NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL Week 8 recap

Episode Date: October 27, 2014

A room full of heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling and Marc Sessler -- recap every Sunday night game of Week 8 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. Don't mess with no horses, bro. 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. Was that a callback to the great, great horse-fearing Eric Barry? I think so. I believe so. That goes back to the old, old podcast days. Yes, the ATL debate club.

One of our, brought my wife on, if you remember, who used to ride horses to talk about the fear. That's what our podcast used to be about. Now it's a crazy football fest. And you got Wes in here, you've got a scientist here. You have Greg Rosenthal, one of the great fantasy minds of the 21st century here. He comes over. You know, we have everything cooking now.

All fantasy talk. Well, Greg went to PFT, and then we poached him. NFL media conglomerate, and away we go. Mark and Dan were a big part of that, recruiting me, coming over to my house, offering me. Plying you with things that may not have been legal, but we got it done. We got Greg in the building. It is Week 8. It is the Week 8 Sunday show, an exciting show, a great one.

TD and Wes, you seem like you have to get something off your chest with TD, right? TD, he set down the rules with a very heavy hand, I thought, that we are not allowed to wear hats. Now that we're on camera. Now that we're on camera. Look who's wearing a hat tonight. You ask me if I have a God complex. Let me tell you something. I am God.

I think it's more of a hypocrisy complex. I know the TD is not feeling well. Is that accurate? That is correct. And I'm just trying to push through guys. All right. So, okay. We're going to try to take it easy on you.

We're not going to mess up once. We're just going to roll through the show. No pressure. We've got a great week of games. And we're also going to get our friend, our newest around the NFL member, Connor O'er on the line. He was at the metal ends today for that bloodbath for the Jets, which we'll get into a little later in the show.

But let's start as we always do with some games that really jumped out at us, the games of the day. So let's do it. Let's get right into it, T.D. Let's roll. Ben Rafflesberger. The Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback became the first player in NFL history to throw for at least 500 yards in multiple games.

This time he did it against the Colts, just leveling Indianapolis, a 51-34 win on Sunday in Pittsburgh. Chris Wessling, I ask you as a man that is a historian of the game who loves football, who ingests it like a maniac. Where is this on your list of the best quarterback performances you've ever seen? It's right up there. It might be the best. If he had one more pass attempt, he would have had the highest completion percentage ever on 50 pass attempts. And you went further, about halfway through the third quarter, maybe getting close to fourth. you said this was the best quarterback's game overall in terms of a quarterback matchup that you've

ever seen. I think they ought to do away with the rest of the schedule and just have the Steelers and Colts play each other every week. It reminded me a little bit of that Broncos Cowboys shoot up from last year, but luck and Big Ben were making better throws, like more eye-catching amazing throws in this game. I thought your best quarterback performance was in reference to Brown's Raiders. I didn't see that game, but I I'm going to go out on a limb and say it wasn't the best. Here's the funny thing about this game. Andrew Luck went 26 of 45 for 400 yards and three touchdowns,

but it wasn't even close to the best quarterback of the day. He threw two interceptions. He was mortal. Here's Rafflesberger's line because we cannot understate how incredible this game was. Big Ben went 40 of 49, 522 yards, six touchdowns, no interceptions. I believe he came to 32 yards short of the all-time passing record set years and years earlier. The only reason they didn't said it is because they decided to run the ball out. They could have easily done it the way they were having their way.

Antonio Brown had 133 yards receiving. Heath Miller had 112. Martavius Bryant. Martavis. There's no you in Mortavis. I've spoken with him. He actually told me the way I said is proper. But I'll go with you.

You can't just make up your name if there's not a letter in there. You can't call a guy with Martavis, Martavis. Plow on. All right. Martavis, Brian. Five for 83. Two touchdowns. three touchdowns in two games.

That might be a guy that if he really starts cooking, you got Antonio Brown, who's a top three wide receiver in the league, got Heath Millie, he's a nice little player. Levion Bell. Chris Wessling was giddy watching this game because he loves the Steelers so much. There is boys. All of them into the stable of boys. They're an exciting team to watch.

It comes from an organic place. I thought today's newsroom was the most excited newsroom we've had all year. It's been a fun day. The thing that stuns me, I can't wait to dive in and watch this game a little closer is the Colts defense was. playing as well as any defense in the league entering this one and the Steelers get more than 600 yards. What happened to the Colts defense? What do you think was the factor? Yvante Davis got hurt really early in the game. He has been, I think, maybe the best cornerback

in the NFL this year. He's the key to their defense. Wow. He and Greg Tuller play press man-to-man defense, take man-to-man and allows Minoski and Pagano to blitz all afternoon. they had to play a lot more zone defense today and they paid for it and they weren't able to get any pass rush whatsoever. I think the other thing with Pittsburgh, we've seen hints of this all year long because they really do have,

we talked about maybe they had the best triplets in the AFC early in the year and there's been some inconsistency the defense has given them issues but I'm not that shocked that this happened to that team today and it's funny to look back when we thought this Big Ben Todd Haley marriage

was headed for utter disaster. I mean, they're really flourishing right now. Well, I think part of it, it is like you said the talent's been there all along part of it is that big ben just was absolutely on fire every pass he threw was on point a lot of those incompletions were balls that he threw it like right on the money 25 yards downfield and were knocked away by the defender just great plays and then part of it is that martavis brian is is really emerging as this fourth weapon that they needed an offense behind big ben brown and bell he looks great in red zone packages and as a deep

threat. I think he's absolutely crucial to their offense. It's funny because in the summer we wrote articles about how Bryant was this red zone threat and then he vanished for a month and a half, but maybe it just takes more than the first five weeks of the season for these guys to flesh out. Yeah, Big Ben has mentioned several times that he needed to get his nose in the playbook. It didn't seem

like he was trying that hard. Greg, I want to thank you for convincing me to take the Steelers as a hero. Oh, it's gross. But I do like that it's opened up the avenue that we can change your picks at the end of the week if you're feeling strong. So So congrats, you know. Thanks.

And you're talking. You got another one. You're on fire. First place in the picks now. It's your year. It's your year. The old sleeper. Zeus, the sleeper.

Let's move on. Don't blow it. I mean, now it's your year. Long way to go down. You don't get it. You blew it. The Arizona Cardinals came up big in the final two minutes on Sunday. They got a 75-yard touchdown reception from John Brown and a last second defensive stop.

And a 24-20 win over the Philadelphia Eagles. This was a battle between two, five-and-one teams. A very good game marred by some, a lot of laundry on the field. I think there was 20 penalties for almost 200 yards. But the game itself was a very entertaining game to watch. And it came down to the last possession after the long round touchdown. Chip Kelly's offense marched down the field. But I'll tell you this, the genius, Chip Kelly, for all, for all we give him all the credit.

