NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL Week 7 recap

Episode Date: October 20, 2014

A room full of heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling and Marc Sessler -- recap Week 7 in the NFL including the Rams upset over the Seahawks, the Cowboys' hot streak and Peyton Manning's record-breaking night.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, lost the locker room and can't find it. 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. I'm just visually disturbed at the concept of having to share a locker room with you, gentlemen. Well, listen, it's very possible that if we were the coaching staff, we would lose a locker room very quickly.

I understand that. That's fair. Wes would drop some hard love on the staff, on the teammates, and they would become very, they would distance themselves. Like Harbaugh style, Cessler would come in and kind of get, like, sensitive a little bit and be like, guys, come on, listen. It is called Good Cop, Bad Cop. Yeah, and they'd walk all over them. I don't play that rule. What is your rule?

Whenever I've been on a softball team, I've been the coach. but I have a very soft hand when I coach. Really? Yeah. And Greg, we know Greg's management style. What? You know, it's just, you know, guiding hand. Hard driving.

Hard driving. Take no prisoners. I'm trying to think of a very unliked coach in NFL history. Who is that Vikings coach that they fired right off the bat? Wesleyan will back me up on this one. The Vikings coach? Are you Jerry Burns? Yes, that's it.

Jerry Burns. So many fired Vikings coaches. Brad Childress. Brad Childress. That's another one. My favorite fired Vikings coach will always be Mike Tice because of the pencil in the year. Always that he had that pencil in the year. And the decision where it's like, we don't need to make a draft pick.

And he's baby Huey. Anyway, okay, so we got a big week. This is week seven, the recap show, our Sunday night show. We already had to delay it a little bit because a little take you behind the curtain. Peyton Manning and the Broncos are playing the Niners as we speak right now. And we had to stop down because Peyton Manning could not cooperate with us. He had to throw two touchdown passes in the first quarter to tie Brett Farve's all-time record. So Greg hammered out a real quick post.

And now we're watching the TV is right in front of us. Hopefully he doesn't throw a third. So he'll have to stop again. Or Greg, you might have to sit up. Or maybe I'll just write while podcasting. It will be a first. Let's go for it. The first time in around the NFL history, a post is written during the show.

We'll see how that goes over. Anyway, so we got a lot of games to get to, I believe, 14 games on the same. schedule and another interesting week in the NFL. So why don't we start with the team that is maybe the hardest team to figure out right now because the Seattle Seahawks, the defending champions started so great, and now we don't know what's going on with them. The St. Louis Rams became the latest team to upset the defending champs, riding three big special teams plays to a 28-26 win over the Seahawks in St. Louis.

This is a game the Rams got ahead, 21-3. the Seahawks came barreling back, almost tied it, but couldn't do it. So I ask you guys, what is going on with the Seahawks? Are we to be worried about this team? I believe they're three and three now. You lose in St. Louis. You better be worried. I mean, that's a division game.

That's two straight conference losses. You're three and three. That's a team that you just expect the Seahawks at this point, especially coming off a bad loss where you think they're going to respond. How can you not be worried? I'd agree with that. I mean, you look at Marshawn Lynch, 53 yards, 2.9 yards per carry, yet the offense rolled up a ton of yardage without Percy Harvin.

Here's something strange about this game. The Seahawks lost, and yet Russell Wilson became, and this was a stat that shocked me when we heard it from our stats team, Russell Wilson became the first quarterback in NFL history to throw for 300 yards and rush for 100 yards. He was unstoppable down the stretch. scored touchdowns in their final three drives, all of them, I believe, 85-yard drives or more, 80-yard drives or more. So it just became a situation where they could not, they got

too far behind and it hurt them. And to Austin Davis's credit, the Rams quarterback, he did a nice job of putting them back ahead or giving them more cushion after the Seahawks had closed within two points after a failed two-point conversion to get them back into some, give them some cushions. So this is a game where the Seahawks fell. They were competitive. But the Rams were the better team in this game. And who would expect it that? Austin Davis, 18 of 21. Were the Rams really the better team? The Seahawks had 200 more yards and the Rams had like a couple of fluke special teams plays. Yeah. Well, that's true. I mean, you got to factor that in. Here are the two crazy plays that you had. You had a special teams. You had a punt return for a touchdown where they

called a brilliant play. John Fossil, by the way, is their special teams coordinator. Jim Fossil's son. Bones Fossil. they sent the punt team one corner of the field to make it look like that's where the ball was going and there was Bailey caught it on the other side at Willie May's catch and then went untouched down the field so they completely caught them off guard with that and then at the end of the game this is the gutsiest call the year by any coach in my opinion

they are deep in their own territory nursing a two-point lead and Jeff Fisher knows Russell Wilson cannot be stopped right now he calls a fake punt on I believe fourth and three where Johnny Hecker takes the ball from his own six, throws it to Benny Cunningham for, I believe, a 19-yard game. And they get the first down,

and they end up running out the clock, and there was more controversy at the end of the game, because Trey Mason gets the game-sinching first down on the ground, then fumbles it, and there was a, you know, everyone was piling on the ball. It looked like a replay that Percy Harvin might have had it. Richard Sherman. Excuse me, Richard Sherman.

If Percy Harvin got in the middle of that huddle, that's a story. Fights are breaking out after he's. in there all sorts of things. It had to be Greg writing a separate to New York Jet Pines. We'll get into that. Well, let's talk about Harvin for a second. Greg has been worried about the 49ers

being a team in turmoil going back to June and it looks like the Seahawks might be that team. You've got the Harvin situation where he's, he was reportedly in a fight with Golden Tate before the Super Bowl, got into it with Doug Bull. Our own Michael Robinson confirmed it today on air that, you know, he

broke up the fight with Golden Tate. There's word out of Seattle kind of whispers that Marshawn Lynch isn't happy, and some of the teammates aren't happy because he's not happy. And this is a team that was supposed to be the most happy-go-lucky team in the NFL. Pete Carroll, all the players love Pete Carroll, but something seems a little amiss here. I think one thing, the trade happened Friday and suddenly bang, it's Sunday. It's still probably, that might have gotten in their heads a little bit.

I like that Doug Baldwin has 126 yards more than he's had in three years. Only, that's 61 more less yards than he's had. the whole season before. Maybe it'll take a little bit of time, but the offense is still working. I'm maybe a little more concerned about the defense. Oh, Bobby Wagner, no Byron Maxwell, as we pointed out. Did Cliff Everl play today? I don't see his name in the box score. They didn't have a single sack against the Rams team that had trouble with the Blitz last week. Yeah, they've had a lot of injuries. Their pass rush hasn't been as good this year. You're right that they did double up the Rams. A little unlucky late,

but let's stop Earl Thomas and some of the Seahawks with the now we're going to against the officials. Now we're having to fight the officials every game, too, because, you know, it was a controversial ending. It's very easy to think that they made the wrong call on the field because they said that the Rams recovered, and it seems like they believe, what was his name again, Hecky, Hecker?

