, and they might be for that division to win seven or eight games. Right. This is not a contender. And they need to go back to the drawing board in the offseason and figure out a way to build a real team around this guy.

So they'd be smart not to just believe in that mirage that they're around in the NFC South. There are issues on this team, and I think the heads are going to roll by the end of the season. That's why I was getting so upset watching them, because I just feel like Matt Ryan is playing at a really high level right now. And it does show it's not all about the quarterback because I promise you, if he was on most teams, they would be winning and he would be, you know,

talked about as a top five guy. But you need more than that. Wait, the Lions defense is given quarterbacks. It seems like every week the worst games of their season. The Falcons are given every quarterback the best game of their season. And that takes us to Sunday night football. But really, I try to put some voice into that. to get people excited, but there's nothing to get excited about.

The Eagles trounce the Giants, a game that we thought was going to be a great NFC East Battle. Instead, 27-0-0-Eagles shutout win. LaShawn McCoy got back on track, ran for 149 yards and 22 carries. That will help the yards per carry average. Seven sacks by the Eagles, just a complete lob-sided affair. Gentlemen, I ask you, what are we to make sense of this game? I mean, the Giants are playing so well. What happened?

I thought going into this game, they had the most complete team in the NFC East. And I guess my main takeaway is, especially after losing Victor Cruz to a torn Patelertenden will end his season, that the Giants are now clearly no better than the third best team in the NFC East. I'm not giving up on them because of one performance. I think we've seen in the NFL things change so much week to week. I mean, the Giants put together three really strong weeks on both sides of the ball that I think that team is still within them and they're capable of a stink bomb. the Eagles were overdue to have a complete sort of game, but just the way it happened,

the shutout, just sort of boggles my mind. And the Victor Cruz injury, that is a awful, awful injury. It's a Piteller injury, which is something that he's going to need surgery on, a long rehab, his season, although it hasn't been officially announces over, almost certainly. The Giants, luckily they have Odell Beckham back, and we saw again, even today, they didn't do anything offensively, but he's such a fluid, fast-moving player. or you think that he could be a guy that could potentially step into a bigger role now? Yeah, definitely.

He'll start outside with Ruben Randall and Preston Parker will play in the middle. And to me, I'm not worried about the blowout. That doesn't change my mind about the Giants at all. But Victor Cruz has been Eli's go-to receiver for three or four years now, and you lose him, you already lost Rashad Jennings for a few weeks. To me, they're just not as strong. Their offensive line, which had played so well, had a really rough performance.

you mentioned in the takeaways that's up on the website right now, NFL.com slash ATL. And what else? News. ATL is the old name, but it still will work around the NFL, whatever you want. You mentioned that the offensive line struggle, Connor Barwin and Vinnie Curry combining for five sacks. Connor Barwin has been fantastic this year quietly for Philadelphia. He's been about their best defensive player. Yeah, he's had a really good year. And Justin Pugh, I believe, allowed four sacks in one game.

Wow. That's not good. That's not good. Darren Spurals also left this game with an injury, and look, by the time people hear this, maybe they'll know what the result is, but it felt like some bad vibes around that one, and they're thin at running back, so that would be another big loss for them. It's like this is a week-to-week division. They get a buy next week, whereas the Giants go to Dallas, and that game becomes even bigger for New York,

because if they lose that one too, then they're really pretty far behind in the division. I'm definitely on the same page with Wes on this. I think the way this division is, the way all these teams are really the way so many teams in the NFL are. You know, you look great one week. You look terrible in the next. But Victor Cruz, they got to figure out a way to get something done. You can't understand how important he's been to their offense for several years now. And to watch him get carted off the field, that's tough.

That's going to be tough for them to figure out how to get passed. Didn't all three of us pick the Giants? Seems like so long ago. You heard us, Giants. You heard us real bad. I felt super confident about the Giants coming. week we don't know anything you hear it don't even listen listen to us we don't know what's happening nobody knows one week is an eternity in the NFL exactly all right so

exactly no one knows even Vince didn't know well he knew more than us that's it for today's edition of the around the NFL podcast we will be back on Wednesday so hang in there thank you for listening send it more hashtags contact TD about being uh win Greg's toaster until then this is Dan Hans is signing off for the mailman, the sizzler, the boss and TD behind the glass. Until Wednesday.