And sure he deserves it because he's so smart. Todd Bowles outschemed him at the end of the game. They moved the ball down the field. But Todd, he said no, I'm going to keep coming at you. They bought the Blitz. They kept them bringing the house, and Nick Foles couldn't handle it. Through a couple bad passes, including one that sailed out of bounds to end the game where they couldn't get two feet down.

Credit the Cardinals are getting aggressive and staying aggressive. Well, credit the Cardinals for always being aggressive, for having a play in the playbook like John Brown going deep on a third down late in the game. I mean, Ariens is always going for it. Todd Bulls is always going for it. But he didn't out-scheme Chip Kelly. He out-schemed Nick Foles. You know, 15 quarterbacks in the league, I think, win that game down the stretch

without backpedaling 25 yards and throwing passes out of bounds and freaking out. That is Bowles saying exactly what he thinks about Nick Foles, that you can't handle the pressure because a big-time veteran quarterback is going to pick on that one-on-one coverage on the outside and win the game, and he couldn't do it. And we were talking on it downstairs. We've talked about it all your. Nick Foles is almost impossible to figure out.

You look at the stat line at the end of almost every game, throws her over 300 yards. This time it was 400 yards. He set the Eagles record today with 36 completions in the game, but there's just still too many throws that are terrible throws. He did not have a great game. And, you know, what Greg's saying there, it checks out. I mean, if a quarterback was making plays,

that game was there to be had at the end, but he was not able to take advantage of the overaggression, perhaps, of Arizona. Every week, Foles seems to be a lightning rod. He's either, he's producing, but we're not happy with his mechanics, whatever it is. Do you, if you watch him, do you feel like it's something that's fixable? He's a young quarterback still. Is it something that three years from now, these issues are cleaned up, or is this who he is?

And he's sealinged out. His footwork's been bad, if you mentioned mechanics. His footwork's been bad all year. That's been a problem. I don't know that he's that good. I mean, to me, even last year, you knew that a lot of what he was doing was Chip Kelly's scheme. He is giving the Eagles coaching staff in front office the toughest dilemma that you have with quarterbacks. It's like what the Andy Dalton.

He's basically right around the Dalton line. What do we call it again? The AD scale. The AD scale. He's right in the middle where he's just good enough that you don't feel like you're going to move on. But I think they're going to have a really hard decision at the end of the year because I think they'll win a lot of games. Maybe they win some playoff games too. And yet I don't think he's playing well at all.

Dan, after watching this game, do you feel like Larry Fitzgerald was the most underutilized receiver in the league before this week? It was so great to see Larry Fitzgerald. Wes is alluding to an 80-yard catch-and-run where he caught essentially a short three-yard slant from Carson-Pom. darted through two defenders and then took it to the house. He outran everyone, 31 years old, doesn't put up the same numbers he used to. But that was the glowing example that Larry Fitzgerald is still Larry Fitzgerald. And if they could do a better job of getting him the ball, he could still be that type of receiver. I don't think he'll be there next year unless he does a massive restructure on the contract.

And I don't think Todd Bowles will be there either. I mean, we talked about Arizona. We didn't believe in them. They couldn't be our team of ATL because there's this injury here and there. And they've got multiple, you know, people down on defense. they keep bringing it. And, you know, I bet against them at home this week, big mistake won't do it again.

Since this point last year, the Cardinals are tied with the Broncos for the best record in the NFL. Let's not just skip past the Brown play. I mean, that's one of the plays of the year. He caught that over his shoulder. It was a great pass by Carson Palmer, but not an easy catch at all.

The pull off an 80-yard plate when you're down three like that. You know, the Eagles are thinking, worst-case scenario, they're going to go to overtime in that situation. And Nate Allen just get burned. It was an awesome play. John Brown makes plays every week. Yeah, he was easy speed, easy cheese to use a baseball analogy,

blowing past Nate Allen and Carrie Williams on the play to get open. And we talked about it, and I think other people have talked about it, that he's very much like T.Y. Hilton and Indy. He's a breakout guy. There's so much talent on this offense. If Carson Palmer can make the plays, and his line today was a little deceiving, he had those big two completions,

didn't move the ball regularly for the team. But there's enough here with Ellington for them to score a lot of points. and the defense is surprised us this year. The Eagles look vastly superior, though. Let's not forget about it. They went to the Red Zone three times. They didn't score a touchdown. They fumbled the ball inside the five.

They got stopped on the one-yard line right at the end of the game. They got intercepted at the 25. If Foles didn't make a total bonehead throw with about nine minutes left when the Eagles had all the momentum and pretty much control of the game, they win the game. I think Folls lost it. Yeah, but all those things are why they're not vastly superior also, aren't they? I mean, I think Arizona Foneman.

lines ways to win these games. And they put the heat on the 49ers and the Seahawks now to try to keep pace. Even if the Eagles were vastly superior, we don't trust their quarterback. Right. And you saw those two long plays, their weakness as a team is their secondary. All right, moving on. Tom Brady had as many touchdowns. That's five, his incompletions and 35 attempts on Sunday leading the New England Patriots to just if you're a bearish fan, just a hideous 51-23 loss. I mean, how can you even imagine that happening to your team in Foxborough, Patriots have won. Is that three straight since that Monday night lost? Four straight. And they're doing it in a convincing matter. Greg, everything is great in Foxborough.

Everybody's happy. And here we go. What's their record now? Six and two. Six and two. Halfway to what, Mark? 12 and four, as we predicted all along. Every year, 12 and four. Congrats. Well, they have a tough stretch coming up, but this game did finally convince me that they're ready to start winning some of these tough games. Let's give Greg a little credit. He went through a 10, 12. 14-day stretch that it was tough to be a Patriots fan because some questioned, you know, the viability of the quarterback and Tom Brady as he still have it. But, you know, after that two-week, really rough stretch for Greg, bang.

Where are you going? You're going right to the AFC Championship. You're going to lose the Broncos. I wasn't sweating it that bad. But the reason why the offense has turned around is gronk. Exactly. That's just like last year, though, too, right? Right.

And that's the reason. It's not so much now that he's back on the field, but he's actually gronk. And you saw a couple of things today that defined their great offenses in 2010 through 2012. You saw the two tight ends with Tim Wright catching six passes and Gronk just dragging people all over the field. And you saw them playing hurry up at a faster pace than they have all year by far. I mean, they were getting the ball snapped with 20, 25 seconds left. The whole first half was a fast break. And I don't think the Bears were ready for it.

Was it shotgun? A lot of shotgun. Because they never used shotgun earlier this season. Right. And the Patriots, it made me think maybe the. these guys, and I'm talking mostly about Lafell and Gronk is healthier and you'd throw right in the mix. Lafell went over 100 yards, had a lot of tough catches. Maybe they know the offense well enough that they can just leave them on the field and let them go.

And we know New England is often recreated themselves offensively and that, you know, that fast-paced offense they did use for a while. But it's, you know, again, New England takes players. Lafell could not make it work in Carolina. Suddenly, what do you have, 120-something yards today? 124, 11 catches and touch. A lot of really tough. him right, too. He looks good after the catch, too.