Johnny Hecker. That recovered the ball. He says he did. Richard Sherman says he came out of the pile. It looked like Sherman came out of the pile. Dean Blandino, the VP of officiating, said NFL did, review all angles and it was basically they can't see anything it's in the middle of a pile they're not going to be able to overturn it they have to stick what's on the field you were thinking of

cody harky not cody harky johnny hecker the punner a week ago and you know and there's a good reason for you to have said this you felt like this was a better seahawks team than last year i mean where are you now i thought they were better because their offense was better and nothing we saw today would suggest their offense is not better but the harvin trade and then now the defense isn't really historically great like they were last year. Yeah, I would have to say that I was wrong about that, and they're not better now. I don't think this is a problem in the sense that the Seahawks can't be a great team this year.

It's a bigger problem that they're now two losses behind the Cardinals. They have a division loss, and these are just the types of things. Is anyone else going to lose in St. Louis in that division? You know, is San Francisco going to lose in St. Louis? Arizona, like they're now giving up a game to some competitors in a very deep NFC where the Seahawks would now be eighth in the playoff picture. A little early, but... Yeah, but not good news for Seattle.

Tony Romo threw three touchdown passes to Marco Murray, broke a 56-year-old NFL record with a seventh straight 100-yard game to start a season. The Cowboys are now winners of six straight after a 31-21 win over the New York Giants on Sunday at Jera World. The Cowboys are six and one. Their best start since 2007. We keep waiting for that letdown to happen where they come down.

I don't know if it's going to happen. A really nice win today. I don't think it is going to happen based on what we've talked about all along. They're winning games with a dominant offensive line and a running back as long as he stays healthy who's playing at historical levels. And it's not just that.

DeMarca Murray and the offensive line have gotten a lot of credit and they deserve it. But Tony Romo now is playing at a – there are some quarterbacks playing great football right now, but he is definitely in the top three or four, I'd say, among any quarterbacks in the last month or so. And then you also have – you have Des Bryant who showed – I think he had seven catches for 135 yards in the second half alone. He is on the short list of wide receivers. You've got – put those three guys together and the offensive line. There's no reason to think they can't score 30 points almost every week.

Do they have three top 10 MVP candidates? Stop. Who are they? It's not crazy. Maybe Des isn't quite there. I don't see how. You got to look at the cause and effect, though. I think Murray in the offensive line is the cause.

Romo's the effect. Romo's the same guy he's always been. Right. You know, he's nine for nine in the second half because they're loading up to stop to Marco Murray. The quarterback gets credit for wins in the MVP voting. Well, I'm not going to give him any credit. I mean, this is what happened. Greg's a voter, by the way.

You, no credit. You play well. I mean, you play. play to the point where you have to put one guy on Des Bryant, that's how you win games. I mean, Amookamara was single-covering Bryant. They had some of their backups single-covering Bryant in parts of the second half because they were loading up to try to stop to Markimer, and they still couldn't. Well, I mean, if they carry this out, let's just say it continues at this pace between now

and the end of the year, a much better season than anything we saw from Aikman, Irvin, and Emmett back in the day, statistically. It's a much different era, though. It's a different time and time. I mean, to your point, and this is something I went on Damashik show a month ago or so, and we talked about what are the best triplets in the league. You went on someone else's show. Yeah, well, Dave, it's okay with Dave, you know.

Oh, good. But DeMarco, Des and Romo, I think, are number one above anybody right now. I would have said before the season started that the Packers, the Lacey, Jordy Nelson, Aaron Rogers would be number one. But Lacey's play this year tells me that the Cowboys have a better three. there. I can't think of a better one right now. I wasn't saying that Romo's not playing well. He's playing well. He's not for nine. He was perfect. Jerry Jones, not a guy prone to hyperbole. Oh, wait, he's completely prone to hyperbo. He said this was the best game he thought Romo ever played. Romo did make a lot of really nice throws. And here's the thing with Romo,

yes, he's doing what he's always done. But for years and years, when the Cowboys were picked to be good and then weren't good, it was because Romo had nothing around him or he didn't have enough around him. Now finally we have the Cowboys team for the first time in years that there's stuff around him. So you take a guy that's playing like an elite quarterback and then he put a good team around him and six and one isn't so crazy. No, not at all. I mean, is it weird that everyone and not just in this room that everyone missed the Cowboys being a potential real deal team? I think it's hard to assess in the off season. It just happens to be the Cowboys. Yeah, but I think I don't want to keep beating this horse, but it is, that line is playing at a level that I don't

I think in March and April and June, we were all focused on the defense, we thought we thought would be a disaster, but when you're able to keep the other team off the field this way, you're going to win this. As a vegetarian mark, you would be the last person I would think would beat a horse also. That's a really fair point.

I don't even have access to horses. I don't even know where they are. We're in Los Angeles. In defense of all writers and analysts, Jason Garrett has been saying they're going to run the ball for three years now, and they never have. This is the first time they've actually followed through on their promise.

is to run the ball. Well, and they're playing mistake-free, smart football, which we've never seen out of a Garrett team. Larry Dinell, you know, the Giants were in this game. They were moving the ball on offense. It wasn't a bad game from Eli. When Larry Dinell, their tight end fumbled it, you said, I think, down in the newsroom, game over. And I agreed because when you make a mistake now against the Cowboys, they capitalize. Which is the last thing they would have done in the past. When they needed the field goal to put the game away and they got it because Dan Bailey is such a great kicker, 49-yarder. But the ease with which they went right. down the field to go up 31, 21, and put the game away was incredible.

And I guess we could add just a couple things about the Giants who, like you said, did not play a bad game. Eli Manning again played well. He's having a nice season. And Odell Beckham really stepped up with Victor Cruz out. He had two touchdowns and, you know, Giants fans who were really getting on this guy when he had the hamstring issue. Now he's going to be a fan favorite.

Yeah, but the coach was all over him. It goes back to the idea that we all should probably take a month off from work. At times? Yes or no? Not going to happen. So Eli, he has great numbers in this game. Tell me what you think of the Cowboys defense. Well, I guess the defense is a little bit, you know,

this is the team that's going to win with their offense. And all the defense needs to be. We see this every year in the NFL. You don't need to have a dominant defense anymore necessarily. Maybe the Seahawks were an aberration last year. Just in the middle-of-the-road defense. And that's really the way they played today. They weren't a great defense, but they weren't giving up tons of yards

and getting killed every drive. They got enough stops, and that's all they needed when they have an offense that is this good. Secondary is not bad. Barry Church, it's pretty good. Orlando Scandrick is playing like a Pro Bowl since he's been back. Take me to church. You know that song?

No, I don't want to know it. I know Milky Way by the church. That's good sign. All right, let's move up. Matthew Stafford threw two touchdown passes in the final four minutes, including a game winner to Corey Fuller and the Detroit Lions rallied back

for a 24, 23, win over the New Orleans Saints. The Saints committed 12 penalties for 134 yards. They're now 2 and 4 on the season. Greg Rosenthal, Tulane Graduate. New Orleans is your boy when it comes to U.S. cities, if that makes sense. It doesn't make sense. Is it?