Yeah, and he made contested catches. I mean, Jonas Gray was their leading rusher by far. 17 carries today. He's their inside runner. The offensive lines a lot more stable. Again, it was against the Bears, though. I think it's going to have a habit of making some offenses look good. Let's talk about the Bears for a second.

Three and five going into their by week. This is a bad situation in Chicago now. And I guess the first question I have is because I remember when Tressman came to town, we raved about how special he was and got this office. offense back on track. The offense doesn't seem to be as dominated as it was a year ago when Cutler was healthy, and the defense obviously isn't there to back it up. Like, what has changed?

Let's start with offense. What has changed with the Bears on offense this season? Compared to last year? Yeah. The offensive line's not as good. The offensive line's not as good. Marshall was injured for a good portion of the season. Jeffrey was injured for a game or two.

Maybe they're not in rhythm. I don't know. Kurt Warner today on NFL game day morning said, But Jay Cutler is not the only problem with this team, but he's the biggest problem with this team. And let's not remember last year, the reason Wesleyan made Josh McCown of making the leap candidate is because he went on one of the hottest streaks we've seen in a long time in Tressman's system. And I think that made us think Tresman can do that with anyone. He's a quarterback whisper. But, you know, Cutler, Cutler's Cutler.

And everyone's waiting for this breakout MVP season. He is what he is. Well, the defense was the problem today, though. You know, they picked on Kyle Fuller, the rookie who's played so well until he basically left the game. game with an injury. So they either knew he was hurt or he was playing hurt or he was just so embarrassed he left the game. I mean, Lafelle dragged him all over the field. Their safeties were terrible and they couldn't stop the run when they needed to either. How is Mel Tucker still running a defense in the NFL? He won't be next year. And speaking of defense, now that you've had half a game

or half a season to look at the Patriot's secondary, how different is it this year when compared to last year? Brandon Browner made a big difference today and Dorel Revis had a good day shutting down Brandon Marshall, you know, people have made the case that the Revis pickup wasn't that great, but he's been very solid, the best cornerback they've had in a long time. So maybe he's not Revis from before, but he's been excellent. And technically entering the game, they'd given up the fewest passing yards in the entire NFL this year, had a nice day. Browner's been great. I don't know. The defense is secondary. It's another magical campaign, another beautiful autumn for Greg. Yeah, enjoy that week in January when everyone's playing the playoffs and you're just

game planning and getting ready during your body. And then they'll lose and they have some. championship. So relax. Here's a little bit more on Brady. This is a month after he was washed up according to almost every analyst in print and on television. 27 of 27 to those three guys we talked about, Gronk Lafell and Tim Wright. And I saw somebody who was charting the game today counted not a single misfire from Brady all game. That's what I'm saying. Go watch the game and put it up against Ben's spectacular game. Brady's right there because there was five completions and five touchdowns. Two drops I know in there by Edelman.

A throwaway or two. I don't know if there was a bad pass in there. He played it perfect. What more do you want? He did something. You're rolling your eyes. You could always do what you can do. Wes's boy is Rafflesberger and your boy's Brady.

And what do I have? I have Gino Smith and Michael Vic. I have nothing. Yeah, I feel for you, Dan. Brady did something no other quarterback's ever done. 350 yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions, and 85% completion. Must be nice. And then he added another touchdown just for it.

Everything's great. Matt Prater hit a 48-yard field goals. Time expired, leading the Lions to a 22-21 win over the Atlanta Falcons in the Wake-up at Wambly game. Is that an English accent or is that Australian? That was subpar, but... Okay, anyway, the Falcons blew a 21-to-nothing lead in this game. Arthur Blank even made some comments afterwards that you simply cannot blow a 21-0

lead. not a good sign for Mike Smith and company. Well, you can. Obviously, you can. They did it. I watched it. Yeah, you can't do it. You can if you're going to be the Falcons coach next year.

Thank you, Mark. So, Mark, this was a game of two halves. As you woke up early and you had your breakfast tart that the people in England eat, and you watch this game. Tell us about it. I really have no memory of what happened here because it was roughly like 14 hours ago at this point. But the Falcons, it reminded me of the game that Wesleyan and I stuck around. for the Tampa Bay game where they just looked white hot out of the gate.

I mean, everything Matt Ryan did worked, and in converse, Detroit couldn't get anything going. But then after halftime, because Detroit looked like they basically didn't even really wake up for this game either. But Stafford, who was very imperfect all day long, made enough throws, and they got some turnovers, and the Falcons really just melted. It was what, tied for the largest allowed points, you know, comeback by another team. team in franchise history, a total wipeout in the second half. And what annoys me a little bit about the game, even though I picked the line,

so on some level I was happy that they won. But then at the same time, you get a delay of game penalty on the field goal miss. So you basically get rewarded for being horribly unprepared to get your field goal unit out there. They got a second chance, and then he hits it from five yards further. So if you're, can you even imagine, I was thinking about this after the game, how horrible loss that is for the Falcons who have to swallow that and then get on a plane. and fly across the ocean. Well, they only have themselves to blame for it,

but also Greg and I went crazy watching Jim Caldwell's hyper-conservative approachware. He was trying to set up a 50-yard field goal with 40 seconds left for Matt Prater. They were two of 12 this year on field goals over 30 yards, I think it was, and yet he was trying to set up a 50-yarder. And then the Falcons took time-out. It was a totally bizarre sequence,

and there was a defensive holding call on a run, which I can't remember. ever seeing that, much less than that situation. That's the only thing that even set up the field goal. It was a battle of who could coach worse between Caldwell and Smith. It was a delicious game, though. It was one of the more entertaining finishes of the entire season. I didn't see this game.

So a question for you guys who saw it, is Golden Tate the greatest wide receiver in NFL history? Well, I'll say, it's funny because he's almost in the Megatron mold right now. Move over. No Megatron and no Bush in there. Like, he has had to do it all himself. There's nothing else. you know they had three tight ends out as well there's nothing else for stafford to throw to right now but he got a slow start in the MVP discussion he's one of the most i think he is

in he's on the outskirts of that conversation that he's one of the most valuable receivers it's amazing how he makes plays every week to make them win the game stafford was brutal today he was bad he's been his worst season i think of his career this year i would say it has been the best free agent signing by any team where west and your stable of boys it does golden tape have the honeymoon suite at this point. No, Steve Smith is... Oh, I knew that. I knew that.

Let's stop with this whole line of questioning. What do you mean? Wesleyan's a bit. He's very much into individuals, and this is one of his... Everyone has one of his guys. And that's... I think that was a shot at me. What?

I'm into individuals. You are. You have... Well, you are. You don't have a team. You have a stable of players that get you jazzed up. That's accurate. Well, I have teams every year.