New Orleans is a man. Is it anything? Is it panic time in New Orleans? New Orleans is a tempterous. New Orleans is outstanding. Their team has the city down in the dumps, I'm sure, right now. I don't think it's over for them because they're in the NFC South, but they're finding ways to lose games.

It's their third game that they've lost in the final minutes. You know, for 56 minutes, the story of this game is the Super Bowl, you know, contending Saints are back. They played a really good game on both sides of the ball. They put up over 400 yards on the Lions more than any team has this year by far. The defense was playing well, and it was just, a full system meltdown in the last four minutes, and the worst play was by Drew Brees,

who has forced a few too many passes lately when he's under pressure, made bad decisions, and that's what happened in this one. I understand that we say, oh, they're not out of it. They're mathematically still around. There's a lot of talent. There's a two-thirds of the season to play.

But Wes and I picked New Orleans to go to the Super Bowl. And judging on only what we've seen, I'm real concerned because Sean Payton is one of the best coaches in the game And he's proven that. But what's going on when you have this much talent on offense and you're losing games this way? And on defense, based on what we saw last year, I mean, it's an all-out crumbling here.

Well, this was a tough game to go to Detroit and try to win there. And like I said, they played pretty well. I think it was bad luck. I mean, Golden Tate, who's one of the most valuable receivers in the league. I mean, he made a play. He played unbelievable all game. All their big third downs were from him. Ten catches, 154 yards.

The Lions had the ball. with less than four minutes to go, at their own 25, and they hadn't driven the ball all game. I mean, the game seemed over. Tate just made a great play, caught the Saints defense, missed a few tackles. He goes for the touchdown to really start that comeback. Matthew Stafford, I don't think, played well at all in this game.

I mean, he didn't play any better than he has, and yet they still won. These are games the Lions never won in the Jim Schwartz era. That's right. It's a good sign that they're hanging on and winning tough games with Calvin Johnson's sidelines. No, Calvin Johnson. And, you know, I'm a little curious about Drew Breeze.

I know we don't want to jump on to, oh, is Drew Breeze in decline? And they did put up 400 yards of offense here. He played great until the fourth quarter. And then he had a streak where he was 0 for 10 with an interception in the fourth quarter. The Saints, big part of their struggles is Breeze hasn't been Breezed this year. Are you seeing something different from him when you watch him? I think pressure's getting to him a little quicker. And he's always been a guy who's not afraid to take.

some chances, and now those chances, like, he's paying for them. So some of it's luck. I mean, Glover Quinn made a great break on the ball. He saw Breeze teleghing the past, but it started with pressures. I mean, the lion's defensive line played really well in the fourth quarter. One thing we saw Ingram come back, Mark Ingram for the Saints, and he was awesome before he got injured. But today, what is it, it was 16 yards on 10 attempts?

Is that Detroit? Yeah, I give the Lions credit. The Saints tried to run the ball the whole game, but the defensive line. stuffed it. I mean, Ingram didn't do anything. Kyrie Robinson had a fumble. Pierre Thomas didn't do anything. They were throwing the ball well. Like I said, for three quarters, Breeze looked fantastic.

All right, let's move on. The streaking Baltimore Ravens held the Atlanta Falcons to less than four yards per play, and it's too easy, and quite frankly, is someone who watch the game. Boring 297 win on Sunday at West M&T Bank Stadium.

That's two straight blowout wins for the Ravens who are now five and two, alone, the top the AFC North. They led this game, 17-0-0 at halftime and cruised. Falcons did not score until about seven minutes left in the game. So this is really two teams going in opposite directions. The Ravens perhaps are better than, at least myself anyway, seemed to be a little better than they were last year,

and the Falcons stink, especially on the road. I think the Ravens are a lot better than they were last year. And they are suddenly, that change in offense. the coordinator to Kubiak. It has clicked. Their running game doesn't miss Ray Rice. Flacco has been put up some of his best performances to date back to back. And, you know, we talked about the Ravens as the best team in this division. After last week when Cleveland knocked off Pittsburgh and everything was topsy-turvy, I think it's pretty, it's very clear right now that they are the most consistent team in that division. I think they're the best team in the division. They lead the entire

NFL and point differential this year. And here's an interesting thing. Justin Forsett is he looks like he's becoming the man in that back girl. That's Greg's boy. Greg's boy. You have so many boys. You can't have all the boys. Well, this is West just trying to give me grief saying that. I'm not. You deserve credit for saying that every time he plays in whatever system he's in, he produces. Can you two get along, please? I'm just saying if you didn't, no, he is trying to give me credit. If you didn't know the name on the back of the jersey, when you watch him this year, I mean, he looks like a player. I believe he's leading the entire NFL and runs of 20 plus yards. He had 95 yards and 23 carries.

He had, and that gives him 206 over the past two weeks. So he is, he's their guy back there. On the Falcon side, I know we, I think we're all fans collectively of Matt Ryan. We think that maybe he's a really good QB saddled on a bad team. But I don't know. There's just too many of these performances where the offense is still born. And there's just nothing, there's nothing to get excited about. The only guy that even showed up to play in this game was Roddy White,

who I think went nine for 100. and a touchdown. So the Falcons are this team now that everyone, and Greg, you have your theory about every team looks better when they play the Falcons. They're just a team that you could almost, you could nail in a win for the opposition when they're on the road. And then I guess as we saw last week, not even things at home are given. So we're hurtling towards a 10 to 11 lost season, I think.

They're the kind of team that allows Steve Smith to continue his victory tour too. He said today the NFC South is a finesse division. The AFC North is blue collar I love with Steve Smith How we make a big deal that he gets off Twitter And yet he continues to talk more than any player in the league I don't know I think the Falcons are one of the worst teams in the league

And you would have to throw the bucks in that mix Too as one of the worst teams in the league Which is why you're so worried about the Saints If I had to pick who wins that division right now I'd still say the Saints I would too One thing with the Falcons You know we talked about the Cowboys

They are strong up front And that makes your skill players better that's the exact opposite in Atlanta. That's true. Kyle Orton hit Sammy Watkins on a two-year touchdown pass. That was the winning score with just one second to go and the Bills beat the Vikings 17-16. On Sunday, the touchdown ended a 15-play 80-yard drive

engineered by who, Chris Wessling? Kyle Orton, Chris Wessling. That was the check of you were paying attention. I was not. Orton, who, by the way, on this drive, fourth and 20 third and 12 kept the game alive then wins it at the end a scintillating win for the bills in front of their new owner in orchard park which they're getting some entertaining games up there this year and for the vikings ouch that's another painful loss for a team that is fading into bolivia as mike tyson once kyle orton has been ahead in five seconds of his three games so far and the bills have two wins orton magic he did a good job here. I mean, this was a very sloppy game.