They just switch. Well, then you have teams every year as well. Yeah. One day, Wes will come back to the Bengals. No, that will not happen. It's going to happen, and it will be a special day. Before we move on for this game, in case any shadowy league figures are listening, let's sign up for some more wake-ups at Wimbly or whatever the heck you're calling it.

Just get another fourth game on the program. You liked it. People loved it. Just another game to watch. It was fun. I like waking up to watch it at Wembley. Before we leave this game, a Twitter follower asked me, will Mike Smith be canned

within the next week or two? No, I think they have too much respect. He's probably the best coach in franchise history, so I think they have too much respect for him to do something like that, and they'll do it at the end of the year. That's what I thought too. Russell Wilson connected with Luke Wilson on a 23-yard touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter,

leading the Seattle Seahawks to a 13-9 win over the Carolina Panthers. Wes, this wasn't the clean, everything is okay now game for the Seahawks, I imagine, they got it done? I'm not sure if they deserved to win. It was extremely sloppy, dropped passes,

mistrows by Russell Wilson, cost them a couple of touchdowns. Defensively, they dropped a couple of interceptions, flubbed some fumble recoveries. Cam Chancellor isn't himself. They held the Panthers to nine points, but Kevin Benjamin should have had two touchdowns. He dropped one in Cam Newton,

overthrew him by a yard on another one. It was a sloppy game all around. Big win, though, for the Seahawks. I mean, they would have gone to three and four, three games back of the Cardinals. Look, they had a lot of wins like this last year. They pretty much had an identical game in Carolina last year. In fact, I think the final score last year in Carolina was 12 to 7. This year, it's 13 to 9.

Similar sort of thing where they end up getting the scores in the fourth quarter to get it done. Wes, what's going on with Marshawn Lynch? He's not getting the ball as much. I know before the games, NFL media columnist Michael Sillard. Silver reported that Lynch Harbor's, quote, ill feelings toward coach Pete Carroll for his training camp holdout and offseason proclamations about a reduced workload. Are they just not feeding him the ball? Is that a case again today? Yeah, he's actually, he has a higher yards per carry average than last year, but his carries per game is down by almost five.

They're just not getting him. He's not getting into a groove. They're not handing the ball like every series and moving the chains. They're not allowing him to do that. Well, sorry, it's funny because Albert Breer, and it talks. to some people inside the organization last week in this notebook where, you know, there were a number of players watching Daryl Bevel closely, wanting to go back to that run heavy offense, but they didn't, so they're not doing that still.

No, they're still passing more than they're running. Right, by a lot. I don't know what the ceiling for this offense is. And what's the ceiling? As good as they were last year, I don't even know if that's possible. I think they miss Harvin. I really do. The receivers don't separate.

They don't make plays. contested passes either. I think they're going to miss Harvin. I mean, they came in scoring more points and churning out more yardage per game than last season. That's fair. I guess my point is more that they need their defense to be that best in the league defense. That's their kind of difference right now. That's the roadmap for them winning the Super Bowl. It's not going to be because of their offense. Ooh, jaunty. An offensive pass interference call on Steve Smith wiped out a go-ahead touchdown with seconds to play, allowing the Bengals to hold off the Baltimore Ravens with a 27-24 win at Paul Brown Stadium.

The Bengals are back in first place in the hyper-competitive AFC North Mark. I asked you to do the best team win today. I really came in looking at Baltimore as the almost obvious best team in the North. And after what the Steelers did today, that I'm not convinced of anymore. And I can't buy the Bengals. This feels like every other Bengals Ravens game that I've seen over the last three years, where, you know, they're going to split and you're going to get one good game for the home team

and then the next. You know, this game really should have been Baltimore's. I don't know if that call on Steve Smith. I guess it felt like that, you know, offensive pass interference. It was close. It was borderline to me and it was a beautiful pass. Flacco, though, is culpable in this game a little bit. After he came in with 14 touchdowns, five picks

through two bad interceptions today that gave, you know, Cincinnati a chance to get back in and win the game. So, you know, it wasn't the goal. cleanest effort by the Ravens. It's a problem for the Ravens that they've gotten swept by Cincinnati because any tie break, whether it's the two of them or three teams tying for the division, they're in a big hole now because of that 0 and 2 record. They kind of have to sweep the Steelers to make up for it. And the Bengals get A.J. Green back. And in what we talked about before

that they aren't the same team, they really weren't. I think Mohammed Sunu did as much as you could ask for someone to step up and make some big plays. But the offense has just seemed completely out of sync and I just I still can't believe in Andy Dalton he had an awful fumble today where he just was spinning around like a marionette with the ball hanging out there and that should have been the game too well I know and I know Andy Dalton is enemy number one of this podcast and no one believes nobody believes in the Bengals no that's not fair but let's give them should we believe in the Bengals well we shouldn't maybe put him down as much as we do that's always been right he's

been very clean this season first place in the AFC North right now we talk about like they're awful because we've seen them we've seen their little ruse in the playoffs before i don't think they're awful they're very confusing because they were as bad as can be on defense the last three weeks and they were great the first three weeks so they were just figuring them out let me finish my point though that maybe they deserve some credit of beating the ravens today when they don't have a j green they don't have marvin jones like this is a nice win and and for andy dalton for that terrible fumble that led to the score that put him behind you also let him down the field and got him in the end zone to give him the win so while this team is

not dominating anyone if you're making a list of the top five teams in the FACC right now they're probably five if you're lucky right now they're probably not and anyone's top three there's still a team that's playing pretty well considering what they're up against one thing we've said about Cincinnati even going back to last year is they're one of the most complete teams in aFC I don't think it's accurate to say that we're all bearing Dalton I mean he is he is going to do those two or three one or two three plays a game to get you killed but we Andy Dalton's had a nice season for the most part up to now

But do you look at him as someone that's a plus factor for that team? No. Well, that's all we're saying. It's a huge win. That's not what we say. We're not all saying the same thing about him, number one. I tend to think we're all on the same page, or the three of you are on the same page about Dalton, that he's not the answer. He's not a plus factor.

I think he's a reason that they are not winning playoff games. I've played Flacco though today, at least just looking at the numbers. Is that fair to say? Flacco had, I think, going back to week one, this was his worst game since week one. I'll say something positive about the Bengals. Now that Golden Tate is starting to get some respect, Mohamed Sanoo is my pet project as the most underappreciated wide receiver in the NFL. He is, I mean, what a lifesaver.

What about Greg Little? I think he's appreciated properly. Anything else in this game, guys? Okay, I guess not. TD says no. Moving forward, the Miami Dolphins ran back to Blake Bordell's interceptions for touchdowns, giving Joe Philbin's team more. than enough scoring a 27-13 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Jaguars cannot build off their big win over the Browns last week. Let's talk a little bit about Blake Bordals watching this game. He has now six turnovers in the past two weeks. He leads the league with 12 interceptions. He has four pick sixes. And don't forget all this was done. He didn't really start a game until week four. So Bortles, while has plenty of tools, he has not entered a great situation,

and he's turning the ball over too much right now. I think it's like your your quarterbacks that go high in the draft and Varylby are going to incomplete awful teams. At the same time, I think from what we've seen from Bordels, this guy is not afraid to fire the ball down field, but he's not reading the field correctly. You know, he made some terrible throws in Cleveland last week. I didn't watch the game today, but obviously that happened again.

That's what you're going to get with this guy. Any team, yeah, any team that plays a rookie quarterback, these games are going to happen in the game, you know, the games he's had where his turn to the ball, over too much. Do you guys think it was the right move to roll with him this far to go from week four on? Was this the right move? Yes, I do. And even with all of these pick sixes, I'm still convinced he's going to be a star. I agree. How did the Narn Robinson look, Dan? He has, he's the backfield guy there now. He's the man. He had a second straight game

over 100 yards. They were feeding the ball. He even looked pretty good running between tackles. He was showing me something that I didn't really expect to see. Toby Garrow. Hart, who's named Toby, so it should have been the tip-off. He is not the answer there. They gave him a nice amount of money. He's healthy today. He had four carries, so he's been marginalized and look for OW to be their guy in the backfield going forward.

How about the Dolphins? I mean, we kind of sunk this team as irrelevant. Here they are, like the bills, above 500 at mid-season, almost four and three. They're winning the games they're supposed to win the last few weeks. A little bit of credit for the Dolphins. They deserve credit for sure. I will say that Ryan Tannahill took a little bit of a step back today. You want to see consistent play from him.

So we'll see. I'm interested to see how he does next week if maybe he just shrugs this off and continues. He got better in the second half. But there was a point in the first half. I think midway through the second quarter, they had four total yards on offense. So they were not moving the ball very well at all. Some good news if you're a Dolphinsman, also Tana Hill and Mike Wallace hooked up on a 50-yard pass, which has been an issue with him.

season. So that would be something to get excited about. And then a weird stat. I don't put too much into this, but Tannihill had his third straight game with a 30-yard rush. No quarterback has done that since 2004, Michael Vick. So as we talked about last week, this guy is doing it with his legs. He's rushed for about 50 yards, three straight weeks.

So Bill Laser is incorporating a sneaky element of his game. I think they're a bad team. Yeah, this defense, too. I mean, they can get to the quarterback four sacks, quarterback hits today. Not playing the best offensive line in the AFC, we know that, but, you know, dolphins and bills, they're not going to win that

division because the Patriots are blessed eternally, but maybe sneaky potential wild card candidates here. Are we buying that? Well, I'm not ready to count them out, that's for sure. I mean, the bills especially, suddenly five and three. Yeah, the AFC is way deeper than last year. Yes, it is.

And much more than the NFC. It is going to be a lot tougher to get into the playoffs, but I think they have a chance. these bills and dolphins. The next team we're going to talk about is the team that I really wanted to gauge you guys on what you think about them as playoff contenders. Transition.

Jamal Charles rushed for a pair of touchdowns to lead the Kansas City Chiefs to a 34 to 7 win over the St. Louis Rams. This is a game of the Chiefs had a 2-1 advantage and time of possession. Alex Smith completed 85.7% of his passes. Wes, the Chiefs have won 4 of 5. As we said, with the exception of week one, they've brought it every week.

They've been a competitive team. They're winning now. Do you buy the Chiefs as a legit AFC playoff contender? Well, I think you have to say, by their record in the way they've played, you have to include them in that, I don't know, half dozen teams that are around that four and three, five, and three that do have a shot at the wild card. They're not going to win that division. Are they the best of those teams hanging around there?

I don't think if you put the Ravens in that mix, I think the Ravens are the best of those. See, Dan, if you point to Dalton as someone that's not appreciated. I would more quickly point to Alex Smith, 24 of 28. That's not easy to do. I really is he's not whipping the ball 30 yards down field. But, yeah, he manages. I think he might be the best game manager of any quarterback in history if you label these game managers like that,

like the Trent Dilvers and Brad Johnson's of the world. Their offensive line was such an issue in the preseason, and they obviously lost a ton of people. Is it better now? Is it playing more cohesively? Yeah, I think it's a lot better than we expected. We expected it to be a season-long Achilles heel for them, and it hasn't been. And part of that is I'm sure that's a big part of why they do the Dink and Dung offense.

Smith and Reed deserve a lot of credit because they have Dwayne Bo, who's a number two, getting paid like a number one. They don't have a number two. They don't really have a number three. I mean, Travis Kelsey is a nice tight end, very nice tight end, but they don't have anyone at wide receiver. I mean, look at their leading receivers today. It's Bo, then Kelsey, then Charles, then Sherman, then Fasano, then Thomas, who's not really a receiver. You're down to your sixth receiver is Frankie Hammond, who's cat a bat. You have no wide receivers on the team, and yet you're dialing up enough offense to win games.

Maybe they'll have Vincent Jackson in the day or two. You know what they do have, the NFL sack leader. Justin Houston had three today. He's up to 10, bypassed. I mean, I don't think he's playing as well as Von Miller, but he's got more sacks than him. Wes, you know, Brett Farr, the man that was a great football. player. Now he's a maintenance worker, I understand, somewhere in the southern portion of the United

States. He wrangles, wrangles, wranglers. He said that Austin Davis could be the next Kurt Warner. You say the bloom is off the Austin Davis rose. It is. He had 80 yards before the final, like, garbage time drive today. No offense whatsoever in St. Louis. They got creative in that 49ers game and a little bit against the Seahawks, too.

Did that just... They had a nice opening drive again today. Touchdown. And then did nothing. the rest of the way. That's all you can ask from this offensive coordinator. That's all you're getting. The Buffalo Bills took advantage of six New York Jets' turnovers. That's a real number. Walsing to an easy 43-23 win over Rex Ryan's free-falling team at the Meadowlands on Sunday. The Jets have lost seven straight, and they again benched Gino Smith in favor of Michael Vick. After Gino Smith, and get this, people, through three interceptions in the first quarter.

He had more interceptions than completions. Luckily, because we are run by the boss, Greg Rosenthal, who knew this would be one of those great epic meltdown games for the Jets. We wanted to get someone and bed them at the MetaLand. So that's what we did. We have Around the NFL's New York correspondent, or New Jersey correspondent, I should say. Connor Orr, how you doing, buddy? Welcome back to the Around the NFL podcast.

What's going on? I'm feeling a little bit better now. I'm a few hours removed from quite possibly the worst offense. this is football game I've ever seen. Wow. Well, let's start right off the top because usually Kevin Patrick comes on here. His move when he signs on when we call him, what's going on, fellas. Yours was similar what's going on.

So that's an issue right off the bat before we get to the Jets. I want to have to come up with some sort of, I don't know, New Jersey, like, provincial, like, hello or something like that. Like maybe how you doing or something like that? How you doing? All right. Okay, good. Don't force it, though. Be natural.