That's a fact? Yes. I guess so. You wouldn't just have said. The mailman Demer's an essential factoid. Mark, sit out the rest of the pod. I don't know. It was, uh, honestly, Sammy Watkins, you know, we've been waiting for this game. Nine catches, 122 yards, two touchdowns in the game

winner. It was, you know, that kind of belies what the game was, though, which was sort of a slop fest that included for Buffalo. You want to talk about, you want to give your owner a nice present in first win. He also saw C.J. Spiller break his collarbone and Fred Jackson lost as well. Double carded. Wait, why would that be a

present for him? That's why I'm saying it wasn't that great of a present. You gave a... I see. Oh, I thought you were going down like a major league when the owner was against their own team. I thought that may be something that farious. I don't think we've gotten to that point yet in Buffalo. Tell me about Mark as a man who watched the game closely and was ignoring what

was going on in Cleveland on the other television. Tell me what happened with Teddy Bridgewater who had an awesome first start and missed the next an injury. last week was an absolute disaster. What did he do today? You know, with Bridgewater, it's tough to analyze this guy because, again, today, five sacks, he's hit eight times.

He's not the kind of guy who's big enough and physical enough to shake these defenders off and make something. He can move, but when he has time, he starts to make passes downfield and you get a sense of what he can be. But that's not the case with this line right now. They are battered. They're very injured. I think at one point they had only two of their original.

starters on the field, and it showed. Sammy Watkins, still learning how to be an NFL receiver. Daryl Revis made him disappear last week, but we've now seen two separate games he's dominated in the Lions game. He dominated the final drive in the second half to help them win. That's a great sign for the bill. I wouldn't say he dominated this game, though. I mean, he came up.

It's just that the offense doesn't look like it should be centered through him directly the way you would like a Roddy White. He's still, there's a couple passes where there was, it should have been like off the back shoulder grab and he looked the wrong way. I mean, he is still learning. You're right. But what he shows, though, no, absolutely.

But Kyle Wharton makes that offense move much better, but they have a long-term issue, a quarterback. That's not your solution. They got a winning record, too, though. Yes, they do. We're in three. Yeah, they're a surprise team. And Doug Whaley, who I remember when he made that gutsy move

and made a move up and get Watkins, basically it was pretty clear that his job was on the line that Watkins had a not. not only be a great player, but he had to show something quickly. And he's already had a couple big moments in the first half of the season. It looks like they hit on this guy. It's just a matter of him learning how to play the game. Yeah, got a quarterback.

Speaking of guys who know how to play the game at this level, Aaron Rogers threw for 255 yards of three touchdowns, and the Packers just rolled over the Carolina secondary. And an easy 3817 win on Sunday. The Packers, I believe winners of four straight. Is that correct? or are we have to five now? Four straight.

Four straight scored touchdowns in their first three possessions. They had a 28-3 lead at halftime. West, these are sad times for the former team of ATL, the Panthers. But the Packers, meanwhile, look like a stud team. They're on fire. Over the last four games, Aaron Rogers has completed 24 of 28 first quarter passes. They've been jumping out to big leads and cruising. And he has tied Tom Brady of 2007.

for the most consecutive games with three touchdowns and no interceptions. He couldn't be playing any better. In fact, Mike McCarthy said that after the game, that Aaron Rogers is so much better right now than he was in his MVP 2011 season, which is one of the best seasons in NFL history. I feel like he's been throwing three touchdowns and zero interceptions with about 223 yards every week for five or six weeks now, and then since they're so far ahead, they just basically sit him.

His numbers could be way better if they were in some more competitive games. Absolutely. And I think his passer rating now is 117.3, I believe, and Philip Rivers is 117.8. Their neck and neck. The Panthers have given up in their last four games, 37, 38, 24, and 37 points. Their secondaries are a mess. They missed a lot of tackles.

Too many penalties. Last year, that dominant front seven protected the secondary, and the front seven isn't dominant anymore. The secondary's been exposed, and they don't really get after the passer as much as they did in the past either. Greg Hardy's absence, how big has that been with his team? I think he's been really big. He's one of the best all-around defensive ends in football.

And Charles Johnson and their pass rush hasn't been doing anything without him. He hasn't played nearly as well as he did last year. Tell me what happened with Luke Keeckley, because you seem to be, to use a Greg term hunkin, that he got jobbed. I thought he got job big time. You need to work on your usage of honking. That man, that man was hunkin. There was a scrum at the bottom of the pile, and area man hunks.

Guys were pulling each other. He got up and a referee grabbed him from behind. Kekley didn't know it was a ref and just kind of swung his arm and made contact with the official and they booted him out for the contact, which I thought was bogus because the referee grabbed them from behind surprisingly. Why not instant replay that? Good question. We sometimes get a big first impression of a team and like that sticks for a while.

Like the Bengals defense was, we thought they were good to start the year, but they've been one of the worst groups in the league last three years. If the Packers had started the season with these five games, we would say this is a juggernaut team that's like the Super Bowl favorite. I mean, they have been as good as humanly possible for five weeks. The defense looked really good today, too. Cam Newton had his worst passing day of the year. Ha-ha, Clinton Dix made his first start and led the team in tackles.

He played really well last week, too. They looked like a better defense. I remember after the opening game on Thursday night, standing in the defensive room of, I'm going to get this out, just bear with me. Opening night of the season on Thursday, I stood in the room where the defensive coaches were for the Packers, and we talked on the podcast about how losing to the Seahawks put the Packers in a really bad spot with tiebreakers and all that. They'd have to have a better record.

And now you look at the standings, you see the Seahawks are 500 team, the Packers are rolling, they're in a good position to roll straight to the number one seed. If they're playing like this, it's hard to imagine them losing too many games. Well, the lions and the cowboys and all sorts of teams have something to say about that. Andrew Luck threw two touchdown passes, and the Cincinnati Bengals didn't even show up on Sunday in Indianapolis, a 27 win for the Colts. Luck had another great game, an MVP candidate for short,

27 of 42 for 344 yards, and the Colts who started 0 and 2 have now won five straight. Greg, you watch this game closely. India had over 500 total yards. The Bengals didn't show up. What do you take away from this game? It was one of the biggest beatdowns in the NFL this year. I guess that's obvious based on the score, and yet it felt like the score could have been worse for so much of this game.

With about 12 minutes to go, the total yardage was 443 for the close. and 47 for the Bengals. How does that even happen? I mean, that is Florida State versus Bethune Cookman on homecoming weekend. Or worse. You know what I mean? It didn't look like they were both NFL teams. Even in a season where we've seen a lot of blowouts and many of them on Thursday

out football to less moon vests chagrin, that's really bad right there. I don't know what to think. I think the Bengals' offense has excuses. they've been good most weeks. They've got enough talent with AJ Greenback. They'll be okay most weeks. It's the defense because I think this team's only going to be a team that wins games in the playoffs if the defense is great.

They're not winning games in the playoffs. Why not? That's not what they do. They can't have nice things. You know that. If I was a Bengals fan, I'd be more worried about the fact that the defense has gone completely MIA for three straight weeks. We've taken a lot of grief for, quote, unquote, hating on Andy Dalton. But we've also known for three or four years now that A.J. Green is the engine that drives this offense, not the quarterback. And we saw that today.