Now, tell us about this one of the worst before. I mean, you used to cover the Jets. People that don't know, Conor, used to be the beat guy for the Jets for a couple of years. And you've seen a lot of ugly grim business in the Rex Ryan era. Tell us what's set this apart. Well, I mean, just the fact that, I mean, early on, Gino seemed so helping on just forcing the ball to Percy Harvin. And he, you know, he threw an interception on that one D ball down the jet sideline. And then the drive after that when Percy Harvin was out with the concussion, he threw the exact.

same route, only to Jeff Cumberland. So I don't know how he thought one would work out a little bit better than the other. And then, you know, then you're bringing Michael Vick, who fumbles four times and really throws two interceptions. One of them ended up getting called back. So, I mean, I think it was the first time since the 1991 Arizona Cardinals that they had two quarterbacks in one game have three or more turnovers. Ow, Jets football.

Go for it. Give us a little report card on Percy Harvin's first game as a jet. You know, I actually thought, I do agree with Eric Decker. I think he's going to open up the offense. You know, he ended up getting 40 snaps. They used him primarily on the outside, a little bit in the slot, probably about five or six times in the slot. And then I think he got about six or seven carries out of the backfield,

which was interesting. Really, it's what I thought Chris Johnson was supposed to be doing there. But, you know, apparently he's all but resigned to the fact that he's no longer a part of the offense, it sounds like. Yeah, I'm going to, while you're talking, I'm going to try to find the quote that I heard from Chris Johnson after the game. That's right. You were in the locker room. Did you go to the Bills or the Jets? I guess you probably went to the winners or you went to talk Harvin?

No, I wanted to see what was up with Gino and Vic. I wanted to see them talk. I thought that was definitely going to be the most interesting part of the night. And it didn't disappoint. I mean, the dynamics there are just fascinating. I mean, Rex just, you know, he's been there for so long and has never had a dependable quarterback. And, like, you can just tell he's just so worn down.

And both of those guys are talking. Neither of them really is campaigning for the starting job at this point. They don't want it. Why would you? And Rex didn't announce it after the game. But just a circle back, Chris Johnson was asked about the Jets quarterback situation. This was after he had, I don't know, three carry, something like that. He said, three carry seven yards.

Yep. He said, I don't even be in the game. I don't know. What does that mean? I don't know. So let's talk about the bills a little bit because another, you know, frisky middle of the pack AFC team took advantage of an outrageous amount of turnovers by the Jets. But they did some things today. Yeah, I mean, you know, they went, and I'm surprised actually, you know, I did kind of take a jab at Marone and his coaching staff for not going downfield more.

I mean, you know, they went deep to Sammy Watkins twice and, you know, two times he took it. 61 and 84 yards, he should have had too much down. He showboated trying to showboated trying to show off during his first long reception, and he was dragged down from behind, kind of the most embarrassing 84-yard catch ever. Yeah, by the converted wide receiver. So, I mean, that's one thing that Jets have going for them. Rex Ryan knows how to – it's like – and he's a very Belichekian of him to scrape the bottom of the roster and try to find the safety since –

Nobody else seems to be working out there. Forget Brady and Rathesberger. Kyle Orton averaged 14 yards per attempt today. 17 throws and he had four touchdowns. They did something that no quarterback has done since Bubby Brister in 1991. 10 or fewer completions and four touchdowns. Wow. Wow.

I like that. This is a historic game that I would. It is. See, Greg knows how to push all the buttons. He's like that manager in the playoffs that every movie makes is working. Greg Rosenthal. Ned Yost, baby. Wow, good job, Greg.

All right, thank you, Connor. Thank you, guys. Have fun. Hey, while we're on the topic of Kyle Orton, I want to read something, a feature in the Buffalo news that Greg Rosenthal brought to my attention. The headline, and Mark,

you should pay attention to this because you have assassinated this man's character in the past. Kyle Orton, the Bills' quiet warrior, and here's a line from the piece. Anyone who has interacted with Orton on a significant level can attest he is a man of passionate convictions away from the field. He's a known as an erudite, cultured and politically inspired.

He's an advocate for social changes, causes, and work is right. He's a deep thinker, Mark Sessler. Well, so, I mean, we've got Odell Beckham that strategy is to miss a month of work and come back and become a star. Now you've got Kyle Orton that's all these great things and decides to walk away with millions of dollars from Jerry Jones. So what is he teaching us? You know, I want you to go and read this article, Tim Graham.

I will read it. Great art. Great writer. What are you, come on. And just imagine, just imagine instead of the words Kyle Orton on the page, it says Mark Sessler, because I see some similarities here. I don't know, I don't know, philosophical as a person. And I mentioned that all along.

I don't like the way he dealt with the Dallas Cowboys. He hung him out to dry. You spoke of him as a man of low moral fiber. I did not like that particular lever pull. Maybe, like a lot of deeper thinkers. who have played football, they have some issues with the game, and they do wonder what it should mean for their lives. Maybe that was what Kyle Orton was doing.

Well, okay, but he also was like, let me get paid for doing nothing and let me get paid a lot. So suddenly we're painting him as this despian or something that walks around doing all these wonderful intellectual things. Well, he walked away with millions of dollars with doing nothing. I think we'd all like to do that. I would. I like to think of you, Mark, as the guy that what does it all mean?

You're like the biggest what-is-it-all-mean guy, I know. So there's a connection here, I think. I don't dislike him if he is the way they described him here, but I haven't met him, and I'm not going to just take this as gospel. Do we need a detente? Number nine overall pick, Anthony Barr, forced the fumble and returned it for a touchdown to deliver the Vikings a 19-13 overtime victory over the Buccaneers in Tampa. Greg, this was a game in which the Vikings dominated for three-quarters,

blew a 10-point lead, then managed to bring it home. I imagine Mike Zimmer, and by the way, congrats Mike Zimmer for knocking out those kidney stones. Two procedures to get rid of kidney stones. Really the worst thing in the world to even think about. And now he gets a nice win after some tough losses. Big week. Tell us about the game, Greg.

Well, the kids in Minnesota. And your kidney stone issues yourself. The kids in Minnesota, you got something to be excited about. I mean, Teddy Bridgewater had a very up and down game, but on his toughest throws, he made completions. I mean, the touchdown to Jennings was a beautiful play while he was getting hit. A lot of big third-down throws to Cordrell Patterson, who led the team in receiving yards, 86 yards today.