Well, hold on. But last week, we spent minutes saying how, wait, A.J. Green's not in there. And the Bengals are churning out 37 points and piling up yardage. So which is it? Well, I think the offense will be okay because of what we've seen over the course of the season. I don't think Andy Dalton has played any different this year than he has in the past. That was true. Last week and the week before, that was true. week. So he had a stinker here. He's going to have some stinkers. The defense being this bad and give the Colts credit. You were on this early, West, that this Colts defense is a lot better than they look on paper. And they've played, talk about, it's kind of like the Packers. They've played as well as any team the last five weeks. They're on an incredible streak of not allowing third down conversions. The Bengals had, what, eight or nine, three announced to start the game. And it was like that to end the previous

game. They're really good on defense right now. You have to credit Chuck Pagano. We've knocked his coaching, but his defense is playing really well. The Cleveland Browns went into Jacksonville, coming off a great win over Pittsburgh, and it was time to get excited about the Browns and think they were going to take the next step. Did not happen. Denard Robinson ran for 127 yards and a touch end. That's the OW. And Jacksonville's defense snuffed out any chance of a comeback, a 24-6 win for the Jaguars over the Browns that ends the Jaguar's

nine game losing streak as a franchise this is actually the Jaguar's first time they've won a game since December 15th of last year Mark

you know again as happens every week I get tweets people asking oh how's Mark doing you weren't doing very well you were upset because this and yes

I got a hero pick on this one but I was never going to gloat about it because I knew this was this is something that could happen but I didn't want to see you hurt Mark and you were hurt while this game

there goes my That was kind of gloating That wasn't gloating But when the TD drops the sound drop Here's the question TD, did Dan contact you before the show For that drop? Yes, he did

No, no, just kidding Because I don't think Dan would do that And so don't throw Dan under a bus that doesn't exist It's like Look on Dan's face right now I was going to say he was going to say he is not a rat He won't do that Yeah, well it wasn't I mean it was a very

all phases of the game for Cleveland, totally disappointing. There are two major issues that I see with the Browns right now. Number one is the loss of Alex Mack. If this is how it's going to be, they absolutely could not run the ball today. John Greco, who's never played center, looked completely out of sync with Brian Hoyer. Offense was off, and then on defense, they're down to, they've lost like four or five defensive linemen, and Denard Jackson, or Denard Robinson, excuse me, ran for 120 plus yards on him. I mean, it was very ugly.

And Mike Petten had a couple wild coaching choices. You know, they had a chance to go up 9-0 right before the half. He went forward on fourth down. They didn't get it. And then Blake Bortles, who threw three picks on the day, in this case, executed a perfect two-minute drill and scored, put them up 7-6 going into the half. I mean, everything that went wrong could.

Let's talk about Brian Hoyer because the numbers are grim. He finished 16 to 41 on his throws. is he average 5.2 yards for clip that's barely above the gabbert zone this was a big step back for a guy that had been trending in the right direction yeah i mean it was another case where you know and chris you wrote a great article about how the boot action with kyle shanahan is such a big part of what they do and they tried that again today and he would go in the opposite direction of the entire offensive line and the flow and there'd be no one open and that's what's been different from you know his wide receivers had a series of bad drops it's one of those games they just look

completely off. And they got outplayed. You got to give credit to Jacksonville. They played Pittsburgh close. They should have won last week against Tennessee. You knew it was going to happen at some point. It happened today. And here's the question now. Brown's teams in the past because there were three and two last year also and they finished four and 12. The question now is are the Browns going to completely self-destruct? Or do they show that they're a different team this time around? And the schedule is still pretty soft coming up, right? I don't know. I mean, I guess so, but I don't think any of these games are necessarily easy. We've learned that week-to-week, and you've got Derek Carr next week,

and, you know, Derek Carr's made a lot of plays. That's not going to go crazy. I know, I'm just saying. But that's what everyone said about Jacksonville. It's like, everyone's, oh, they're going to go six and two. Well, anyone who's watched Cleveland week-to-week would say, eh, I'm not sure about that. There's no automatic games for teams like Cleveland.

There's no automatic games for almost any team. Exactly. Much less a mediocre, like, middle-of-the-road team, which is what we see Cleveland is now. A middle, not that's an improvement, but it's, That's what they are. Point being last year, they went one in ten after going three and three. Are they that team? I think they're better than that team based on what we've seen so far.

They're more organized and they're better coached and I think that locker room is tight. But you've got to come out next week and show that. I just see how everyone sort of tiptoeing around criticizing the brows. Come on, guys. Because of Mark, let's keep a real. We had a terrible game. They had an awful game. I see what you're always going to do, TD.

But Dan and Greg are trying to be nice. I'm writing a post about an all-time record-breaker thing. I can barely pay attention. You want me to step in here? That's a terrible loss. I mean, that's a loss at the end of the year. If the Browns are one game out, they'll kill themselves for that loss. Greg is sidelined right now a little bit because while we're taping

Peyton Manning through his record-breaking touchdown, nobody really cares, but we need to report on it like it's the biggest thing that's ever happened. Meanwhile, Tita, you're way off base because there's no reason to destroy the Browns and say they're done. It's just pointing out that they weren't ready for this, and are they going to be able to bounce back? I don't know. A very soft morric attempt by our producer to drum up controversy

inside the room. In this segment, this game segment, I give TD a hard D-minus right now for his production. I'm trying to throw me under the bus on the drop and now you're calling us out. You are a factory of sadness. That is. You know what? Why don't you

just walk out the door? This show will produce itself going forward. West, do you have anything to add? No, I've been accused of piling on Mark when we talk about the Browns, and I don't want to do that. What about Hoyer? Let's hear about Hoyer. Let's hear about Hoyer. We already talked about it. Go back to work, Greg. We're more than ready to move on. Colt McCoy.

Colt McCoy. Mark, Colt McCoy. It's just getting weird. Let's look at the bright side. He replaced Kirk Cousins, a quarterback. Kirk Cousins, who stinks. The Washington Redskins came on and made some big plays in the second half, and then got a field goal at the gun to beat the Tennessee titan. Tunes on Sunday, McCoy completed 11 of 12 passes for 12 yards in the second half. So I told, when we talked about this on Thursday, I said this was in a game I could get excited about.

Wes, what did you take out of this game? Colt McCoy, is he going to be the starter? Next week, did he play well enough to keep Kirk Cousins on the bench until RG3 returns? Well, Jay Gruden said after the game that RG3 is going to practice on Wednesday, and he might have a chance to play. I would suspect that it's it one more week and Colt McCoy should be the favorite. He outplayed Kirk Cousins, who is leading the NFL in turnovers, much to the chagrin of Joe Thaisman who thinks that Kirk Cousins is Johnny United.

He had two more turnovers in the first half, correct, before they pulled him? He did. He had an interception and a fumble, and they both led to the Titans only two first half scores. The Titans went into halftime ahead 10 to 6 even though they were being outplayed by the Redskins. I don't know. I look at this game. One question with Washington, yeah, they won, but what's going on with Alfred Morris? Well, he's got, he has always played better with RG3 in there because he keeps defense as honest. He's averaged about 25 yards less per game and over a yard less per carry with Kirk Cousins under center in his career. I don't know. Looking at Tennessee, I mean,

is there a team that is less, I had to watch them two weeks in a row and it was, I struggled to Just to stay a week at my desk. And we all love clipboard Jesus, Charlie Whitehurst. Oh, no, we don't. I can't watch that guy play. As a man, as a man with his long-flowing locks and his guitar playing, which he's struggling at. But I'll tell you one thing about Chaz, he's working at it. He's got glycerine.

He's like G-Cord, D-Cord, I don't know if any of that's right. He said in that interview with Nashville Weekly that he's still learning to play the guitar. Yeah. I would guess that he plays the guitar better than he plays quarterback. isn't very good. Jake Locker's starting next week, by the way. You know, all right. Thank God.

Jake, thanks a lot for rejoining us. That means how long before we're writing new Jake Locker injury report? Seven and a half days. And by the way, that's exactly what's wrong with the Titans. It's, oh, they're getting there. And I feel this way a little bit about RG3 at this stage two. I'm not, I think the third caravan in a row, we're getting fired up for RG3 coming back. But Jake Locker, it's like, what's to be excited about with this Titans team?

Nothing. We already knew that. I guess, yeah, that feels redundant. Eddie Murphy, when you get out of jail and you get crackers, you think they're the most delicious things you've ever eaten? If you don't have to watch Charlie Whitehurst check down all game, Jake Locker is a great cracker. I guess we'll take it.

Jake Locker is a great cracker. TD, let's use that for the quote to sell this podcast. One final thought, somebody tweeted me, we're tailgating at the game this morning. I took a picture of someone tailgating in a Titans jersey and said, they're real, they exist. And I asked him to touch it to see if it was not an illusion that Titans fans.

It's a very fair request. Yeah, so that's it. By the way, I am excited about RG3. I'm such a sucker for the guy. I can't wait until he comes back, see if he can play well. I don't know. I've seen a ton of him.

He's been on every subway commercial, three times a game, you know, every quarter of these. Underwhelming. Better than Jared. Cairo Santos kicked a 48-yard field goal with 21 seconds to play, and the Chiefs upset the San Diego Chargers. The team of ATL, San Diego charges 23 to 20. On Sunday, that snapped San Diego's five-game win streak.

Chris Wessling, This was a game where the Chiefs out-chargered the Chargers, wasn't it? It was. We've seen the Chargers play Keepaway late last year against the Broncos' record-breaking offense, and then early this year against the Seahawks in an upset. They played Keep-A-Way, ball-control offense, and the Chiefs were up at three-to-one time of possession advantage

entering the fourth quarter, and that's how they won. Hmm. Uh, question for you. I mean, you know, I didn't see a second of this, so, Chris, you're the only person I can ask. I mean, I thought, number one, they lined up with New England a couple weeks ago and played. Matt, they dominated that matchup. Then it happens again today with a new approach. It's Kansas City, we kind of all sold down the river after a couple weeks, but they really have not been a bat outside of Greg who's waving his arms.

I guess they haven't been a bad team since week one, really. I think this is a season-saving win for them. They're now 500. As Greg has pointed out, the only game in which they've really been outplayed tremendously was week one. Since then they've been fine. They've got the Jets and Rams up on the schedule in the next two weeks. They could be five and three and right back in it. They're not exciting, but they're a good team.

I don't know. I just give the credit to Andy Reed and Bob Sutton. They're in every game. It wouldn't surprise me at all if we're sitting there week 17 and the chiefs are playing a game to try to get one of those wild cards. Oh, sorry. Well, no, I was going to ask about Brandon Oliver because he, He's been outstanding two weeks in a row, and it didn't look like he flatlined today,

but was it just a situational thing? He looked really good. They just never hit the ball. He couldn't rack up yards because Kansas City was possessing the ball the whole game. Let me ask you a question. As a 1980 guy, like the old guys, they're still in the league 34-year-old Antonio Gates. You made a great point in your wrap-up that Antonio Gates is the only player in the NFL with less touchdowns than Julius Thomas right now. Is that correct?

Uh, you phrased that awkwardly. Listen, just imagine I phrased it. Imagine I phrased it beautifully. There are many players with fewer touchdowns than Julius Thomas. You know what I was saying. Just keep rolling. I have fewer touchdowns than Julius Thomas. You have to concentrate on a post, Greg.

It's done. It just got said. Anyway, Antonio Gates. All right. Antonio Gates is playing well, Wes. Take over. Yes, Julius Thomas is the only player in the NFL with more touchdown than Antonio Gates is eight.

Cool. Gates had a nice back shoulder toe-tapping grab right before halftime and then a couple of plays later pulled in a tip pass in the back of the end zone. He showed some great hands and basically that was a tip pass. What was that? A tipped pass. Oh, okay. It looked like that was going to be a key drive in the game because the Chargers took the halftime lead,

but then the Chiefs just took over in a third quarter and possessed the ball the whole time. We worried about the Chargers at all? Is this just the slip up against a team that's better than we thought? I don't think we should be worried about the Chargers any more than any. any other five and two team? Should we be worried that, as Greg correctly pointed out, there is a distinct lack of excitement about our pick for team of around the NFL? Yeah, not a lot of heat so far.

I mean, do any of us ever, you know, I've got to tell you something I saw about the charges. I mean, none of us even talk about the charges to each other. That's why I was hesitant to make them the team of ATL. They don't naturally excite me. It doesn't help that they haven't played remarkably well since we named them. They barely beat the Raiders and they got beat by the Chiefs. But, listen, there are teams. And let's be honest, guys.

There's probably a team out there. Well, we had picked the Cardinals. You know, the Cardinals were in that race. There's actually a team out there that's probably more deserving, too. And that team is the Baltimore Ravens. Okay, moving on. Are you kidding? They just won the Super Bowl two years ago.

Can we just kill TD Mike? Ray Rice. Oh, come on. He's not on the team anymore. They were eliminated at that point. The Ravens' Twitter feed alone is enough for me to never want them to do the team. The Cardinals are the team that got robbed a little bit. But to answer your question, Mark, T.D., you are slumping today.

The Chargers got my coveted Saturday afternoon while my daughter's taking a nap all 22 spot of the week. Well, I was not aware of that. They were fun. Jason Verrett, I really like him. He missed this game. That was a big factor. So there, I'm excited. Listen, yeah, it won't be fun.

Ooh, jaunty. Brian Tannahill threw for 277 yards, two touchdowns. And the Dolphins beat the Bears 2714. The Bears. Oh, the Bears. The Bears are 0-3 at Soldier Field, and there were reports after the game with some shouting between teammates with Brandon Marshall in the middle of it all. We're having the line right now, one of the great men of modern times. He is Kevin Patrick coming at you.