Bridgewater sets up overtime with a game-tying drive. Barr, who makes a couple wow plays every week wins it. There's your two first-round picks. Meanwhile, Sharif Floyd had a nice game. Everson Griffin's been on fire, so some of the building blocks for the Vikings are kind of coming around. We also got Corderole Patterson finally showing up, 86 yards off six catches and I really like Jerich McKinnon in the backfield too and he

he had a big day what 80 something yards yeah he was solid you know the the bucks couldn't move the ball I think they had 51 yards midway through the third quarter so typical Mike Glennon game that man he didn't have any time granted he didn't play well they had five straight three and out but the the Minnesota defensive line has something going here with Floyd Griffin Lynn Val Joseph's been a little bit of a disappointment but Robeson Griffin gets after I mean they've had a good

couple weeks last two weeks. They should have won both the games. Or the Bucks, the worst team in the NFL? I think they are right now. I would take the Raiders and the Jags over them on a neutral field. Because I think they've been lucky. The one game they won was lucky. And even the games they're in,

it feels like they're lucky. They were lucky to get this thing to overtime. Will Vincent Jackson be in Tampa Bay by Wednesday? I don't think so. You only had one catch today. Well, it sounds like they're getting a lot of offers from people, too. And this team almost needs to be blown up from scratch

why not. What's weird that they want to trade him so badly, because I get the sense that it's Tampa saying, for sale guys. I don't know if they're getting a lot of good offers because he'd be traded if they were getting a lot of good offers. I think they want to get rid of them. Impromptu game

of what's more likely. What's more likely? Has a job January 1st. Lovie Smith or Mike Smith. I say Lovie Smith is likely to have a job just because he's only been there a year. They probably want to give him

more than one year. Robbie Smith. Yeah, he's got to get more than a year. I don't know. I mean, we're just saying they're a team. They weren't expected to be a rebuilding team or some team in the tank this year. They could go 2 and 14. It's a fair question because the Bucks are one team that we all thought, oh, you know, Lovie Smith has just, he had a nice

sabbatical year. He's walked into a playoff ready defense. That's what we were saying back in April and May. And some bad losses. He's been there before. You can't keep firing coaches. one year into the contract. I mean, Shiano got fired a couple of years into it. They'd be playing three different coaches $5 million a year

if they went for another one. And he has a history with the bus. It's just fair for Dan to bring up his name because it's been one of the most disappointing coaching jobs of the year. Thanks, Mark. That's fair. Get props with the host. That works.

The Browns avoided becoming the first team in NFL history to drop back-to-back games to winless teams this late in the season. They took care of business with a 23-13 win over the winless Oakland Raiders Mark, first thing I just want to say congratulations on the win your team bouncing back

I'm not so happy that you hedged your bets and picked against your own team it seemed like a you compromise your honor a little bit there but you both you won and you lost today I did not compromise any honor because if you think because I grew up rooting for the Browns

and I'm going to pick them 16 straight games in an office I mean at home against potentially one of the worst teams in recent history, that's why I was a little disappointed. Look, this honestly was not a great performance by Cleveland. The Raiders out game, the Browns by 80 yards. Well, Cleveland has some issues on defense.

They also put the heat on car towards the end, kind of put this thing out of question at some point. But they've got issues. This was the third best rushing team in football two weeks ago. Today, 39 yards at 1.6 yard per carry. They cannot run the football. anymore. And you've talked Alex Mac up as a major missing piece. And I know that you think, Dan, that I'm overselling that. But I really think what Mac brought to that line was

cohesiveness and he would call out the adjustments, everything. Hoyer's not experienced to do that the same way that a veteran quarterback would. They have a guy that brought up the practice squad to take that job right now. And it shows no running back could get lanes, get open, break tackles. Alex Mack. I really think for the way this team was playing before that it is, Is it fatal? It's fatal if you wanted them to do more than go 8 and 8, 9, and 7 tops. There won't be any return of the Mac? Next year, maybe.

Look, if Mac is that good, he should have been the MVP. I mean, he can't. Well, he's a two-time Pro Bowl. That's kind of what I've been saying. But he's a center, so he's going to be ignored by everyone. No, I'm not saying it's ignored, but it's one player. Okay, I get it for a couple weeks. If that ends up being the thing that ruined their season, it's not the thing.

I mean, there's other things around that could be going better. maybe it's a coincidence he was gone. I'm just saying... I just don't know what else to point to because it happened right when he went out. I know. The running game, it makes sense. Jordan Cameron went out with a concussion.

That's bad news. Tell us about Brian Horrie. He had obviously a terrible game last week. Bounce back a little bit, at least in the second half. He improved down the stretch of this game, but they really look disjointed on offense again because they're such a play-action passing team that when the defense doesn't believe in the run,

you're exposing your quarterback. what happened with any team that can't run the ball. You know, he continues to make throws to receivers that are like 5'7 and 5 foot 8. They really need to get Josh Gordon back. I know that they really wanted, Petten said after the game that Jordan Cameron was the absolute central part of this game plan. And when it went out in the first quarter, they struggled to pick it up from there. And they played a bad defense.

And so any plays they made, the numbers for Hoyer, he had 111 rating. He wasn't 111 rating looking quarterback. on the field today. He's a middling guy that is still learning the game. They have a winning record. When was the last time they had a winning record

this late in the season? 2007? I think maybe 2001 because they were four and two in 2001. All right, let's play a fun little game. I incorporate all of you gentlemen in it.

I'm going to go around the horn, quick fire. I'm going to go through the rest of the Raiders' schedule. Just give me win loss as I go through the schedule. I'll start with Mark to Greg and then back.

Here we go. Mark, at Seahawks. Loss. Home to Broncos, West. Loss. At Chargers. That's a loss. Home to Chiefs.

Loss. At Rams. Give them the win. They got to win one. Yeah, I'll give them a win. Yay. Oh, no way. Home to Niners.

That's a loss. At Chiefs. Win. All right. We're ruining the game now. Home to Bills. Win. What a team this is.

They're out of wrong. Close. At Broncos to close it out. Sorry, we ruined your game. So, according to the around the NFL team, we're 3 and 13. I'm going to take the Rams win back and just give them 2 and 14. One is fine. I would almost eat Wes's softball pants if they win three games, but I won't go that far.

This team, the point I was making is there's not really a gimmie here for a bad, bad Raiders team. There are two win teams. If they're lucky. 16. It's not insane. Reggie McKenzie is so gone after the season. Derek Carr is, I think, too good, actually. That's the reason why I want to pick them, is their offense and their quarterback isn't terrible.

He'll get a win. He is extremely good under pressure, and especially when, you know, late in the first half just drove them right down the field. He doesn't seem like a rookie in some ways. He'll get at least a win him. He's been the best rookie so far. Yeah. Troy Aikman went 1-15 in his rookie. Fun fact.

Arian Foster. Total parallel. Yep. Aaron Foster went over 100 yards rushing for the sixth time this season, leading the Texans to a 30 to 16 road win over the time. I know saw Titans in Zach Mettenberg's NFL debut. Zach Mettenberg completed 27 of 41 passes for 299 yards. Two touchdowns and interception, I guess, showed some promise replacing Clipboard Jesus and Jake Locker. That didn't stop, though, JJ Watt, who didn't take kindly.

And I didn't like it either. Greg was defending this for some reason downstairs. I didn't like Mettenberger posting tons of selfies and instant snapchats and having a grant all time on social media, and then J.J. Watt came out and buried him for it after the game, said this is the NFL, not high school. It's true. God, calm down, Zach Mittenberg. It just sounded like a get-off-my-law and thing. I would have to think it was a big deal that Mettemberger's having some fun posting pictures.