How you doing, buddy? Hey, fellas, what's going on? What's up? Hey, Patrick, can you tell us what transpired on the field in Chicago today that got everyone so fired up in the Chicago locker room, reportedly? reportedly nothing good from the bear's side let's be frank Jay Cutler

looked terrible to be frank about it he had a really bad interception he didn't get he couldn't get rid of the ball he was pressured all day he couldn't step up in the pocket he was after he was throwing off his back foot

wild bros so I'm going to spend another week with hearty discussions at bars about why Jay Cutler is or should or should not be the bear's quarterback of the future when do you get to go to bars

When the house burns in Chicago, it's always fun. You start your shifts every day at what, either six or seven in the morning. Six, yeah. That's some young recovery time you got there. Well, he's probably going to the bar at two in the afternoon, Chicago time. No comment. What did we see from the winning team in this game? You know, I liked how the unfurled Bill Lasers offense today.

Who? Who? What did you say? Who? Bill Laser. Blazer Okay, go ahead Anyway

Nice, T-D's still on fire today Didn't even get a laser there All right There we go Ryan Tannenhill All right, go ahead Gee Ryan Tannenhill

completed his first 14 passes He wasn't pinpoint on it But he got rid of the ball He got it through the receivers The receivers made some plays for him He was almost perfect through the almost a fourth for whole first half, completing 14 and 15 passes.

And what I like to, short, quick throws. He didn't have to take a lot of drops. When he did, he actually got fat most of the time when they tried to get deep routes going. But they moved him around, got him outside the pocket, and he was much more comfortable on the run. And at one point, he was leading the team in rushing yards with 50. So they got him involved in every fast.

I think maybe we owe Ryan Tadahill a little bit of credit, Greg's boy, famously, many boys and Greg Stable. But Ryan Tannenhill is one of them. Like some of the players. Ryan Tannenhill, who, if you remember, it wasn't that long ago that their head coach was making a huge charade of himself and saying he wouldn't name a quarterback and Matt Moore was all of a sudden someone that would be

someone making an impact potentially in South Florida. Instead, Ryan Tannenhill is now playing in a nice level. And the dolphins, Greg, you were talking about it downstairs. legitimately a frisky team. I think the dolphins, they're pretty similar to the bills, that they have a legit top 10 defense that's going to create problems for anyone that's struggling to protect and give them a chance to win every week.

I mean, the Bears, their tackles haven't been playing well. They're banged up. Patrick talked about the pressure. Miami's defense is legit, very good. I feel like we never know what to say about the Bears every week because we don't know who they are. They are in 8 and 18. We can't predict them.

For three games this year, we've had what we call a zero pick, which is that all of us got them wrong. We all picked them to lose against the Jets and they won. We picked them to lose against the Falcons and they won, and then today we pick them to win and they lose. And guess what? And Patrick, you could tell me if I'm wrong about this, but next August we'll be reading and unfortunately writing about

how Jay Cutler is ready to take the next step as a quarterback. Yes or no, Kevin Patrick? No, absolutely not. We should just make the pack for maybe like Blood Brothers that we will not do that. All right, let's do it. I agree.

I agree. These little bar arguments about Cutler being the quarterback of the future doesn't his 54 million guaranteed make him the quarterback of the future? No, I'm not. I'm just saying there's hearty discussions whenever somebody finds out that I write about football.

That's the number one go-to question. One way or the other. Whether I'm one side or other, I would take the opposite side just because that's who I am. The Bears have not won a home game this year and their next two games are on the road, New England and then Green Bay. So if you don't pull off a big upset in one of those two, you're staring at three and six. Aren't the Blackhawks the last Chicago team to win in Soldier Field?

Boom. Correct. NHL heat. Kevin Patrick, if you end up in one of those arguments tonight at the bar, I know your men has been in brawls and you fight sometimes in parking lots. Let's just keep it safe, buddy. Keep it safe and have a good night, bud. Thanks a lot. Have it going, folks.

Carson Palmer threw two touchdown passes his first game back at the black hole since this trade and the Cardinals sent the Raiders to their 12th straight loss going back to last year, a 24-13 win for the Cardinals. Mark, the Cardinals are off to their best start since a year you remember well, Mark,

1976. They're in first place. I have no memory of that. Allegedly loaded NFC West. Is it time to take them seriously as a contender? I would definitely take them serious. it's uh you know love cars and palmer or not he's not everyone's cup of tea necessarily but today starts out 11 of 13 i think it is two touchdowns looked very good oakland did a solid job of closing down their big play passing offense down the stretch but one thing about the cardinals

and you know we had a discussion about andrea ellington in the office is he he's not a featured back what are they missing because they don't have a kind of a thunder to his lightning as Wesleyan put it, but he is very effective. He's essentially part of their running game to me is the screen game, where they get him out in space. You know, he had 72 yards receiving today, and a lot of that came through those kinds of plays. And he also accounted, I think, for 76 of 80 yards on what was essentially the game deciding drive. Oakland hung in there, but this was the drive that kind of broke the back, and Ellington was the heart of it. I've got a question about rookie quarterbacks. You watched all three of them today and you did you've been our rookie correspondent and did an article on the rookie

correspondent if you had to pick right now i know a lot of people are high on derrick car and his his arm looks amazing um teddy bridgewater has shown flashes blake portals i know you're a big fan if you had to pick one of them to build your team around going forward who would it be i would go Bortals. For me, he's thrown a lot of interceptions, but part of that just comes from the team he's on and the issues there and the protection. But Carr is a close second. He's really started to pick up in the last couple weeks. A couple of presses. I mean, today, there's nothing around Carr. That's the issue. They've got no running game. And I like some of the young receivers, but both of those quarterbacks have talent, poor offenses. Here's a damning

stat about that running game. Over the last three years, Darren McFadden has been under four yards per carry in 82% of his games. He looks like it too. You should give, I mean, we've given them credit, but Todd Bowles and this defense, we're just getting used to them finding ways to make it, you know, look good with guys like Larry Foote and Kevin Minter and Tony Jefferson and Sam Acho and like this is their defense and yet they only have one loss this season. Who would have thought last year when Wes's first softball pants bet was that the,

the Raiders would not get to five wins. They were four and six at one point last year. West looked to be in trouble. They've lost every game since then, and they're still looking for a win since last November or whatever. This is a franchise that continues to be just lost in space. Which Darnel Dockett was only too happy to remind those fans during the game. That's right.

He held up a big sign to the fans at the end. Worst team in the NFL, 0 and 6, with a big happy game. At least he put a smiley face on the end. And, by the way, we're getting a lot of tweets. We have not forgotten about Wes eating his softball pants for his Brian Hoyer, Johnny Mansell wager. That's just a matter of timing. It will happen.

Wes, there's going to be nylon. I'm actually looking forward to it. I think it would be fun. We'll eat his softball pants. We're in a very busy season, so, I mean, I'm not saying we wait, but we don't want to lose a writer right now. Oh, yeah. I thought we got Connor in the mix, so we can afford to it.

We've got the oar, man. All right. Which takes us to Sunday night football, which was really the Peyton Manning show. The great quarterback broke Brett Farb's record for touchdown passes in a career, leading the Broncos to a 42-17 blowout win over the San Francisco 49ers, ending the Niners three-game winning streak. Gentlemen, we all watch this game.

It was not ever really close. the Broncos were in control from the very beginning in what was Manning's night. Not only Chris Wessling did Peyton Manning set the touchdown record. He did it on the night that was among the best nights in his storied career. He fell just one point shy of a perfect passer rating. It was one of the ten best games by efficiency in his entire career. He threw his fourth touchdown pass just a few minutes into the third quarter and then they just coasted from there. With Demarius Thomas healthy as he has been over the last couple weeks

The hottest receiver in the NFL This is starting to look a lot like the Denver offense that we saw last year Where we've talked on this show already tonight about other teams in the AFC North and West And whatever I don't see a team in the AFC that can at this stage right now really touch what they're doing And Ronnie Hillman, Juan Thompson They average over five yards per carry But we probably shouldn't get too far off a manned

I mean, four touchdowns, four incompletions. I just think back to when he signed with Denver and he was doing the free agent tour that the Bronco signed him to a year-by-year contract because no one was really sure if he was going to make it through one season. And here he is not only breaking Brett Farve's all-time record, but 19 touchdowns, three interceptions. He faces Philip Rivers on Thursday night. The Broncos win that game.

we do those mid-season MVP awards. It's like, well, maybe it's Peyton Manning again, you know? He is so much better than anyone else has ever been. And, you know, my Jets are not going to be in the mix by January. I'm openly, we'll be rooting for Peyton Manning to win a Super Bowl, because I'm so sick of everyone, you know, using the playoffs and out not to give Manning the respect he's due. What this guy is doing, again, he's doing it again.

He's 38 years old, and again, he's putting up insane, incredible numbers. And all he needs is that last Super Bowl And no one will ever question that he's the best So I'm behind, I'm on the Peyton Manning train I'm riding hard He's a boy in my stable That's crazy talk What?

There's never going to be consensus On who the best quarterback in NFL history is Yeah, I agree with that I can't, I think you can make the case for him But it'll be yeah But if he throws 600 touchdown passes And wins two Super Bowls And he gets the two others

I feel like that's a pretty strong case I think it's hard for a lot of fans around the league You watch what the Broncos did tonight, which is completely disassemble a team that was in the Super Bowl two seasons ago. And was playing really well this year. And playing really well. And then you look at like 24, 23 other quarterbacks

around the league, and it's like, wait a minute, my team has abs, will never you'll never see quarterback play like this ever again on your own team. If you're a fan of the Titans or the Jets or the Browns or the Bengals, whatever. Enjoy it, though. Enjoy it. I can enjoy it, but it's, I'm actually complimenting Mani by saying that's how far

and away he is from everyone else right now. Kind of to my point that we, instead of people giving Manning a hard time. Just enjoy what we're seeing right now. This is so special what this guy's doing. It's outrageous how good this man is. To put it in perspective, Chase Stewart of football, pro football reference had a nice stat saying that Alex Smith has 111, I believe, touchdowns in his career, 113, and Peyton Manning basically has the same amount since he signed with the Broncos two years ago. What about the, let's just go to the Niners real quick. You know, Greg, something I want to take issue with you. You said on

Our last podcast. This is your boss, so just be careful. This will be done with all due respect, sir. You're wearing a book bag right now. Yeah, I'm ready to leave. You can't, you're leaning forward because you have a book bag on. Very professional, though. The listeners would have never known.

But I will tell you this, Greg. We talked about how the Niners were playing better. And, you know, I said, you know, if they deliver a nice performance in Denver and play a good game, we'll know they're all the way back. And then Greg said, they are all the way back. Now, they're not all the way back. You've got to at least be competitive in this spot, and they played a horrible game. They're four and three.

They're okay. They're going to be fine. But this team still has some things to work out. But there are reasons that they've struggled defensively. They're missing all their best players, and a lot of them, their three best on defense are coming back. Patrick Willis will get back in the mix, Navar Bowman, Alden Smith. They got blasted by the Seahawks last year early in the season. They recovered.

They got blasted by the Seahawks a couple of years ago. and still played pretty well in the playoffs and nearly won the Super Bowl. You know, it happens. You get blasted on the road against the best team in the NFL, and the Denver might be the best team in the NFL. The one counter to that, because, Wes, I knew you were saying something similar also, was, yeah, Navarra Bowman's coming back. Alden Smith is coming back.

We don't know if they're going to come back and be those guys, though, either. So to assume that they're going to come back and be Monster, all-pro-type guys, could be a bridge too far. If you look at the Broncos, I mean, ACL surgeries are nothing. Chris Harris and Von Miller, you know, they're better than they ever. How about that Broncos defense? Von Miller now leading the NFL in sacks has been great against the run. DeMarcus Ware second in the NFL in sacks. They've combined for 15. They look great. I think Greg's right. You have to talk about this team as the best team in the NFL right now.

And my sandwich proposition, by the way, that J.J. Watt would have more sacks and Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware combined. I picked literally the two worst players to go against J.J. Watts, which is almost an achievement. I feel like you guys should let me off the hook because I saw. somehow managed to hit on the two best sackmasters in the league. Conversely, I think you should just go buy the sandwiches tomorrow. Maybe I will. I won't blame you for bringing that up because I know you were just having fun,

but it's fun for me to enjoy the ride along the way. I'm in on it now too because these guys might go 30 sacks together. I like Joe Horgan from the Hall of Fame, taking Peyton Manning's record-setting football, putting in a little brown bag and vanishing. Everyone just assumes he'll go back

to Can and get me, Peyton. You'll never get me. It's about disappear into Middle Europe With what is the most treasured I don't know, wherever Somewhere nicer than that Well somewhere unfindable I've got this thing the NFL wants

You come get me By the way As we're talking about bad Sandwich bets here TD, do you remember your Calvin Johnson's going to score 25 touchdowns shenanigans? I do remember that Yes I'm reminded by it since he's on my fantasy team

I guess In fairness it was 24 I believe He had a break Randy Moss's record Which is 23 Again, it won't happen. I'm not shying away from it. I thought this was the year, Calvin would, again, dominate and have his best season yet.

He just got injured. It's going to be very expensive for you because we are going to pick some sandwiches that are going to be costly. Give it. I thought you said you weren't going to use that drop anymore. But, yeah, but just, I like that TD's comment that if he didn't hurt his ankle,

24 was going to happen. You have that best season ever and still have like nine fewer touchdowns that TD predicted. All right. So that's it. it for week seven, at least week seven through Sunday. We have one more

Monday night game, but we'll be back on Wednesday. Thank you for listening to our show. And the wheel goes round and round, around. Signing off, this is Dan Hensis for the Sizzler, the mailman, the boss. And T.D. behind the glass. Later.

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