Who cares? He might be the only player on that team with any personality, though, so give him that. Kevin did. Did I call Mittenberg the whole time? Yeah. It doesn't matter. Six-round pick. We'll be out of league in three years.

Kevin did send in his summary. That game sucked. Mettenberger was meh. Made some bigger throws in Clipboard Jesus, but was scattershot. Arian Foster, best player on the field. Arian Foster has had like an amazing, amazing and quietly amazing season. He's carrying them. He said 100 yards in six out of seven games, I think.

And the only game he didn't have 100 yards was coming back from a hamstring injury. He wasn't 100%. Yeah, Jadavian Clowney, Jedevian Clowney, actually. pronunciation correction day. Only a tackle. Didn't really do much. Also, it's Metenberger. Sure, Greg.

That, JJ Watt, while we're just throwing out stats, two sacks, forced fumble, two tackles for a loss, and he knocked down another pass. So as great as Von Miller has been, JJ Watt is going to win defensive player of the year. Yes. And good job by Bill O'Brien. They won two games last year. They won four this year. He'd have to vanish in like an alien vehicle to not win that award right now. We need to turn the page on Ryan Fitzpatrick.

Well, you could have said that three. three years ago, and I would agree with you. Yeah, who are they turning to? Yeah, to Ryan Mallet. Yeah, they have to figure out what Ryan Mallet is. I mean, they're competitive every week. Tom Brady. Isn't that basically all they could have asked for?

Bill Belichick figured out what he was, or at least in his estimation, he was worth like a pile of pens. I mean, they traded him for nothing. They wanted no part of it. Smart football analysts have said this guy is an NFL starter. Mike Mayock has said it. Let's see, because we know Ryan Fitzpatrick isn't going to give you more than six wins in a season. which takes us to Sunday night football at the Superdome, the Saints.

Get back on track. Mark Ingram rushed for a career high, 172 yards, leading the Saints to a 44-23 win over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night, a game in which the Packers jumped ahead early, and it looked like, uh-oh, more trouble for the Saints, and the Packers are going to keep rolling, but it didn't work out that way. The Saints got back into it, then they took the lead, and then they just ran away with it in the second half. Chris Wesson, what did you see out there? This is what happens when you quit jerking around and get the ball in Mark Ingram's hands. You do, as Dan mentioned, have a stable full of boys.

But I feel like there's one guy at the front of it. I mean, no one would. Well, Steve Smith. Oh, that's true. Well, but no one's... I feel like I'm more invested in Ingram this year. This year, I feel like no one can say that they were ahead of you on the Mark Ingram Rejuvenation bandwagon.

There are still people doubting him. and to me it's just it's silly all you have to do is turn on the film the guy is running better than any back outside of demargo murray and maybe arian foster and in a day of great quarterback play there were nine quarterbacks that threw over 300 yards we talked about what ben rafflesberger did we talked about what tom brady did drew breeze also delivered a gem 27 of 32 for 311 yards three touchdowns averaged almost 10 yards per attempt 138 passer rating drew breeze showed up and almost in a very important development for the Saints, gave them a little bit of their swag back, especially in their own building. We're tough to be at home. Well, they hit vertical passes, which they hit one last week to Stills. So that was a nice start, but they tried three or four.

And then today, they hit one to Brandon Cooks off play action. They hit one to Kenny Stills deep, and that's the Stain offense, the big play offense. And they started to look like that today, and Jimmy Graham looked a little bit healthier and got a touchdown, too. I think this is what we expected in August, that you got those two guys going deep. They use Cooks creatively.

Jimmy Graham's, a weapon in the red zone, and it was easily Breeze's best game of the year. Well, one of the reasons I picked them this week was not just because I'm a homer and went to school there, but that I thought they played really well in New Orleans, I mean, in Detroit, that that looked like it was the turnaround of their season, and then they totally gagged the last four minutes. But for the most part, it was a really good game, and the defense did some similar things tonight where they didn't get too crazy with blitzes.

They didn't play that well. They didn't force a single punt in the whole game, but they didn't give up big, big plays the whole game, and they got a few turnovers and a few breaks. The timing is perfect for the Packers. I guess the good thing that came out of this game was they hit their buy now, which is good because Aaron Rogers did something to his hamstring in this game. He was limping pretty badly by the time he exited.

They get a week now to regroup. The Packers are playing better than anyone going into this game. Now they hit a speed bump here. Are we to worry about the Packers? now, or is this just one of those situations where a game got away in a tough environment? I'm not worried about him. I think they're a very good team. Their defense might not be quite as good, but they're better than they were last year. And, you know, Mark Ingram wasn't the only back with a career game tonight. Eddie Lacey, 182 yards from scrimmage. His best game by far as a

receiver, bolstered by a 67-yard screen pass in which he looked dynamite. Eight for 123 as a receiver, Eddie Lacey. I mean, it seems like a miracle for most of the game whenever the Saints could force a field goal. And then they get a tip in the red zone and pick that off. A rookie receiver, Devante Adams, stops his route, and they get a tip for another interception. Otherwise, the Packers are going to put up 40 points in this game. They didn't have Morgan Burnett.

They didn't have Sam Shield. I think they'll be fine. They are a game back of the Lions, though, so we have a little bit of an NFC North race. They're collapse in this game coincided with Roger's hamstring injury. They didn't score another point until garbage time, really, after that hamstring injury. and I thought they moved the ball well all night. Rogers' fourth career 400-yard game, even though they pulled him early.

How about no punts in this game? It's only happened three times in NFL history. Two of those times were in Packers games this season. Packers Bears in week four, no punts, and then tonight. That is weird stuff, Greg. That's a crazy stat. And how many teams have a third running back like Mark Ingram that they can just roll out there? Third, give me a break.

I'm just saying. That guy's the number one back. Pierre Thomas gets hurt. Kyrie Robinson gets hurt, and it doesn't... That's the best thing it could happen to this team. If I'm Steve Smith, I'm worried about my honeymoon suite and Wes's stable of boys because this man is coming on hard right now.

Mr. Ivory could be taken over. Did I say ivory? Yeah, you said ivory. Well, it's late. Look, I'm not kidding about this. The Pierre Thomas Kyrie Robinson injuries were the best thing to happen to this offense. Sean Payton needs to get out of his own way

and get the ball to Mark Ingram. Maybe he will. Thursday night. That's a good little game we got here, NFC South title or lead on the line there. Only on NFL Network. Ow! All right, that's it for Sunday's edition of the Around the NFL podcast. We'll be back with three more shows in the upcoming week, including Wednesday, our next show.

Thank you for listening. As always, this is Dan Hansa signing off for The Sizzler, the Mailman, the boss, and T.D. With a hat on behind the glass. Until once a day. This is an IHeart podcast.